Magnetic Discovery

C had his first lesson in magnetism the other day.

I found this magnetic wand with magnetic marbles on amazon and combined it with several other materials, magnetic and non-magnetic.  There is also another magnetic wand with magnetic chips available.

On his tray were the magnetic marbles, pen, marker, paper clip, wooden letter, key, pipe cleaner, domino, spoon, plastic baby spoon, and a pom pom.


I had to first chow C what the wand was for then he quickly went to work.

Here he has separated magnetic items from non-magnetic.

Eventually he went around the house and was happy to find our lamp and the screws in his train table were magnetic.

Later, to draw him back to the wand, I cut up the pipe cleaner and placed it inside an empty bottle.

And the same with the magnetic marbles.

C didn't like having more than one item or piece in the bottle at a time at first.  Eventually he played around with more than one item.

You could also add materials to water to show that magnetic properties still work in water.  Consider safety pins or nuts & bolts.

Do you have a magnetic lesson (for any age) your child has enjoyed?

If you're starting to enter into the doldrums of , being stuck inside or just running out of ideas I encourage you to look to the bottom of this post and click on Gifts, Learning Tools, Projects, or Toys. It will take you to posts tagged as such for more ideas.