Identifying Magnetic Objects

• Give small bar magnets to the students with a number of other materials. A bar magnet will attract or repel other materials that are magnetic. Ideas for objects to give the students include a stainless steel spoon, a piece of wood and a plastic toy. This lesson will help students learn that only metallic objects can be magnetic.
  
  

Mapping North and South Poles

• Give magnets of three different shapes to students. Ideas for the shapes that are readily available are bars, circles and toruses. Ask the students to experiment with the magnets and draw a diagram of the shape indicating where the north and south poles are located.
  
  

Iron Filings

• Iron filings are scattered around a bar magnet. The iron filings arrange themselves around the magnet, mapping out the local magnetic field. This teaches the students the idea of an invisible magnetic field.
  
  

Power of Magnets

• Give the students a series of magnets of different strengths. The students then need to design a simple experiment to decide which is the strongest magnet. An easy way to do this is to give them paper clips and see over what distance a paper clip is attracted to a magnet.