Age guide: 4 to 9 years. Not suitable for children who still put things in their mouths.
A magnet is a small mystery. It picks up some things and ignores others, and children are usually keen to work out which. This is a short, hands-on activity with one big safety rule, so read the next section first.
Magnet safety
- Use only large, child-safe magnets, such as a bar or horseshoe magnet from a toy set, or a big fridge magnet.
- Do not use small, loose or very strong magnets, such as the tiny ball or cube sets sold as desk toys. If swallowed, they can pull together inside the body and cause serious, life-threatening injuries.
- Keep small magnets out of the home if you have young children, and talk to older children about never putting magnets in their mouths or noses.
- If your child has stomach pain, vomiting or a fever and may have played with magnets, or you think they swallowed one, go to A&E or call your emergency number straight away.
What you need
A big magnet, paper, crayons, and a collection of household items: a spoon, a paperclip, a wooden spoon, a plastic cup, a key, aluminium foil, a steel pan lid.
How to play
- Tell your child they are a detective on a mission to find out which things a magnet can pick up.
- Ask them to guess, before testing, whether each item will stick.
- Test each item. Let your child put it near the magnet and notice what happens.
- Make two piles, one for things that stick and one for things that do not.
- Draw each item on a sheet, with a tick or a cross.
Talk about it
Ask: What do the sticking things have in common? Were there any surprises? Many items that stick are made of steel, which contains iron. Some metal things, like aluminium foil, do not stick, so it is not just whether something is metal. A magnet can also pull through a sheet of paper, so try one on each side.
Go further
Look around the house for things that stick and things that do not. Check the fridge door, a pair of scissors, a pan. Make a collection on a tray, labelled yes or no.
For more experiments with predictions, see predict, test, write it down.
