Kyleigh and I had the pleasure of co-teaching the science of movement for two weeks this fall. In the first week, we focused on exploring Push and Pull: How force, energy, and momentum affect movement.
Push and pull are two forces both caused by friction.
A force is a push or pull that makes things move.
A push moves things away from you.
A pull moves things toward you.
Forces can also make things speed up, slow down and change directions.
Momentum is the force or speed of movement and involves both mass and velocity.
We started with a picture book exploring push and pull in a developmentally appropriate manner.
Then we discussed what push and pull look like. We warmed up our bodies to get ready for active, big-body play.
And finally, we used scooters to explore how our bodies move using push and pull actively. The children worked alone and in partnerships to tackle different challenges. They thought about how their bodies use force and energy to move in different ways and directions: actively thinking about how they can direct their bodies and objects to move. The children also had to maneuver through pylons, change the movement of their bodies, orient themselves and their scooters, and visualize the best way to move across the gym.
Our vocabulary:
Push
Pull
Force
Energy
Friction
Momentum
Gravity
Direction: front, back, sideways, left, right
