Teacher’s Brain

Free Activities for Teaching Forms of Energy

Teaching sound, light, and energy is an important part of early elementary education. Energy is all around us! The sun that shines down on us, the food we eat, the lights in our home. Understanding forms of energy is essential knowledge to have to understand the way the world works. 

Getting our kindergarten, first, or second grade students to understand this concept can be really fun if done right! 

When teaching with younger students, just remember to take it slow to start. This lesson can get a little overwhelming. Explain what energy actually is first, and then introduce examples (sound, heat, light). 

After that, you can read some books on the topic of energy. This is a great way to add variety to your lesson and increase comprehension. 

Then make it fun with science experiments! This is a great time for some hands-on learning. Think Diet Coke and Mentos eruptions or popsicle stick chain reaction activities. These are a great way to see forms of energy in motion. 

For more tips for teaching forms of energy, check out my post here. 

One of my favorite ways to do that is to use these free forms of energy activities.

forms of energy

These printable activities are easy and fun for kindergarten or first grade students. 

Included in this free resource you’ll get:

  • HOME CONNECTION – Parent Project
  • Energy – List the items that produce energy
  • Heat & Light Energy Mini-book
  • I Spy SOUND objects
  • What is energy? POSTER

forms of energy

If you want more, you can check out the full resource here. It covers Sound, Heat, and Light with a 3-week plan including 3 inquiry lessons, data notebook pages, a rubric, a home project, and so much MORE!

These activities are great for helping your early elementary students really understand the topic of energy in a  fun and engaging way! They will love learning and it will set them up for success in later grades.

What are your favorite ways to teach about forms of energy? Let me know in the comments! forms of energy


 

Teaching Forms of Energy

Energy is the ability to do work. We know this, and we appreciate the ways we use energy in our everyday lives. For our students however, this is not necessarily something they would think much about. Our kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade students may not even know a lot about the energy they use every day like sunlight, food, and electricity. They also may not think of light, sound, and heat as types of energy. This is a very important topic for students to understand. 

Something that is important is to know your students’ misconceptions. Most likely, they don’t know what energy looks like. They may think that light can’t move through objects. They may have never thought about vibration creating sound. Teaching these concepts can be really fun with a little prep work!  

Here are some tips for teaching energy forms to your students. 

  • Take it slow. It can be a challenging concept for younger students to grasp at first. You don’t want to overwhelm them right from the start. Plan it out ahead of time and take it one step at a time. 
  • Explain what energy is first, and then start offering examples of energy (sound, heat, and light). Breaking it down will make a difference in student comprehension. 
  • Try reading some books about energy forms. Usually, books are a great way to learn more about subjects from a different source, which can be a great thing for the trickier topics. 
  • Do a variety of activities to get lots of practice. You can do fun science experiments if you want, or you can keep it simple and straightforward. Tell your students that they are the scientists and their job is to understand forms of energy. 

This Forms of Energy Activities resource for kindergarten and first grade would be a great addition to your forms of energy lesson plans. It covers sound, heat, and light with a 3 week plan including 3 inquiry lessons, data notebook, rubric, home project, and more. forms of energy

Here’s some more information on what is included in this Forms of Energy resource:

Lesson Plan (What is a Scientist?) WEEK 1

Lesson Plan (Science Tools) WEEK 2

Lesson Plan (Scientific Method) WEEK 3

Act It Out (Teacher calls out the energy word, students act it out)

Draw or List forms of energy

Forms of Energy Writing and Drawing Printable

Forms of Energy – Heat, Light, Sound Interactive Notebook Page

Energy Mini-Book

Venn Diagram – compare fire and the sun

Ask a Friend – Practice collecting data, predicting and collecting evidence

I SPY Sound Items

Draw what you think sound looks like

Interactive Notebook pages for making a pocket full of things that make sound

Sound Energy Mini-Book

Venn Diagram compare the soft sound of the beach to the loud sound of the music room at school

Writing Page about Sound Energy

Draw 3 forms of energy in the circle.

Inquiry Lesson Light Experiment with various Items to see if light passes through

Inquiry Student Page to collect

Hear and See Sound Experiment

Hear and See Sound by showing vibration

Melting Ice Teacher Instructions for Inquiry Lesson

Student page to collect data on melting ice experiment

Fun Science Hat/Headband 

What is energy? Poster

Vocabulary Posters (sound, soft, vibrate, loud, heat, light)

Energy Notebook Journal with Rubric

Forms of Energy

 

What activities do you like to do to help your students understand forms of energy? Let me know in the comments below!

forms of energy
For more science activities and lessons, check out my post here!