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What`machines`help
people`in`your`home
or`school?

Suggestion: Act out what that machine does, and say the WORK WORDS it uses.

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What`do`you`think:
how`long`would`it
take`to`dig`a`hole
for`a`pool?

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Extend this lesson

Assessments

View all extensions

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# Extensions

Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the activity & exploration you just completed.

Lesson Assessment
Drawing Prompt: Ask students to draw a machine doing work.
Read-aloud: These books will get your students thinking and talking about pushes, pulls, and other "work words."
Videos: A video for excavator enthusiasts.

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# Read-aloud books

These picture books are all about pushes, pulls, and other work words.

Construction by Sally Sutton. With rhythmic text, basic vocabulary, and bright pictures, this book is great to read aloud. Can your students find the work words?

And Everyone Shouted, “Pull!” A First Look at Forces and Motion by Claire Llewellyn. A farmer and his animals figure out how pushes and pulls will help them get their goods to market.

Duck in the Truck by Jez Alborough: Duck’s truck gets stuck in some muck. Can he get unstuck with the help of a frog, a sheep in a jeep, and a goat in a boat?

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# Video

Dance along to the excavator song while watching this digging machine work.

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push

1 of 4

to move an object away from you

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pull

2 of 4

to move an object toward you

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machine

3 of 4

a tool that uses pushes and pulls to do something

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invent

4 of 4

to create something new, often an object or a way of doing something

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Image & Video Credits

Mystery Science respects the intellectual property rights of the owners of visual assets. We make every effort to use images and videos under appropriate licenses from the owner or by reaching out to the owner to get explicit permission. If you are the owner of a visual and believe we are using it without permission, please contact us—we will reply promptly and make things right.

Exploration

school kid drawing by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: wavebreakmedia

doodle by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Nikolaeva

thought bubble by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Wenpei

futuristic home by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Esteban de Armas

chopping vegetables by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Nikodash

the world's first robotic kitchen by Moley Robotics

laundry pile by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: S.dungjaroen

messy room by Matt Grommes , used under CC BY-SA

1800s children by Lewis Hines , used under Public Domain

chocolate by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Picsfive

kids shoes by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Michael Dechev

small house by Andrew Ballet , used under CC BY-SA

grinding cacao by David Benjamin

washing clothes by hand by Alexa Weber Morales

hand saw by Work with Sounds , used under CC BY

washing machine by lexmarks567

kitchen by Riverview Homes, Inc. , used under CC BY-SA

toaster by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: trekandshoot

woman loading dishwasher by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Andrey_Popov

hand gesture by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: photka

washing machine closeup by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Serghei Starus

woman unloading dishwasher by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Andrey_Popov

inside of a dishwasher by Bito

hand mixer by Work with Sounds , used under CC BY

whipping cream by hand by CB99Videos

drilling through wood by Justin Depew

hand drill by Jason Stamper

swimming pool by ThomasLENNE

large hole in backyard by Triton Pools

Activity

kid digging a hole by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Catalin Petolea

shovel by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: markara

excavator by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Kokliang

hole in the ground by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Mr.adisorn khiaopo

shovel by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Zhukov Oleg

construction worker digging by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Aleksej Artiuch

kids standing by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Sergey Novikov

young boy standing by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Hogan Imaging

hand gesture by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: photka

Credits

“Students were engaged the whole time, and using movement with work words to build vocabulary development was awesome! The real world application of digging a pool (something all kids are interested in) was a great idea. Plus the questions were appropriate for 5 and 6 year olds. They were so engaged on talking with a partner, very inquiry based. The machine pictures were so interesting, especially the world's largest excavator. They were completely enthralled! Putting a man in front was great to show the how large it actually is. ”

“Great 1st or 2nd lesson day activity. Got kids thinking about forces and motion but also OUT OF THEIR SEATS! YAY! Bonus is that their are no materials or set-up in this lesson, just "plug and play." Thanks!”

“Pretending to dig like the machine and pausing to discuss their estimation of how much dirt they had dug as a shovel vs. the excavator before revealing the picture of the hole. My students were so engaged!”

“watching the videos you showed & the online video links & my kids loved learning, dancing, drawing. it was a great morning learning activity to all learn together for all ages including for mom & dad! Thank you! I'm very excited about this website & what you are offering!”

“The kids loved the extra videos you included, especially the Excavator Song. They also had a lot of fun doing the movements of the shovel and excavator, great choice in getting kindergartners up and moving. They were very engaged!”

“The best part was the activity of kids going through the motions of digging machines...helped some realize the motions (pushing,pulling, moving, dumping) that machines do for us. Looking forward to the Force Olympics......”

“Doing the activity was the most fun and relevant for my K-1 ELL students. To make it more real, I had them pick up paper plates and move them as if they were an excavator and then I had them build one with connecting blocks that required pushing and pulling. The first graders also wrote as many work words they could remember. ”

“We loved the music video in the extras :-) Bringing the concept down to the kids by using a putting a pool in and how long it would take using a shovel vs. an excavator was excellent. I also appreciated the questions written in a way that is familiar with K - 1 kiddos - the highlighted words were a good tool to have the kiddos read aloud and concentrate on one word at a time.”

“My students were engaged the whole time. We did the writing extension and the online read aloud. They loved the dance along excavator song as a closing. Perfect well rounded lesson for kindergarten!”

“My kids loved this science lesson. They especially loved the acting part (pretending that they were digging with a shovel and then with an excavator.) They also really loved the Excavator Song. We must have listed to the song 20 times. ”

“This lesson was very clever and kept the attention of my kinder students. It was an excellent mix of passive and active learning activities. They especially enjoyed pretending to dig the swimming pool. Keep the K-1 lessons coming! ”

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What's the biggest excavator?

Vocabulary

Reading

Assessments

Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the activity & exploration you just completed.

push

pull

machine

invent

Image & Video Credits

15 mins

15 mins

Share this lesson

Student link

Google Classroom

Email parents

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Reading

Assessments

Drawing Prompt

Mini-lessons

Transcripts

Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

Sign up now for tons of free lessons like this one!

What's the biggest excavator?

Vocabulary

Reading

Assessments

Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the activity & exploration you just completed.

push

pull

machine

invent

Image & Video Credits

Featured Reviews

Activity Prep

15 mins

15 mins

Share this lesson

Student link

Google Classroom

Email parents

Extend this lesson

Vocabulary

Reading

Assessments

Drawing Prompt

Mini-lessons

Transcripts

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