BFSU Enrichment
LESSON A-5A

Magnets and Magnetic Fields

A magnet moves things without touching them — the empty space all around it is filled with a real, invisible force called a field.

Free enrichment to teach alongside Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Volume 1 by Dr. Bernard J. Nebel. It reproduces none of his text — you'll want the book to teach from it. Get the book on Amazon →
Developed by Jesse Genet · @jessegenet
Download the kit
⬇ Full packetEverything, print-ready ⬇ Kid sheets onlyWhat goes in the notebook ⬇ Teacher sheets onlyGuide · oration · supply list
Posters
Every Magnet Has an Invisible Field
Every Magnet Has an Invisible Field
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Opposite Poles Attract, Like Poles Repel
Opposite Poles Attract, Like Poles Repel
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Magnets Grab Only Iron and Steel
Magnets Grab Only Iron and Steel
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The activities — hands-on experiment cards
🧲A word on safety before the fun: small neodymium magnets are a swallow hazard — use 1-inch-or-larger discs only, and count them out and back, out loud, every time. Iron filings stay in the teacher's hands, sealed in their bag or rimmed tray. And magnets never go near electronics — screens, phones, watches, cards.
Magnetic or Not? Hunt
Card 1 · Kids hands-on

Magnetic or Not? Hunt

Magnets don't grab "metal" — they grab iron and steel, and the kids corner that secret themselves. The penny and the soda can sit ignored while the plain nail leaps.

⬇ This card
Attract and Repel Play
Card 2 · Kids hands-on

Attract & Repel Play

Every magnet has two ends — two poles — and they are different: one pairing snaps together, the flipped pairing pushes apart. Squash the floating ring-magnet stack and feel the invisible spring.

⬇ This card
Paperclip Chains
Card 3 · Kids hands-on

Paperclip Chains

Iron touching a magnet becomes a magnet itself — temporarily. Each clip passes the pull down the line like a bucket brigade, and the whole chain rains down the instant the real magnet lets go.

⬇ This card
Magnet Through Stuff
Card 4 · Kids hands-on

Magnet Through Stuff

The field reaches right through cardboard, a book, water, even your own hand — the pull needs no touching. Finale: tow a sunken paper clip up the outside of a full glass, hands dry.

⬇ This card
Iron Filings Field Display
Card 5 · Teacher demo — the centerpiece

Iron Filings Field Display

The invisible field made visible: sprinkle, tap, and the pattern snaps in — every line leaving one pole and curving home to the other. The filings don't create the shape; they reveal one that was there all along.

⬇ This card
Ferrofluid Spike Show
Card 6 · Teacher demo

Ferrofluid Spike Show

The field in three dimensions: a liquid full of iron dust leaps into a hedgehog of spikes along the field lines — and collapses into a puddle the instant the field leaves.

⬇ This card
One more idea — a bonus for the review
A magnetized needle floating on a cork in a bowl of water, swinging to point north
🎁 Reveal at the review

One More Idea: The Earth Is a Magnet

Stroke a needle with a magnet, float it on a cork — and it slowly swings to point north, the same way every time. Something much, much bigger is grabbing it: you are standing on a magnet, and a compass is just a tiny magnet the Earth is holding.

A peek ahead → if the Earth always tells a free magnet which way is north, you can find your way with it. North, south, east, and west get their own lesson soon.
⬇ Bonus card
The song
🎵
The Invisible Pull
A-5A's sing-along — press play
⬇ Lyric sheet
In the student binder
📖OverviewThe big idea — an invisible, real field fills the space around every magnet; magnets are picky (iron only), and every magnet has two poles.⬇ ✎CopyworkSee it, trace it, write it — magnet, pole, iron, field, in big primer handwriting.⬇ 🗂️WorksheetPredict-then-test the magnetic hunt on the front; draw the invisible field from memory on the back, with a star where the dust piled thickest.⬇ 🎵Song sheetThe "Invisible Pull" lyrics — there's a field all around it and the empty air is full.⬇
Everything that's included