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Magnetic Mazes

Observe the pulling power of magnets by making your own amazing maze! Use magnets to guide figures around turns, into dead ends, and to the finish.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper Clip(s)
  • Poster Board
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    Magnetism is all around us. In fact, the Earth is a giant magnet! Almost everything that uses electricity or runs with a motor has a magnet in it. Have students learn about magnetic fields, magnetic force, how magnets have two poles, etc. 

  • Step 2

    Ask students to design a maze on a piece of heavy paper or poster board. They might choose to give their maze a theme, such as a bat making its way through a cave or a monkey making its way through the rainforest. Or they might design one that includes abstract images and words. Make sure they indicate the start and end points. They could create a small figure (bat, monkey, etc.) to tape onto a magnet or paperclip that the guiding magnet would pull through the maze. 

  • Step 3

    Provide students with small magnets. After they have explored how their maze works, have them swap mazes and figures with classmates.

Standards

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas. 

SCI: Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other. 

Adaptations

The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) in the North Pole and the Southern Lights (aurora australis) in the South Pole are produced when sprays of energy coming off the sun bump into the magnetic field of Earth. Have students research and look at images of these spectacular light shows.

Go on a magnetic scavenger hunt. Provide magnets for students and take the class outside on a nice day. Have them look for metallic surfaces and touch the magnet to them. Did every metal surface attract the magnet? Have them research which metals are magnetic and which are not.