The attracting and repelling properties of a magnet are fascinating to children. Demonstrate them by laying two bar magnets end to end; the like poles will repel each other and the unlike poles attract each other.
You can get your child to make their own magnet using two bar magnets and a steel bar. Lay the bar horizontally, and hold the magnets by their tips, one in each hand, with two ends (north and south) that attract, pointing downwards. Stroke the bar simultaneously with the magnets, working outwards in opposite directions, from the centre of the bar. Stroking magnetises the bar by realigning its atoms to create its own north and south poles.
