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Science and Technology K–6 · Kindergarten

Movement stations: sliding, rolling, spinning and bouncing

Physical World (NSW 2017); Science understanding, Physical sciences (ACARA v9)

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Objects move in different ways, and the way they move depends on their shape and on how they are pushed or pulled.

What you need

  • Station 1 slide: a wooden cube, a flat eraser, a book and a smooth table top
  • Station 2 roll: a tennis ball, a marble, a tin can, a cardboard tube and a wooden cube
  • Station 3 spin: a spinning top, a coin, a plastic lid
  • Station 4 bounce: a tennis ball, a basketball, a beanbag, a wooden cube
  • Four picture cards: slide, roll, spin, bounce; one recording grid per learner with an object column and four tick columns

How to do it

  1. At the slide and roll stations give every object one gentle push; at the spin station give each object a twist; at the bounce station drop each object from knee height onto the floor. Watch what it does.
  2. Tick the column that matches: slide, roll, spin, bounce. An object can get more than one tick.
  3. Predict before testing: will the cube roll. Test it. Record what happened.
  4. Try a stronger push on one object and say what changed (further, faster, same way).
  5. Sort the objects into ones that roll and ones that only slide, and say what shape the rollers have.

What you should see

Round objects (ball, marble, can, tube) roll; flat-sided objects (cube, eraser, book) slide and stop; the top, coin and lid spin when twisted; the balls bounce, the beanbag does not, and the cube bounces very little and tumbles. A stronger push sends the same object further and faster but does not turn a slider into a roller. The learner knows it worked when the recording grid shows every round object ticked in the roll column and no flat-sided object ticked there.

What changes

This activity lists no variables to change, measure and keep the same.

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

  • A stronger push makes any object roll.
  • Heavy objects cannot be moved by a small push.

Safety card

Low riskLearners carry it out

Hazards

  • Balls rolling under feet; marbles as a choking hazard

Controls

  • Marbles counted out and back; stations spaced apart

Note

No chemicals or heat. Record the activity on the school's risk assessment (Primary School RiskAssess, Ecosolve Australia, riskassess.com.au).

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), NESA. Current syllabus; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare, 2027 start teaching the 2024 syllabus. Code read from the official syllabus document on 2026-09-22.STe-5PW-STSTe-1WS-S
  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), NESA. Implementation from 2027, so this code describes the future syllabus. Code read from the outcomes page on 2026-09-22.STE-SCI-01STE-PQU-01
  • Australian Curriculum v9AC9SFU02AC9SFI01AC9SFI02AC9SFI03

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

  1. www.scootle.edu.au/ec/search?accContentId=AC9SFU02
  2. www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/curriculum/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2017
  3. curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2024/content/early-stage-1
  4. primaryconnections.org.au/teaching-sequences/foundation/make-it-move
  5. primaryconnections.org.au/v84-sequences/move

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