I thought I would introduce the concept of gravity to my son and have him experiment around the house finding out how it works. Totally hands-on gravity activities! We started with reading a very large but short book that easily illustrated the concept of gravity. Balance and Motion by Lisa Trumbauer. We love easy preschool science activities!
Gravity Activities for Kindergarten and Preschool
GRAVITY FOR KIDS
Once we read the book, we got to work on our gravity science experiment! He actually was first to say let’s see what happens when I jump on the trampoline! He remembered and understood what gravity did. Gravity makes things come down or pulls things like me back down.
He went on to talk about if he were in space and didn’t wear a seat belt in the rocket, he would float up! So he has the idea. Here are a few gravity activities we tried below.
Asking questions is so important for preschool learning. Each time I would ask why he thought what happened actually happened. He would talk about gravity.
In simple words, gravity is a pulling force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center. Gravity is what keeps all the plants in orbit around the sun. The force of gravity keeps us close to the ground.
Explore gravity with these simple gravity activities below.
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Gravity Activities For Preschoolers
These gravity activities are easy to set up and fun to play and learn with, using gross motor exercises. Get kids moving and introduce some simple science at the same time. You can easily adjust these ideas to suit your kiddos and whatever equipment you have on hand.
1. Jumping on a Trampoline
2. Loosing Balance, Falling Down, Jumping Off a Chair
3. Pouring water from a pitcher and knocking an object off the table
4. Sliding
5. Dropping blocks from a height
6. Throwing a ball in the air
7. Falling on bed (his suggestion)
8. Giant slinky down the stairs
I truly thinks he gets the most simplest definition of gravity and had a lot of fun exploring it over and over again. It also made for great gross motor play indoors! What goes up must come down! Well at least until it gets stuck somewhere!
More Gravity Activities For Preschoolers
Apple Gravity Experiment
We used inexpensive plastic rain gutters (home depot) and a bag of apples to investigate ramps, angles and gravity.
Easter Race Ideas
A similar activity to our apple experiment but this one uses leftover plastic eggs for a fun physics experiment for preschoolers.
Balancing Objects
Explore center of gravity when you try this simple balancing objects activity with the kids. Free printable included!
We also tried a balancing apple!
FUN GRAVITY EXPERIMENTS FOR PRESCHOOL
Click on the image below or on the link for more fun preschool science activities.
I always thought of gravity as too complicated to explain to my preschooler but you nailed it with these fun ways to show gravity in action! The slinky is an awesome idea. My daughter would have a blast falling down and throwing things in the air only to see them fall, all in the name of science! 🙂
This is great! So many fun ways to explore gravity!
AWESOME explanation and such a variety of ways for children to experience gravity! I am in love with your indoor slide combo – wherever did you get it?
What a simple but fun way to explain the meaning of gravity and what it can do. I think reading gravity’s definition in a book makes it more complicated. I am sure Liam did enjoy the whole activity just looking at the photos.
It’s called Rhapsody by Cedar Works. We were lucky to purchase this from a friend used so the cause was significantly lower. S cool to have! Everyone is always jealous when they come over.
Gravity is a fascinating subject. Love a giant slinky experiment – so fun! Thanks for sharing with Afterschool!
Thank you for having us! He had a lot of fun experimenting around the house!
I love these simple experiments! I am featuring it today as part of a round up of Science activities for After School.
Awesome! Thank you. I will stop by to check it out!