This week in Year 3 we have started our science topic all about different forces. We began by making a play-doh mammoth and playing with a toy car – it doesn’t sound much like learning…but it was!
We learned all about what different forces (pushes and pulls) can do to an object – change the shape, speed and direction.
Next we began learning about friction. First, we had a jelly chopstick race! We had to move cubes of jelly from one plate to another, it was so fiddly! Then Miss Bloomer and Mrs Jones poured oil on our jelly and we had to do it again. It was so much harder this time! The jelly had become so slippery and slimy. Nate said that this was because we had less grip now between the chopsticks and the jelly. This started us talking about friction.
Next, we carried out an investigation on friction. We wanted to find out how far a toy car would travel on different surfaces.We all made predictions and then went to see if we were right. We tested the playground, the football area, the carpet, a table top and the hall floor. We discovered that the car travelled the furthest on the hall floor because it was the smoothest surface and therefore created less friction with the car. The rougher surfaces, like the carpet and the football area created more friction and so the car didn’t travel as far.
We have had great fun with forces in Science this week! Next stop…Magnets!