Pre-K Science Activities
A child's job is learning, and the primary tools for this are through exploration and play. As babies, they explore through touching and putting everything in their mouths. By preschool age, they start to understand basic science principles, such as spacial arrangement and measurement. Their desire to manipulate, explore and learn can be enhanced in the classroom and at home by giving them plenty of chances to experience the world in a scientific way.
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Bubbles
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Blowing bubbles is a rite of passage for little ones. Bubbles can not only be fun but can offer a multitude of great science lessons. Making your own bubbles out of dish soap with a drop of glycerin (found in drugstores) teaches about measurement and mixing. (Try a batch without the glycerin and talk about the difference in the two bubbles.) --Experiment with different types of wands for different sizes of bubbles.
--Talk about air movement while blowing straight into the mixture with straws. Add a few drops of food coloring and use construction paper to "print" bubbles.
--Look for the "rainbow" in clear bubbles on sunny days to talk about light refraction.
Spring Fun
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The changing seasons offer hundreds of science explorations. In the spring, explore puddles and talk about evaporation. Sprinkle dry tempera paint on construction paper and let a soft rain "paint" pictures for you. Set out a rain gauge and start a weekly chart to find out what day offered the most rain.
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Summer Exploration
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During summer, enjoy a thunderstorm on the porch, talking about the lightning and what thunder is. Provide plenty of different-sized cups, buckets and spouts for pool play. Add lengths of PVC pipes and joints as well as hose pieces and funnels for waterway construction. Dig trenches in sand to talk about how rivers are created.
Fall Experiments
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Autumn offers a multitude of science fun for all ages in the changing leaves. Explore how plants and veggies decay as the gardens start to wither. Collect and catalog different leaves. Leave seeds for animals to eat.
Cold Experiments
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In winter, make ice blocks outside and use colored water in spray bottles to decorate. Bring snow or ice inside in a large tub and watch it melt, and even help it along by using water to create caverns and holes in the ice. Make bird feeders out of pine cones coated in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed.
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