Forms of Energy Activities for Kids (and free anchor charts)
Take It Slow
Teaching students about forms of energy can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task! One trick that I have found that helps, is breaking it up into chunks. Don’t jump in head first, by telling students all of the different forms, then teaching them all at once. You will overwhelm yourself and your students. Take it slow! Another tip- find lessons and resources you enjoy doing. Don’t do elaborate science experiments if that’s not your jam! It doesn’t have to be fancy to be fun! I have included some of my favorite forms of energy activities for kids to help make your planning easier.
Make a plan
First things first. Make a plan! Decide what forms of energy your students need to know. Since I teach the TEKS, my students need to know about sound, light, and heat. (this is second grade). I like to first start out by teaching what energy is, then each week I focus on a new form of energy. Spending a week on each energy is more than enough and it helps easily break up each form into a doable schedule.
What is Energy?
Energy is what we need to get work done! Energy is coffee… no not really, but kind of- right. Sadly we aren’t teaching that kind of energy, but I would like to know how I can get more of that! I tell my students that energy is how we do things and that it is something we need in order to work. Here is a list of resources you can check out to help you teach the first concept.
Forms of Energy Activities and Resources:
Here is a list of forms of energy activities and resources that I use in my class. A lot of the resources from this post are from my Forms of Energy worksheet Pack.
FREE Forms of energy anchor charts
Grab some free anchor chart templates to help you teach your class about sound, light, and heat energy!
Forms of Energy Websites
- Kids Korner is a simple website that explores the different forms and explains what energy is for kids. The website also has lots of ideas about forms of energy activities and resources to use.
- Brainpop Jr. is my favorite resource if you have access. My kids love watching the video and then completing the quizzes.
- E School Today is another great science website that breaks down the different forms of energy for kids.
- Dr. Binocs video on energy is great he has a view that go over each topic. This is a good one to start with.
Books to Teach About Forms of Energy
Oh, my love for amazon runs so deep! Books are such a great way to incorporate language arts into science. Here is a list of some of my favorites!
- The Shocking Truth About Energy is a great book with fun illustrations that show how energy can travel from different places and take on different forms. The Author is Loreen Leedy. She has some other great books too!
- Energy Makes Things Happen by Kimberly Bradley. This is an old one, but I finally decided to take it out of my library and read it. I am pretty sure that this was a hand me down given to me by a retired teacher, but it is worth the read and is a relatively inexpensive and easy to find book!
- Light is All Around Us by Wendy Pfeffer is a good book that talks about the different forms of light. (I read this book then make an anchor chart to go with it!)
- Sound is All Around Us is by Wendy Pfeffer too. It goes great with the light book because the illustrations and style is the same. Once I have read both I leave these books in our science center for my students to read.
- The Energy that Warms Us is my go-to book to kick off our unit in heat. I have found that there are not as many books about heat as there are light and sound. This book is by Jennifer Boothroyd.
Forms of Energy Anchor Charts Ideas
Here are a few anchor charts I made to go along with teaching this topic. I created these one at a time, and once I introduced the new form of energy I had students share their ideas on sticky notes.
Using sticky notes helps me recycle the charts so that I can use them next year! I put them on binder rings and hang them up on my anchor chart wall.
Science Experiments
To help give students a hands-on approach to learning these concepts, I use hands-on activities and experiments to get them excited about learning.
Sometimes it’s hard to squeeze it all in. So, I will put the extra worksheets from my forms of energy unit into my science center or give the activities as a homework assignment.
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