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Kindergarten · Science · Unit 3 of 9

Push & Pull

Make things move

What your child practices

Telling pushes from pulls, and seeing how a bigger push, an object's shape and its weight change how it moves.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 0P.2.2.1.1; 0P.4.1.1.1 · patterns in how pushes and pulls of different strengths and directions change motion

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A push moves a thing away from you.
  2. A pull moves a thing toward you.
  3. A bigger push makes a thing go farther.

Example: You open a door toward you. Push or pull? The door comes toward you. Toward you is a pull. Answer: pull

Push & Pull in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 9 in Kindergarten Science, after Materials and before Weather & Seasons.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Where will a toy car roll the farthest?

    🚗
    • 🌿on bumpy grass
    • 🏖️in sand
    • 🟫on a smooth floor

  2. Question 2

    You open a drawer toward you. Push or pull?

    🗄️
    • 👐push
    • 🪢pull

  3. Question 3

    Push or pull? Tap a picture, then its basket.

    Sort into: 👐 push · 🪢 pull

    • ⚽kick a ball
    • 🛎️tap a bell
    • 🎣reel in a fish
    • 🛷pull a sled
    • 🥕pull out a carrot
    • 🛒push a cart

  4. Question 4

    You kick a ball. Is that a push or a pull?

    ⚽
    • 🪢pull
    • 👐push

  5. Question 5

    How can you stop a rolling toy car?

    🚗
    • 👀look at it
    • 👏clap your hands
    • ✋put your hand in front

  6. Question 6

    Which one moves when you blow on it?

    • 🪶a feather
    • 🧱a brick
    • 🪨a rock

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