How can I help my child with physics at home?

Science at school

Your child will study science from the beginning of primary school up to the end of Key Stage 4 and perhaps even beyond. Science is one of the 'core' subjects at school: the others are English and maths.

Science at school is traditionally divided into three areas: biology, chemistry and physics. Your child will study topics from all three areas each year. As well as learning facts, she will work on investigations and experiments.

Children constantly ask questions - Why does my boat float on the bath when this plastic shape sinks? Why does the tide go in and out? Why is my ice cream melting? Science helps all of us to make sense of the world and answers these and countless other questions.

Physics activities to do at home

Science is not all about laboratories and experiments. There is a lot you can very easily do at home to keep your child enthusiastic about finding things out. These science activities are suitable for you and children of any age, since they teach (or revise) basic physics which is important throughout the school science curriculum.

Physics is the science which deals with properties and interactions of matter and energy.

Experiment with magnets. See what is magnetic around the house and what is not. If you have toy trains that connect together with magnets, point out that sometimes the trains move apart, rather than join together. This happens because magnets have a positive and negative field: two positive or two negative ends repel each other.

Find out about gravity. Two different sized balls will fall at the same speed when dropped from the same height. Race toy cars down ramps set at different heights to see how far and fast they go: gravity makes things move faster the further they fall.

Use balloons to explore friction, the force that works when two surfaces rub together. See how many different surfaces the balloon will stick to if you rub it. Does the balloon stick for longer if you rub it for longer?

Investigate energy with an old tennis ball. Cover the floor with newspaper. Soak the ball in some washable paint and drop it onto the floor, and measure the distance between the blobs of paint. Next, throw the ball with a bit more force: the distance between the blobs will be greater, because the ball had more energy from the throwing movement of your arm.

Have fun with light. Provide a number of torches, then attach some coloured tissue paper or cellophane over the ends with elastic bands. Shine the torches onto the ceiling of a darkened room and see what happens when the colours mix.

Take a look at refraction. Fill a glass with water and stand a spoon in it - the spoon will look 'bent' at the spot where it enters the water. This is because the light is deflected when it enters another medium of different density. Experiment with other objects in the glass and find which looks the strangest!

Your local library and museum should have hundreds more ideas to develop a child's interest in science.

Based on an article by Lorna Smith

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