Preschoolers need science just as much as older children do. At least once a month I try to give my preschoolers a way to watch something and ask questions such as why is that happening or what happens when I mix things together? These activities really helps preschoolers learn new concepts and start to develop the want of exploration. Now many people will try to make these tasks harder than they need to be….. breathe, relax and stay focused on what you really want them to learn from the activity.
I will be sharing three noncomplicated science activities that I have done with my preschoolers, they were very easy and many of my preschoolers asked the questions that started with why, what, or how. I just let them do the activities, ask the questions, and we talked about what was taking place. Very easy and by the end you can pat your back and walk away feeling like a #1 preschool teacher;)
First Activity– Washing/ Polishing Rocks
I found some very dirty rocks in my backyard. Gave the children some towels and bowls of water. The children began dumping the rocks in the water and watching them for a second before using the towel to polish them dry. While this was going on I received questions like why does my scrubbing help the rock shine? Or does the water help the rock stay clean after I dry it? This activity was very enjoyable for all involved…..
Second Activity– Exploding Color w/ Milk
Supplies for this is a few small bowls of milk, dish liquid soap (Dawn), food coloring, and cotton swabs. I put the bowl of milk in front of each students then gave them each a turn to squeeze a few drops of food coloring in the milk. Then I gave them each a cotton swab that I had dipped into the dish liquid. The chemical reaction made the food coloring look like a firework in the milk. It was a neat reaction to watch plus the kids just looked mesmerized by what took place. The one question I got over and over was how did the milk do that? This was a kids choice activity to do over again;)
Third Activity– Water transfer using paper towel
Supplies needed for this is two cups, paper towel, water in one cup, and food coloring. This experiment takes a long time to produce results. For many preschoolers they do not want to wait and see they want “do it and see” so I suggest that you put it together as a class then put the experiment out of the way but in view so the kids could go back and forth checking on it. We talked about what will happen while setting it up which gave the kids time to ask their how and why questions. In the end this experiment was not only enjoyed by the kids but they took their parents (at pickup) to show them this “totally awesome” (in their words) experiment. This gave the parents the opportunity to ask the children the why and how questions which allowed the kids to play teacher and explain to the parents what was taking place. Loved this activity because of the parent involvement;)
Preschool Teacher By Day 