The invention discloses a method for preparing foamed magnesium used as a buffering energy absorption material. According to the method, the powder metallurgy pore-forming agent technology is adopted, urea and magnesium powder are used for preparing the foamed magnesium through the compounding and mixing step, the compression molding step and the sintering step, the urea is used as a pore-forming agent, and absolute ethyl alcohol is used as a binder; as a result, the pore structure of the material is more uniform, the performance of the obtained foamed magnesium material is improved, substances which pollute the environment cannot be produced after the urea and the absolute ethyl alcohol are removed at a high temperature, and the material cost is low; moreover, the two-section type sintering process is adopted, so that consumption of energy is reduced, preparation cost is lowered, and benefit is increased. The foamed magnesium prepared through the method has low yield stress and a wide stress platform, meets the requirement for a good buffering energy absorption material, can be well applied to a vehicle damper and the like to serve as the buffering energy absorption material, provides a novel technological approach for preparation of a material of a high-performance buffer and has very good application prospect.