Forces and Motion Word Search
- Free
- No account
- Answer key
- Standard
- About 20 min
- 15 words
Build a complete Grade 3 picture of contact and noncontact forces with a printable word search, definitions, investigations, and answer key.
For parents and caregivers
What your child will practice
- Explain how balanced and unbalanced forces affect an object's motion.
- Use patterns in measured motion to predict how an object will move next.
- Compare contact forces with magnetic, electric, and gravitational forces that act at a distance.
How to use this puzzle at home
- Preview the word bank together and sort each term into motion, contact force, or force at a distance.
- Let your child complete the puzzle independently, then read every definition aloud and revisit any uncertain words.
- Slide the same small object across two safe surfaces and compare how friction changes its motion.
- Use two magnets to observe attraction and repulsion, keeping magnets away from electronics and small children.
Word List
- FORCE
- MOTION
- PUSH
- PULL
- SPEED
- DIRECTION
- BALANCED
- UNBALANCED
- FRICTION
- GRAVITY
- MAGNET
- POLE
- ATTRACT
- REPEL
- ELECTRIC
Printable Puzzle
Vocabulary guide
Use these short definitions before or after the word search. Ask your child to explain a few in their own words.
- Force
- A push or pull that can change an object's motion or shape.
- Motion
- A change in an object's position compared with a reference point over time.
- Push
- A force that moves an object away from the source of the force.
- Pull
- A force that moves an object toward the source of the force.
- Speed
- A measure of how far an object travels in a certain amount of time.
- Direction
- The course or path along which an object moves or points.
- Balanced
- Describes forces that are equal in strength and opposite in direction, causing no change in motion.
- Unbalanced
- Describes forces whose combined effect changes an object's speed or direction.
- Friction
- A contact force that resists motion between surfaces touching each other.
- Gravity
- A noncontact force of attraction between objects with mass, such as Earth and a ball.
- Magnet
- An object that produces a magnetic field and can attract or repel certain materials.
- Pole
- Either end of a magnet, called north or south, where its magnetic effect is strongest.
- Attract
- To pull objects toward one another through a force such as magnetism.
- Repel
- To push objects away from one another through a force such as magnetism.
- Electric
- Describes a force caused by electric charges that can attract or repel without touching.
Talk about the science
- How can an object stay still even when two forces are acting on it?
- What motion pattern would help you predict where a rolling ball will be next?
- How are magnetic attraction and magnetic repulsion alike and different?
- Which evidence shows that a force acted even when two objects did not touch?
Try one more thing
Extension activity
Plan a fair investigation of one force question. Change only the ramp height, surface, or magnet distance; measure three trials; display the results; and use the pattern as evidence for a motion prediction.
Teacher and tutor note
Classroom adaptation
After the search, rotate teams through a ramp, a surface-friction test, and a magnet station. Students record evidence, label each force as contact or noncontact, and explain one motion pattern to the class.
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