Forces and Motion Science Stations | Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Lab

What others say

"My students had a blast doing these stations. Any hands-on activities to teach science skills is a win. "

Catherine W.

Description

Get ready for an engaging hands-on lab activity to get students pumped up about FORCES! Students will complete a simple activity at each station to identify differences between balanced and unbalanced forces and compare contact and non-contact forces such as friction, magnetism, and air resistance.

Use these simple activities as class demonstrations or pick and choose which stations are appropriate for your class!

Students can complete the science centers with a cooperative group, with a partner, or even investigate on their own!

Includes:

*printable cards with directions and questions for 7 different stations!

*printable lab sheet for students to record their observations from each station

*teaching suggestions

*answer key

Materials (per station):

a few toothpicks or skewers

1 magnet

1 paperclip

2 water bottles

3 spring scales

1 rubberband

1 book to use as a ramp

a towel

a toy car

a beaker or glass

*Please Note: Save $ by purchasing this activity as part of a bundle!

Motion Forces and Newtons Laws Worksheets Activities and Articles BIG BUNDLE

These articles and additional activities are the perfect addition to this product!

***Follow my store for more great activities and ideas! Click HERE to Follow***

Don't forget to leave a review to earn credits for your next TPT purchase.

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Reported resources will be reviewed by our team. Report this resource to let us know if this resource violates TPT's content guidelines.

Forces and Motion Science Stations | Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Lab

Name: Forces and Motion Science Stations | Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Lab
Brand: NothingScaresMe
SKU: 684096
Price: 3.50 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.73 (28 reviews)

NothingScaresMe

168 Followers

$3.50

Highlights

Digital downloads

PDF

Grades

4th - 8th

Subjects

Physical Science, Physics, Science

Standards

NGSS3-PS2-1

NGSSMS-PS2-2

NGSSMS-PS2-5

What others say

"My students had a blast doing these stations. Any hands-on activities to teach science skills is a win. "

Catherine W.

Save even more with bundles

Forces and Motion Unit | Newtons Laws and Motion Lab and Activities Bundle

Teach your entire forces and motion unit with this engaging bundle of Newton’s Laws activities, force and motion labs, science stations, worksheets, reading passages, and games! These hands-on physical science resources help students understand difficult concepts through interactive learning and rea

Price $18.00Original Price $27.00Save $9.00

Description

Use these simple activities as class demonstrations or pick and choose which stations are appropriate for your class!

Students can complete the science centers with a cooperative group, with a partner, or even investigate on their own!

Includes:

*printable cards with directions and questions for 7 different stations!

*printable lab sheet for students to record their observations from each station

*teaching suggestions

*answer key

Materials (per station):

a few toothpicks or skewers

1 magnet

1 paperclip

2 water bottles

3 spring scales

1 rubberband

1 book to use as a ramp

a towel

a toy car

a beaker or glass

*Please Note: Save $ by purchasing this activity as part of a bundle!

Motion Forces and Newtons Laws Worksheets Activities and Articles BIG BUNDLE

These articles and additional activities are the perfect addition to this product!

***Follow my store for more great activities and ideas! Click HERE to Follow***

Don't forget to leave a review to earn credits for your next TPT purchase.

Report this resource to TPT

Reported resources will be reviewed by our team. Report this resource to let us know if this resource violates TPT's content guidelines.

4.7

Rated 4.73 out of 5, based on 28 reviews

28
ratings

Mostly used with 6th and 8th grades

Reviews

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

All verified TPT purchases

Good resource

Rated 5 out of 5

January 29, 2026

Met expectations

Great value

Standards-aligned

This hands-on lab activity makes learning about different types of forces fun and interactive. The station format encourages exploration, critical thinking, and teamwork, helping students understand science concepts in a memorable way. A great tool for engaging STEM learning! ???

Tara L.

46 reviews • Florida

Grades taught: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Easy hands-on activity

Rated 5 out of 5

December 11, 2025

Met expectations

Great value

Standards-aligned

I was looking for more hands-on activities to reinforce the concept of forces. This was very easy to set up and pretty straightforward. I couple stations required a little extra clarification. The students enjoyed the different stations.

Karen M.

3 reviews

Grades taught: 6th

Nice lab stations

Rated 5 out of 5

October 5, 2025

Met expectations

Great value

Standards-aligned

I needed some new ideas for Forces mini stations and these were a great addition to a few of my own. Nice, easy set up and lots of fun.

Cynthia S.

237 reviews • Florida

Grades taught: 6th

Rated 5 out of 5

March 13, 2025

My students had a blast doing these stations. Any hands-on activities to teach science skills is a win.

Catherine W.

282 reviews

Grades taught: 6th

Rated 4 out of 5

November 6, 2024

Always good to get kids up moving with station to let them explore forces in a hands on approach

Joshua Ratterman

(TPT Seller)

113 reviews

Grades taught: 9th

Rated 5 out of 5

April 19, 2024

My students really enjoyed the different stations. Even my classes that are notorious for non-engagement participated well in this activity. The required materials are easy to round up and the set up was very quick.

Jessica B.

10 reviews

Grades taught: 8th

Rated 5 out of 5

March 22, 2024

we did not get a chance to use this but it is a great activity and would really help students understand the different forces

eVA B.

2,313 reviews

Grades taught: 6th

Rated 4 out of 5

September 24, 2023

I used some of the stations with my 8th graders. I had to make the directions more specific. I also extended the stations to include other contact forces like applied, normal, and elastic.

Jill W.

92 reviews

Grades taught: 8th

Questions & Answers

Standards

to see state-specific standards (only available in the US).

NGSS3-PS2-1

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. Examples could include an unbalanced force on one side of a ball can make it start moving; and, balanced forces pushing on a box from both sides will not produce any motion at all. Assessment is limited to one variable at a time: number, size, or direction of forces. Assessment does not include quantitative force size, only qualitative and relative. Assessment is limited to gravity being addressed as a force that pulls objects down.

NGSSMS-PS2-2

Plan an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object’s motion depends on the sum of the forces on the object and the mass of the object. Emphasis is on balanced (Newton’s First Law) and unbalanced forces in a system, qualitative comparisons of forces, mass and changes in motion (Newton’s Second Law), frame of reference, and specification of units. Assessment is limited to forces and changes in motion in one-dimension in an inertial reference frame, and to change in one variable at a time. Assessment does not include the use of trigonometry.

NGSSMS-PS2-5

Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact. Examples of this phenomenon could include the interactions of magnets, electrically-charged strips of tape, and electrically-charged pith balls. Examples of investigations could include first-hand experiences or simulations. Assessment is limited to electric and magnetic fields, and limited to qualitative evidence for the existence of fields.