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How Things Move: Push & Pull

Kindergartners learn that a push or a pull makes things move — pushing a toy car forward, pulling a wagon, opening a door — and that pushes and pulls can start, stop, or turn things.

KindergartenMotion30 minutes1 class period5E ModelExplicit teaching4 StandardsNGSS
Start the Lesson
Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Tell a push from a pull.
  • ✓Know pushes and pulls move things.
  • ✓Know they can stop things.
  • ✓Try pushing and pulling.
Essential Question

You push a swing to make it go, and pull a wagon to bring it close. How do we make things move — and how do we make them stop?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Explore · Interactive

Push or Pull?

Project each item and have children answer push or pull. The tool explains how pushes and pulls make things move.

🤚 Is it a push or a pull?Try it
Is it a push or a pull?
The Lesson · 5E Instructional Model (Engage · Explore · Explain · Elaborate · Evaluate)

30 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Engage — Make It Go!

5 min

You push a swing and pull a wagon — how do we make things move?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Push a toy; pull a toy.
  • Ask how they moved.
  • Get ready.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Push and pull.
  • See it move.
  • Get ready.
2

Explore — Push or Pull

8 min

Children investigate.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send children to Push or Pull?
  • Answer each one.
  • Try it with toys.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Answer them.
  • Try toys.
  • Explain.
3

Explain — Pushes and Pulls

8 min

Children explain.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • A push moves it away.
  • A pull brings it close.
  • They can stop things too.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Learn push.
  • Learn pull.
  • Learn stop.
4

Elaborate — Move It

6 min

Children elaborate.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Push and pull classroom toys.
  • Make a toy stop.
  • Change its direction.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Push toys.
  • Stop one.
  • Turn one.
5

Reflect — Reflect

3 min

Children conclude.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Show a push.
  • Show a pull.
  • Draw something moving.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Show push.
  • Show pull.
  • Draw it.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (Kindergarten / Early Elementary Science).

NGSS
K-PS2-1

Analyze data to compare the effects of different strengths of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

NGSS
K-PS2-2

Design a solution to use a push or pull to change the motion of an object.

NGSS
K-PS3-1

Explore the effects of sunlight.

NGSS
SEP-3

Planning and carrying out investigations.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Push/pull picture cards.
  • Sentence frame: “I ___ the ___.”
  • Push and pull real toys.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with push vs. pull.
  • Use real toys.
  • Act it out.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Push soft vs. hard.
  • Make a toy turn.
  • Build a ramp.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Screen / board
  • 🪂Toy cars and wagons
  • 💻Push or Pull?
  • 🖍️Crayons
  • 🏐A ball
  • 🎫Sticker charts
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

pushto move something awaypullto move something closermoveto change placeforcea push or a pullstopto end movingfastmoving quicklyslowmoving not quicklydirectionthe way something goes
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
When you open a drawer, is it a push or a pull?
A pull.
QUESTION 2
When you kick a ball, is it a push or a pull?
A push.
QUESTION 3
Name one thing a push or pull can do.
Make something start moving, stop, or change direction.

Growing at home? Push-and-pull hunt.

Have families find things they push and things they pull around the house — doors, drawers, wagons, and toys. A printable push-and-pull sheet is in the Science library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 How Things Move (Push & Pull)Flip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 How Things Move (Push & Pull)Quiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ How Things Move (Push & Pull)Print
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: direction, fast, force, move, pull, push, slow, stop
  1. to change place
  2. to move something closer
  3. to end moving
  4. a push or a pull
  5. moving not quickly
  6. the way something goes
  7. moving quickly
  8. to move something away

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. When you open a drawer, is it a push or a pull?
  2. When you kick a ball, is it a push or a pull?
  3. Name one thing a push or pull can do.
Answer key — Part A: 1) move · 2) pull · 3) stop · 4) force · 5) slow · 6) direction · 7) fast · 8) push
Part B: 1) A pull. 2) A push. 3) Make something start moving, stop, or change direction.