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Explorify at home: Forces

This collection is all about forces. To make something move you need a force. What these videos about forces and try these actvities with your little explorers.

Pulleys on a woodne sailing ship

Explorify at home is a series of science activities for parents and carers of primary school children who are learning at home. We define activities by age and curriculum topics in Explorify, but these collections are also suitable to do all together as a family of mixed aged children. Or if your little scientist just wants to explore further, pick something from the other age sections for inspiration.


For children aged 5 to 7

Born to dance

First, watch this video: Explore movement in a new way by thinking about how we move. Dance requires lots of different movements, from pushes and pulls to twists and turns, as well as moments of stillness when our bodies are balanced. What can your children see in this video, 'Born to dance'?

Hands-on activity: Put on some music and make up some new dance moves!


For children aged 7 to 9

Dancing raisins

Watch this video: Press play to see how sparkling water (or soda) can make raisins dance! At first, the raisins sink because they are more dense than the water but once some bubbles (of carbon dioxide gas that provides the fizz) attach to the raisins, they float upwards, sinking again when the bubbles are released.

Hands-on activity: Have a go yourself – outside if you can as you might get a bit wet! Experiment with tightening and loosening the cap to see what happens to the raisins. You could also use chocolate chips, sultanas or currants too.

For children aged 9 to 11

Water trick

Watch this video together: We can’t see forces but we can see the effects of different forces, and sometimes these can seem quite magical. Have a look at this video featuring a water trick and try it out yourself – you might want to do this outside or at least over a sink!

Learn about air pressure: Air around us pushes in all directions – this is called air pressure. The air pushing up against the card is preventing the weight of the water from pushing the card down. Try this yourself with a little amount of water in the glass first. What is the largest amount of water you can put in the glass?



Image credit: Getty Images
Last updated 11th April 2025