My four and six-year-old love this Rattlesnake board game that their aunt got them for Christmas. The idea is to place a magnet on the board without causing them to clash together.
We like the simple rules, and who doesn't love magnets? This is a game of fine motor skills that's perfect for their age.
|When your board starts to look like this, watch out!|
Since we love magnets so much and they also got magnetic building tiles for Christmas, we've had a lot of questions about magnets around here. I think that's funny since we've always had magnets of all sorts, including wooden trains. The rattlesnake "eggs" intrigued them!
To explore magnets more, we found facts about magnetism (and video) at Easy Science for Kids, and for something more in-depth, an introduction to magnets video on Khan Academy (my 6yo has an account there. It's free!) and also NASA's explanation of Earth's Magnetosphere.
To round off, here are Elementary Science Experiments for Magnets. My kids have done the first one at Marbles Kids Museum near us, exploring properties and the magnetic field.
PS. My family also got them buzzing earth magnets as extras for the game, but they're a little bigger than the game magnets. They also buzz better and I think they'd be fun for an extra challenge!
PPS. How are your kids exploring magnets? Share in the comments below!