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Grade 1 force and motion

Grade 1 Push and Pull Word Search

Science Word Search Printable • Grade 1

A push or a pull can start, stop, speed up, slow down, or change the direction of an object. The printable uses playground vocabulary to make these ideas concrete for early elementary learners.

Start with the printable

Preview of Playground Push and Pull Word Search
Playground Push and Pull Word Search

Use the words before and after the puzzle

Before solving, ask your child to circle unfamiliar words in the list. Afterward, choose three words to explain, draw, or use in a science sentence. Open the printable PDF below when you are ready.

Open printable PDFOpen answer key

What children can practice

  • Tell whether an action is a push, a pull, or both.
  • Describe how a force changes an object’s motion.
  • Use words such as fast, slow, stop, move, and direction.

For parents and homeschool

Test a toy on two surfaces

Choose a small toy that rolls or slides and two safe surfaces, such as a rug and a smooth floor.

  1. Step 1

    Give the toy a gentle push on each surface from the same starting point.

  2. Step 2

    Compare how far and how fast it moves.

  3. Step 3

    Try a gentle pull, then describe what changed and what stayed the same.

Also useful for teachers

A quick classroom adaptation

Set up two safe motion stations. After the word search, partners can test one push and one pull, record the result with arrows, and share a sentence using force-and-motion vocabulary.

Questions to talk about