30+ Magnet Activities to Attract Fun and Learning!

As a kid, I was fascinated by the amazing properties of a magnet to attract and repel stuff. Eventually, I realized that magnets are a very integral part of our daily lives. After becoming a parent, I always tried to include magnets in my kids’ playtime so that they could have fun and learn about their scientific properties. 

I gradually found out that there are tons of fun and intriguing science experiments and activities for kids using magnets.🧲️

In this article, we will be studying some simple, quirky, and interesting magnet activities that you can try out with your kids for some homeschool fun learning. 

The best part about these activities is that all ingredients are easily available at a local store or in your kitchen and require minimal time and effort to set up. Trust me, your kids aren’t going to get bored anytime soon!⤵️

Fascinating Magnet Activities for Kids

Making a mini magnet maze

I remember taking my kids to a pediatrician once. They were fascinated by the magnet maze in the waiting room.

So, when we came back, we made one for ourselves. With simple ingredients and minimal effort, you can easily try out this activity with the little ones.

Pro Tip: You can cut out the cardboard in shapes kids will be attracted to, for example, bugs or butterflies.🦋

Gravity-defying magnet trick 

I love this one because it is an amazing art and science combo for the kids.

They can learn the basic concepts of magnetism and use them to make a floating paper clip. Also, other add-on activities can be explored based on the initial exercise.

LEGO magnet maze

Kids are fascinated with LEGOs. So, if you have a bunch of them lying around at home, you can try this fun experiment.

Make a maze out of the LEGOs and then direct a LEGO car or any other objects using a magnet.

Pro Tip: You can create a race track on a LEGO base plate.

Making an electromagnetic train

Introduce the concepts of electricity and magnetism to your kids by making them build this basic electromagnetic train.

Kids will love building their toy cars, and it will also be fun to learn how electricity and magnets function together.

Scavenger hunt

Magnets are everywhere! You just need to come up with the right idea to have fun with them.

You can simply ask your kids to take a magnet and roam around the house, collecting magnetic objects along the way. Turn it into a competition to make things exciting.

Pro Tip: Keep them away from pacemakers, defibrillators, and other complex electronic devices.

Floating magnet

Magnets are such a fascinating topic to study and understand.

Make it more intriguing for kids by doing a floating magnet activity that explains the magnetic poles and working principles. See if they can make a seemingly floating stack of magnets.

Magnetic cars🚗

Kids love playing with toy cars. You can amp up the activity by including magnets and glue. They can transform simple toy cars into magnet-powered ones that are more fun to play with.

Pro Tip: Remember that the magnet and Sugru might ruin the toy car you are using.

Making a compass🧭

Introduce your kids to the concept of a magnetic field, and then make them do this activity where they can build themselves a compass using simple ingredients and tools.

Practical engagement in science makes it easier for them to grasp the concept.

Magnetic ice🧊

Take magnets and ice together, and you have the easiest activity for your kids. Simply freeze the ice cubes and put them on a tray. Let the kids explore how magnets work with ice or if they can spin the ice.

Pro Tip: Add items like pipe cleaners, paper clips, or magnetic discs.

Making a Gauss rifle

Have you ever heard of the Gauss rifle, an electromagnet-powered device that launches a ball at extreme velocities?

Well, try building one with your kids. It would be a fun science experiment to do. You can also test the relationship between magnetic acceleration and the velocity of the moving balls.🎾

Magnetic slime

There are so many things you can do to have fun with slime. Add magnets to it, and you have extra creative activities for your kids.

Let them make their magnetic slime at home by adding iron oxide powder to basic slime.

Pro Tip: You can use a Neodymium Bar magnet for this activity.

Levitating magnets

Once you’ve learned how to build Maglev trains, you can also teach your kids in detail about Eddy currents and Lenz’s Law through practical demonstrations.

These experiments are a great hands-on way to get your kids involved in science and creative activities.🔬

Extracting iron from cereal🥣

Sounds a bit crazy, but it’s such a fun experiment to do with the kids. Take any cereal with high iron content and test the percentage of iron to see if they are true to their word.

Kids will remain thoroughly engaged in this fun science activity.

Pro Tip: We used Cheerios or Grape Nuts for this experiment. 

Measuring magnetic fields.

Kids will be fascinated to learn about the working principle of magnets.

So, try doing experiments that explore the basic concepts of magnetism, for example, how the distance between two magnets affects the strength of its magnetic field.

Studying extreme temperatures🌡️

This experiment helps kids understand the functioning of magnets when exposed to extreme temperature conditions, for example, boiling and freezing.

You can also get an experiment kit to make sure they have everything to experiment successfully.

Pro Tip: Maintain discretion while holding magnets at high temperatures.

Wingardium Leviosa!🪄

Is your kid a crazy fan of Harry Potter? Well, this science-art activity is just the perfect one for them.

Kids can recreate the Charms lesson from the book, where they make a feather float in mid-air. Help them make their own ‘magic wand’ using magnets. 

Testing the strength of an electromagnet

As you know, electromagnets can be turned on and off.

So, you can make kids build their electromagnet and find out how different factors affect its strength. They can use paper clips to study the strength of the magnets. 

Pro Tip: Electromagnets can easily be made at home using a battery and a coil of wire. 

Dancing jitterbugs

I love this activity because it is adorable and has great educational value. Let the kids put together jitterbugs and create a pyramid house for them.

Using magnets, they can make the cute jitterbugs fly around from flower to flower. It’s so fun to watch!

Building a Maglev train🚈

The kids are gonna love this one! You can easily make a Maglev bullet train at home using two sets of electromagnets.

It’s fun to experiment with the weight required to make the train heavy enough to come down and touch the tracks.

Pro Tip: This experiment involves small magnets. So, make sure kids or pets at home don’t swallow any pieces.

Spinning spider🕸️

If a kid loves animals, you can try out this fun activity with them. My boys have always been fascinated with spiders, and they loved doing this one.

Make toy spiders and a ‘web,’ and then let them make the spiders dance around it using magnets. 

Building a recycling machine

Combine the fun of playing with magnets along with a bit of environmental consciousness through this activity.

Make a recycling and sorting machine with the little ones that can easily separate metal waste from the bin. This also teaches them to protect Nature.

Pro Tip: You can do this activity on Earth Day.🌎

Magnetic Hair Activity🎎

Kids can make quirky hairstyles for their toys through this activity. It is so fun and creative.

With simple ingredients like pipe cleaners, magnets, and googly eyes, they can create adorable toys. This is also a great way to teach them about the working principle of magnets.

Magnetic fluids

Have you heard of ferrofluids? These can be shaped freely, owing to magnetic fields.

You can conduct a series of experiments and let the kids create their ferrofluids and study how they function. Let them pretend to be material engineers for the day!

Pro Tip: My boys often made magnetic ink using ferrofluids.

Magnet sculptures

If your kids love building stuff, they will find this activity very interesting. They are using the scientific mechanism of manners to create art.

With basic ingredients like ceramic magnets, nuts and bolts, and paint, they can explore their artistic creativity for hours to create amazing sculptures.

Magnetic pendulum

This activity has always been my favorite because it combines the fun of science with the quirk of engineering.

Kids can make their magnetic pendulum at home, and you can keep it as a memory of something they came up with with their young, bright minds.

Pro Tip: They can also use a magnet to make the pendulum swing in different patterns.

Bouncing magnets

This is a great activity for preschoolers. I used this one so frequently to teach my kids how poles of a magnet repel each other, naturally causing them to bounce against each other.

It’s so fun to look at the bouncy piece on a wooden base!

Making a paper speaker📢

Yes, kids can build a fully functional speaker using simple ingredients like paper, magnets, and a coil of wire.

It would be fun to create a tech device where you can listen to songs. Kids will thoroughly enjoy the process and learn to practically demonstrate what they learn.

Pro Tip: We built two different speakers and compared their functionalities for better understanding.

Metal art box

Provide kids with some magnets and iron filings, and they are all set to create abstract art.

The best thing about this activity is that all art boxes are reusable. So they can have endless fun and explore so much creativity.

Making a basic electric motor

The majority of things in our homes are operated through an electric motor. Get your kids enthusiastic about making an electric motor for themselves using magnets.

They can operate toy cars or simple electronic devices using the motor.

Pro Tip: Make sure that the wire being used is coiled neatly.

Magnetic painting🎨

I always try to come up with ideas that combine the fun and quirk of science with the excitement of art.

You can also try this magnetic painting activity where kids drag objects using magnets through the paint to create a piece of art their creative mind comes up with.

Flying ghosts!

Well, Halloween is just around the corner, and I thought of the most perfect magnet-inspired science activity for your kids! Help them create magnetic rods to make ghosts fly around the house to give it a festive vibe.

Pro Tip: Kids can draw on tissue paper to make ghosts.

Make it move!

Kids can do this one by themselves or in teams. We often turn this activity into a healthy competition for the boys and their friends.

Kids have to use magnets to move their toy cars through a racetrack, and of course, the first one to reach the end line wins!

Pro Tip: You can simply transform the homeschool table into a race track.

Pac-Man

My husband and the boys are avid gamers, and it is no wonder they love Pac-Man. One of our favorite magnet activities was to build our Pac-man version at home.

With simple ingredients and minimal effort, you can build something that keeps kids busy for hours.

Pro Tip: While making it, we used a low-temp glue gun so that the kids could use it safely.

Conclusion

I guess that’s it! You now have so many fun ideas to try out with your little ones. I can’t wait to hear back from all the lovely parents with whom I could share this article. Perform these fun exercises at home, and tell me how they turned out!

As parents, our sole attempt is to let our kids have endless fun and also learn stuff that will help them in their studies later on.