Science Discoveries

Discovering the world around you!

Young children’s innate curiosity about investigating their world makes them natural scientists.

Young children are born scientists, whose boundless curiosity and developing skills give them the motivation and capability to investigate and better understand their world.

When we teach preschool children science we are teaching the skills children will need throughout their lives to think about a problem and to explore its possible answers.

When teaching science to preschoolers you are also incorporating Math, Literacy and Motor Skills.

As we teach children to “experience” science, remember that it’s an approach to learning and life.

Creating environments which facilitate exploration cultivate creativity, encourage wonder and problem solving, are environments that plant the seeds for a love of life long learning.

Our job is to connect the experiences to the concepts in a manner that allows the children to be actively involved in their explorations and discoveries about the world around them.

Discovery Bottles

Children will develop science skills about gravity in motion, liquid separation and buoyancy.

· Fill recycled water bottle with different liquids.

· Add colored water or colored distilled water.

· Add glitter, marbles foam pieces.

· Hot glue lid

Liquids

· Oil

· Mineral Oil

· Corn Syrup

· Maple Syrup

· Olive Oil

· Clear Hair Gel

· Clear Shampoo

· Water

· Isopropyl rubbing alcohol

· Mix ½ cups of dishwashing soap, ¾ cup vinegar, 1 cup water and liquid watercolor or food coloring. Pour liquid into Nancy Bottles

· Squirt liquid mixture from the Nancy Bottles into the souffle cup of baking soda.

Markers are made up of different color pigment. When the water soaks up the filter, it carries the pigment from the ink up with it. The colors separate and become visible.

Sound Discovery Bottles

Children will develop listening skills as they create, compare, and classify sounds.

· Fill clear plastic water bottles with different materials.

· Make two sets. One that the children can see through. One that is covered. Have the children match the sounds.

Materials

· Pop Corn Kernels

· Dried Beans

· Gravel

· Broken Glass

· Dried Peas

· Rice

· Bells

· Feathers

Children will gain knowledge about the changes of weather. Children will develop measuring and time skills by recording rainfall over a period of time.

· Place the screwed top end inside the new opening of the bottle. Tape around the edge.

Meteorologist

Children will learn about weather words and the works of meteorologists as they begin to observe, describe and record the weather.

Create a Weather chart. How many days are sunny, cloudy, rainy or windy.

Each day have the children find the weather of the day on the weather wheel. Chart it on the chart and keep a running record.

Bone Study

· Collect a variety of chicken and turkey bones.

· Lay out a large sheet of paper that has the outline of a chicken drawn on it.

· Let the children arrange and rearrange the bones on the bones on the chicken outline.

Explain to children that scientist collect bones and carefully put them together to guess where they came from.

Observing Bones

· Collect a variety of chicken, turkey, pork and beef bones.

· Set out scales, rulers and magnifying glasses.

· Set out a set of picture cards with the animals that the bones came from.

· Let the children use the scales, rulers and magnifying glasses to weigh, measure and study the bones.

How are the bones alike? How are the bones different? Which bone is heaviest? Which bone is the longest? Can you guess which bone came from which animal?

Whirls of Fun

Children will develop skill on gravity in motion.

· Cut out a 6 ½ inch long by 1 ½ inch wide strip of paper.

· Cut a 3 inch slit down the middle of the strip to create a pair of wings.

· Fold down the wings in opposite directions.

· Attach a paper clip to the bottom of the strip, for weight.

· Drop and watch it whirl to the ground.

Magnet Mania

Children will problem-solve and build observation and prediction skills as they experiment with magnets.

· Place magnetic and nonmagnetic items on a table.

· Have children use a Prediction Chart to predict what is and is not magnetic.

· Place two trays in the middle of the table, one marked magnetic (Yes) and the other marked nonmagnetic (No).

· Have the children use a magnet to test the items.

· Have children go back to the Prediction Chart to see if their predictions were right.

Children will develop science, math, and language skills as they learn about materials that absorb water.

· Materials that absorb water (cotton balls, small pieces of sponge, fabric, washcloths, paper towel, paper)

Have children predict which items they think will absorb water. Chart the predictions.

Give children trays with items that absorb water and items that do not absorb water. On the tray set a bowl of water and droppers.

Have children experiment with the bowl of water and the droppers. Record the findings.

We have all provided pre-mixed corn starch and water goop. Next time let the children mix and experiment with the items themselves.

Understanding that combining the materials and watching the transformation is the most intriguing aspect of the early childhood sensory experience.

Provide the children with a large art tray. On the tray have a small container for mixing, a bowl with spoon of corn starch, watercolors with droppers.

Children will develop observation skills and language skills as they see the mold grow.

· Scraps of bread, cheese, lemon or lime (and any other food items that you might want to try)

Conduct an experiment about how mold grows on food. Have children place one damp piece of bread in a container and one not damp in another container. Tape container lids, so that it will be airtight. Label the containers damp and dry.

Have the children predict what will happen to the different food items. Which will get mold the fastest? How many days will it take for the mold to begin to appear on each food item? Record their predictions.

Assist children in recording their observations by using a calendar chart and creating observational drawings.

Air is all around us. Air affects the way things move. Talk to the children about how each piece of paper is the same, but also how it is different.

Explain to the children that as the flat piece of paper falls, it has to push through the air and more of the surface is exposed to the air. Since there is more air pushing and putting pressure on the flat piece of paper, it falls more slowly.

Let children drop different items, giving the experience of discovery what will drop faster.

Crystal Rock Garden

· Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, then add 4 ounces of alum (found in the canning or spice sections of supermarkets), stirring until the alum is dissolved.

· Pour the solution into a clear glass bowl with clean rocks and pebbles covering the bottom of the bowl.

Within an hour you should see be able to see alum crystals forming as glasslike squares. Within several days you should have a number of crystals to look at.

Many other rock crystals were formed the same way, when water saturated with minerals seep into space in rocks. When the liquid evaporated, the crystals were left behind.

Children will develop science, math, language, and team building skills as they take a closer look at plants.

Children need to have my different planting experiences. When children experience planting seeds they learn responsibility of caring for their plants.

Children will observe, predict, experiment and problem-solve when given the opportunity to grow a variety of things.

Experiment with sun light. Place grown plants by a window and watch how they grow towards the light. Turn them around and watch them grow towards the light again.

Put some seedlings inside a closed shoe box with a hole at one end. Water regularly, but keep the lid on. Observe what happens over time.

Take a look at what was happening in the classrooms after
the work shop Science Discoveries.
Thank you Alma Perez for inviting me to observe in your State Preschool Classroom.
Bernard Drive State Preschool
YCUSD Child Development Programs

Thank you Inez Maldonado for inviting me to observe in your Children Center Classroom
Bernard Drive Children Center
YCUSD Child Development Programs