Summary Students use playdough to show different kinds of forces Science content Physics: Motion and Forces, Newton’s Laws, Gravity (K, 2, 6) Lessons activity is in Forces in toys Materials playdough (see recipe) Procedure Introduce students to the concept of force, if it hasn't been done already: a force is a push or a pull. Hand out a ball of playdough each (about the size of a golf ball). Show students how to make it into a sausage. Ask students to bend/twist/manipulate their sausage into a new shape, or simply move it along the desk. They should think of where their fingers apply force to make the new shape/move the play dough to a new position. Ask students to draw the new shape/position, and add arrows to their drawing where forces were applied. Optional: introduce names for the things that forces can do to an object (push/pull/twist/bend/stretch/tear). Gather group to show shapes and describe the forces used to make them. Attached documents forces_in_playdough_sheet_for_prod_workshop.pdf catapult_distances_worksheet.pdf Grades taught Gr 1 Gr 2
