Science
“We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.”
Please note: Uninflated balloons are a choking hazard for young children. Please only allow young children to use balloons with adult supervision.
Homemade Bubble Solution
Materials: 1 quart water, ¾ cup Dawn dish soap, 4 Tbsp Cornstarch
Slowly pour the Dawn into the water and gently stir so you don’t create many bubbles.
Add the cornstarch and gently stir until dissolved.
Let it sit for 10 minutes. Then, you are ready to make big bubbles!
Grow a rainbow with Sheree
Flower blooming activity: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4
Print these three-part Nomenclature Cards that will help your child learn the body parts of common animals
This packet includes many activities that teach about birds and the foods that they eat
This video teaches the names and calls of a variety of birds
We found this fun article on turning milk into "plastic," and read in the comments that this simple process is very similar to the process of making paneer, a delicious soft cheese. Try one of these recipes, or both, and let us know how it goes!
Create a sun print:
Take a dark-colored piece of construction paper and place it in a very sunny spot. Put a hard toy or another item on the paper. The more clear the borders of this item, the more clearly it will make a print. We recommend using a key, a block, or another similar item.
After a few hours, remove the toy. What do you see on the paper?
Replace the toy and wait another couple hours or a day and check again. How does it look now? Discuss how the sun fades the color in the uncovered portion of the paper.
If you'd like even more sun print fun, you can purchase specially-made sun print paper that creates a bolder imprint.
Share your family heritage. Find the countries of your ancestry on a map or globe. See if your child can name each continent the countries are located within. Share photographs and start your own “Culture Box” filled with artifacts and postcards
Download this All About Me template, or create your own, and have each member of your family complete it. Share your answers over a meal or while relaxing together.
Making Rain:
You will need a large container full of water (can be colored blue to make it easier to see) labeled “Rain”, 1 bowl of cotton balls labeled "Clouds", and tongs.
Place both bowls in an empty tub or bin. Invite your child to put cotton balls (clouds) into the water (rain). Have them squeeze the clouds into the empty tub and watch it rain. Discuss how the “clouds” absorb water then “rain” when they are full. Use tongs to pick up the cotton balls to create a fine motor activity.
This is a list of excellent structure-building activities for young children, many of which use materials you likely already have at home!
Use these three-part cards to learn about the parts of a flower. If you do not have a printer you can recreate these cards easily with your child. You can also write the parts of the flower and use a real flower for this activity.
There are so many wonderful videos of the butterfly life cycle available online, including this beautiful video of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.
This lifecycle of a butterfly activity allows children to manipulate three-part cards in order to internalize the information on the cards. The three-part cards consist of a card with a picture with word label, a card of the picture, and a card with the word label, all of which are meant to be matched.
Use playdough to make models of the life cycle of a butterfly.
If you'd like to observe the butterfly life cycle in your own home, you can order a kit like this one that comes with everything you will need, including caterpillars.
Follow these simple instructions, using materials you already have around the house, to observe the growth of a bean plant.
Use the center of a bell pepper, or another vegetable with visible seeds, to explore seeds with your child.
The Carrots are Orange boasts the “ultimate list of baking soda and vinegar experiments.” Use the balloon that was leftover from your child’s last birthday party and put it together with a plastic bottle, the baking soda, and vinegar, and the results will be impressive.
If your child really wants to know what is going on inside that seed s/he is germinating, there is a blackline master that they can use to make a booklet with nomenclature three-part cards (more information here).
This page has many science activity ideas centered around insects.
A wonderful science observation activity for the spring is to plant seeds, invite your child to water them each day, and observe as the seeds sprout. Seeds that sprout quickly include wheatgrass and green peas.
If you set up a seed-growing observation experiment (mentioned above), provide pencils or crayons and paper, and invite your child to draw their observations or their predictions ("hypotheses") as to what will happen to the seeds.
If you have access to flowers, try this classic flower dyeing activity. You can talk about all of the different parts of a flower, and watch as the flowers pull the food coloring dye up their stem and into their leaves. If you don't have food coloring, you can try boiling fruit peels or mixing spices into the water to make your own dye.
Use this fun activity from the Tate Museum to make your own rainbow in the comfort of your home.
Invite your child to complete these worksheets (Worksheet 1, Worksheet 2) on the life cycle of a butterfly.
Grow bean sprouts in a Ziploc (or clear silicone) bag. Using materials you have around the house, you and your children will be able to observe the roots and leaves growing from the beans.
Return to the flower-dyeing activity from a few weeks ago and introduce new vocabulary related to the process happening within the flower.
Use shaving cream, water, and blue food coloring to simulate rain inside a clear jar.
Using a paper towel, markers, and water, grow a rainbow in your own home!
These simple activities will help to illustrate the water cycle in a more tangible way for your children.
Create ramps with recycled cereal boxes to explore gravity, velocity, and momentum
Do a penny cleaning experiment using vinegar and soap.
Make color eruptions using baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring or a bath color tab.
Invite your child to color this ladybug sheet and discuss the different parts of the insect.