Can Teach recommends a project that combines science with art, thus providing students with a visual reminder of what a magnetic field may look like. Provide each student with a magnet. Have the students cover their magnets with a sheet of paper. Have them sprinkle iron shavings or cut steel wool filling over the top of the sheet. The iron will assume the shape of the magnetic field. Encourage the students to move the magnets around to change the pattern. When they are satisfied with the pattern, spray each sheet of paper with hairspray. Let the pages dry. Reapply the hairspray several times. This will fix the "pictures" in place.
Pro Teacher poses a problem for students: Give each student two magnets, two rubber bands and two small toy cars with moveable wheels. Challenge the students to move one car without doing so by hand. The solution is for each student to use the rubber bands to affix the magnets to the cars. Have students push one car toward the other from different directions. Eventually, if they try all directions, students will position the ends of the magnets with like poles together, which will cause the magnets to repel each other. From this position the students can push one car toward the other, causing the second car to move without being touched.
There is a very simple way to tell whether those advertisements for iron-rich cereals are telling the truth, according to McRel. In a large bowl, crush an entire box of some brand of iron-rich cereal into the smallest possible pieces by hand. Add enough water to the bowl to make a thin mixture. Add more water as you go to maintain this consistency as need be. Attach a small magnet to a nonmagnetic implement that you can use to stir the cereal (chopsticks, a plastic straw or a pencil will do). Use the magnet end to stir the mixture in the bowl for a few minutes. The magnet should attract actual iron from the cereal.
Have students use magnets and needles to create their own compasses, recommends Kidipede. It is easy to pass magnetic properties from a magnet to a needle. Have each student rub the magnet along the length of the needle repeatedly in the same direction. Kidipede recommends 60 repetitions. Once the needle is charged, use tape or glue to secure the needle to any object that will float (such as the plastic cap from a milk jug). Place the flotation device and the needle in a container of water wide enough to allow the float to move. The needle should point to magnetic north.