Magnets for primary schools

If there's a force that keeping the technological world working it is magnetism. In videos, televisions, computers - this magic force is at work in so many electrical things. You don't even need to be a scientist to know that a fridge door is kept shut with magnetic power, as well as a touch of personal willpower too.

So we need to teach children about magnets, and about poles, attraction, compasses and magnetic fields. Getting them interested shouldn't be hard - because there are some excellent resources about. Some are just so good, that if you get them for school you'll want to take them home.
It's hard to generalise about what schools need - it might be a class set of magnets; secondary schools will want class sets of magnets while primaries might need a mixture of a mixture of different ones. But all schools will want a few really powerful ones - because all that 'magnetic force at a distance' is too mind-blowing to miss.
For the best ever box of magnet tricks, the Magic Penny Set it really is. It's a booklet of ideas, a hand-full of coins and two very strong magnets - so strong they snap together with a crack.
With this you can make a pyramid with a dozen pennies on their edges, or make a penny roll along a wire coat hanger. You can 'launch' a penny from one end of a magnet to the other or make a hanging penny chain and then spin the bottom coin by blowing on it. The tricks will make excellent demonstrations and appeal to conjuring-types.
Of course, you can do most of this with any magnet, if you know your stuff. However the built-in booklet, while written for adults, does throw you a few surprise tricks and builds your conjuring confidence. The set also makes a nice gift and it's extra nice that the proceeds go to hospital charities.
And there’s much more - Dowling, the magnet makers do an impressive collection of kits. For example, their ‘Giant Horseshoe Magnet’ is a no-mistaking it magnet for primary schools and their colourful ‘Primary Magnet Wands’, invite probing at all sorts of magnetic suspects. They are quite powerful too and work well with ‘Magnetic Marbles’ which roll over them amusingly.
The Magnetic marbles form chains and circles and they make a mean game of marbles where they stick instead of bounce. You can also dip a magnet into some ‘Counting Chips’ - which are light, see-through coloured circles and more fun than paper clips, and get picked up by the dozen.
Dowling’s have all sorts of kits and permutations, some expressly for school and some for toy shops. Secondary schools needn’t shy away from all the colour - Floating Magnet rings, the Magnet Motor kit, and the Electric Motor and Generator kit will make stimulating show pieces.
You can also get that rubberised Magnet Strip, the actual stuff in the fridge door seal, by the roll - more than science you can use it for technology projects and of course to stick objects to your filing cabinet. And some of Dowling's ‘Wonderboard’ kits, which have a metal sheet with stick-on Magnet Strip shapes, will find a classroom use. Using them the children can design a castle or a palace or an insect or butterfly - with little chance of it being knocked and spoiled.
For the library, Dorling Kindersley's 'First Book of Batteries and Magnets' is a good choice. The large pages and lovely pictures show how to make a floating turtle compass, a fridge magnet and a fun clown which bounces on two repelling magnets. There are plenty of home projects and a few ideas for school - for example, you might show a magnet’s field by hanging it in iron fillings and golden syrup.
As you browse the catalogues, do note the materials that magnets are made from. ‘Chrome steel’ magnets are cheap and fairly good but nearly all of the ones in the kits above are the very powerful ‘ceramic’ or ‘ferrite’ type. These keep most of their power even if you drop them - although the material is brittle. For something formidable get an Alnico magnet, and to sample power which is almost frightening, a pair of small Neodymium magnets will amuse.
By the way, your magnets will last longer if you store them so that they don't bang about in a tray. Keep them in matched pairs with opposite poles attracting or replace the 'keeper', its a piece of steel which channels the magnetic field and so protects it if the magnet is dropped.
I suppose it’s ironic that magnets are found in computers, televisions and videos - the very things that you have to keep far away from them - one glancing blow and your hard disc and tapes could easily be wiped. But, then there’s usually some irony to do with magnets, isn’t there?