Welcome to Back 2 Basics 4 Kids - Great products for kids, homeschool, sunday school and more.





			Home > Great Ideas > Science Play Perler Beads \| Painting \| Magic Nuudles \| Science Play

			Science Play for Children: I have presented a workshop for about 5 years called "Science Play for Children" and I normally ask participants where they see themselves in terms of "liking" science. I give them the option of "loving science", "take-it-or-leave-it", or "downright hated it". I almost always have at least 2-3 (and sometimes many more) people who really love science, and maybe a few more who really hated it, but the far largest group is those that can "take-it-or-leave-it". What I want childcare providers, early childhood teachers, and parents to realize is, that if you work with young children, you are ALREADY "doing" science with them. Children are natural scientists, they use their five senses as their science tools, and with or without your help and guidance, they will be "learning science." What exactly is "Science" in early childhood: Science in early childhood looks very much like play. If you want to know what the "Scientific Method" is then here is a quick rundown. The Scientific Method: Look: Ask Questions Make a Guess Test your Guess Organize the information Look: Ask New Questions If you watch a child (especially a younger child) you can almost watch the wheels turning as they look around at the world, try things out, and then move on to the next step, based on something they just tried. Why should I try to incorporate more science into my day with my kids? I found this link which does such a great job of explaining how and why we should try to incorporate more science in our everyday working with young children. And even explains in more detail the "Scientific Method" from above. Favorite Science Manipulatives My favorite early science manipulative is MAGNETS especially the magnetic wands and super strong magnets. Also the magnetic marbles are so much fun when used with the wands or super strong magnets. I have put together a magnetic rice box that includes white rice, colored rice and lots of little magnets (the classroom magnet kit has everything, except the beads/buttons, you need). Plus I have added beads and buttons and then let kids use the magnetic wands to pull out the magnetic things. Ask them to make guesses about what is and what is not magnetic and then ask them to talk about why some things are magnetic and some things are not. Another fun way to use the super strong magnets and the magnetic marbles is with a plastic tray. Spray some shaving cream on the plastic tray, then place two magnetic marbles in the shaving cream, but not touching. Put drops of the liquid watercolor onto each marble. Use two primary colors to make a new color. Then place the super strong magnet underneath the plastic tray and move the marbles around in the shaving cream. It is fun, NOT messy and they are having fun with magnets and experiencing colors and the color spectrum which is another early science concept. I love butterflies and watching the monarch butterfly go through its transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. How about making butterflies as a craft? The bug bodies and diffusing paper make absolutely gorgeous butterflies. Check out these great products on the Back 2 Basics 4 Kids store that have to do with bugs. From plastic bug replica's to bug jars, and even bug rubbing plates your kids can be doing craft projects, playing, or learning about bugs and not even realize they are "doing" science. Links to Science for Kids: Here is a great page full of ideas and other pages for kids and science. This is the National Institutes for Environmental Health and Human Services kids page. This page has a link to some coloring pages that can be printed off, or that can be "colored" online. Very fun for kids to see a picture change colors with just the click of a button. Here is another page full of links to science activities for kids. Scorecience does have some things for K-3, unfortunately it looks like many of the activities are for older kids. However, you can normally change an activity slightly and make it workable for younger kids. Another fun link for science activities. http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/ Though Funology has a lot of advertising, it still looks like a great site to explore and enjoy. http://www.funology.com Okay, here is the last link. http://www.kids.gov/k_science.htm It is a link to a page that lists websites for kids that are science ideas, and I believe most of the pages are put out by different government agencies. Home > Great Ideas > Science Play About Us \| Great Ideas \| Workshops \| Shop Online \| Shipping info \| Links \| Contact Us \| Home