Turn a magnet
Unlike poles attract. Like poles repel.
Magnet Playground
Turn magnets, change their separation, and test materials to explore magnetic interactions.
Grades 3–5 · Physics
Your goal
Make the two magnets attract. Set the gap at most 80 mm, then test.
Reduced motion is on. The controls still update the scene.
Set the facing pole, choose the other object and adjust the gap. Press Test interaction to reveal the response.
mm
This is a qualitative model. Arrow size shows a relative response, not a measured force or an exact distance law. The small movement after testing is symbolic. Wood has no noticeable magnetic response here. The example clip is magnetic steel.
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Learn with Magnet Playground
Magnet Playground lets elementary students explore magnetic attraction and repulsion by changing a magnet's facing pole and its distance from another object. Test different materials and compare which interactions occur. The labeled north and south poles help children explain why some magnet arrangements attract while others repel. This qualitative activity encourages careful comparisons and predictions without treating every material as magnetic or presenting the illustrated interaction as an exact measurement of real magnetic force.
What to look for
Change the distance
Magnetic interactions become weaker as the magnets move farther apart.
Test a material
Iron and some steels respond strongly to magnets. Many everyday materials do not.
For teachers and curious learners
Recognize attraction, repulsion, and magnetic materials. Ask students to predict what will happen, change one setting, and explain what they observe. Learn gives a starting point. Practice and Challenge offer new goals with the same scene.
The interaction strength is qualitative. The drawing is not a measured magnetic field or an exact force law for real bar magnets.
Continue with Magnets & Magnetic Materials .