How to Teach Static Electricity to Kids - Project and Lesson Plan

“How on earth do I explain this to third graders??”

I thought when I saw the static electricity lesson I was supposed to plan. Kids understand the tangible and seen, how do I explain charges and protons???

BY MAKING IT TANGIBLE AND SEEN.

Here are my steps below! Use it as a loose lesson plan if you’d like :)

1. Grab attention with the known. Animals are ALWAYS a good attention grabber, but check out the list above for extra ideas! Here’s what I start with in my static electricity project lesson:

   “Flying up out of the Amazon river, Peanut the Scarlet Macaw headed straight for the top of his tree. He was still soaking wet from his bath when he reached his perch.

   Looking at all of the fruit and nuts he had collected with pride, he lovingly touched his favorite--a metal cap from a bottle. It was so shiny and bright and...Oh no! Suddenly, Peanut felt a shock go through his foot. He had nudged the cap a little with one of his claws, and it surprised him with a shock! What happened?”

2. Review the key concepts (forces chart). Make sure your kids have a good handle on the target vocabulary for this unit BEFORE teaching Static Electricity. If this is skipped over, your students will be confused and you’ll end up frustrated. Sound familiar? ;) Download the Forces Chart for free!

3. Bridge the gap from known to unknown. Talk through the concepts below slowly, asking for students feedback. Remember that you aren’t lecturing. You’re guiding them into discovery.

   -Static electricity is an imbalance of charges between the surfaces of two objects.

   -A charge comes from the smallest parts of a material--the protons and electrons.

   -When a surface has more protons than electrons, it is positive.

   -When a surface has more electrons than protons, it is negative.

   -Here's why this matters--positive surface attract negative surfaces, and positive surfaces repel positive surfaces.

   So when a surface has a lot of electrons and touches a surface that has a lot of protons, they "stick" together. That is static electricity.

   In the story (from the attention-grabber), the bottle cap had a lot of negative electrons because it was made of metal, and Peanut the Macaw had a lot of positive protons from swimming in the river.

4. Check understanding. You can use many different methods to do this. My favorite way is to do a collaborative exit ticket activity. You can also use a written quiz, verbal quiz, or game. See pictures below for ideas.

5. Apply knowledge with project. ALWAYS apply information with a hands-on project. This helps move knowledge from the working part of the brain into long-term memory. Make sure whatever you choose, you make students can be a part of the project set-up and see something actively happening.

   Here’s the project lesson I made! Click to purchase :)