There are many kid-friendly science projects you can do with your child. Science is all about trial and error and learning about the world around us. Your child will naturally be curious but help them cultivate their curiosity and encourage them to explore by trying your own experiments at home. These experiments are fun, quick, easy and inexpensive and will aid in their understanding of how things work in the world of science. Keeping these lessons simple and playful is the best way to get your child to develop their scientific and creative mind. Help your child develop questions, experiment and find solutions while you go through the lessons.
Make It Rain!
Let your child understand what they see in nature by watching rain created at home by recreating the water cycle in a plastic bag. They’ll be able to watch it cloud up and see the rainfall back down the bag.
What You’ll Need:
-A zip top plastic sandwich bag.
-A half a cup of dirt from the backyard or get some potting soil at your local gardening shop.
-A plant mister.
-Some tape.
-A window.
What To Do:
-Ask your child to spoon the dirt into the plastic bag.
-Let your child mist the dirt in the bag until it is moist to touch not muddy.
-Help your child tightly zip the bag closed.
-Tape the bag in a sunny window.
-Observe with your child. As the moisture evaporates, the bag will become “cloudy” and start to fog up. Depending on how much sunlight your window gets this may take long so check it periodically. Once the “cloud” in the bag can no longer hold any more moisture, your child will notice “rain” drops come down inside the walls of the bag. Open the bag and gently mist the soil again and tape back up to the window, so you can predict the weather/temperature in the bag and when it will rain again.
Get Those Green Thumbs Ready
Before planting an herb garden with your little one, try experimenting with bean sprouts in your home. Your child will get to understand how plants and flowers grow by watching the bean sprout seed grow to life when properly fed and sheltered.
What You’ll Need:
-Water.
-Paper and Pencil.
-A baking sheet.
-Paper towels.
-Three types of bean seeds (try mung, green and lima beans).
What To Do:
-Stack damp paper towels onto a baking sheet.
-Give your child one of each bean explaining that each bean has a tiny opening for water to go inside. Have your little one put the beans on top of the damp towels.
-Cover the beans with a few more damp paper towels. Set the baking sheet aside in a sunny place but not too sunny.
-Ask your child to re-wet the paper towels each day. Ask them to record on a note pad what has changed.
-At the end of the week, the beans will most likely have sprouted. Otherwise, keep waiting and observing.
-Once the beans have sprouted, you can continue the lesson and explain how seeds grow outside and start to plant them in your yard or in pots on a patio.
Awaken Their Senses
Teach your child about their five senses by first getting them more in tune with their own sense of smell and taste. Go through the anatomy of the tongue and nose, and why some things are bitter or smell foul and how our own body warns us about our surrounding environment.
What You’ll Need:
-Food your child likes. Choose 4 foods with distinctive smells such as lemon, cinnamon, vanilla and coffee. Choose 4 foods that have distinctive tastes like sugar, salt, lemon and milk.
-8 plastic cups.
What To Do:
-Put each item in a different cup and don’t let your child see what you are doing.
-Blindfold your child once you have sat them down at the table.
-Ask your child to tell you about their senses and identify the smells. Then have your child identify the foods by taste. Have them describe what is good and bad about the tastes and smells.
Sink or Float
Teach buoyancy and density by putting objects in a tub of water with your child. Explain the differences of a complete solid and the weight of an object and the amount of water getting displaced.
What You’ll Need:
-A plastic bin of water.
-Objects you don’t mind getting wet.
-A note pad to record predictions on what will sink or float.
What To Do:
-Discuss each object. The material it is made of and why you think it should sink or float. Explain the materials and the mass of each object so they understand density and buoyancy as you drop each object in the tub.
Chemistry and Color
Show your child what happens when you mix different solutions together with a baking soda and vinegar experiment. This is harmless way to see the two combine and make a fizz.
What You’ll Need:
-A roasting pan.
-Baking soda (your base, sodium bicarbonate)
-Vinegar (your acetic acid) and three small dishes.
-Food coloring blue and yellow.
-An eyedropper or turkey baster.
What To Do:
-Sprinkle the baking soda over the bottom of the pan.
-Have your child drop the vinegar onto the baking soda with their dropper and watch them make yellow and blue swirls. As they fizz have them combine the two colors to make green.
-Explain to them when a base and an acid mix it is making a new chemical, which begins to decompose into water and turn into gas. Explain the dangers of mixing chemicals and how it can be explosive.
Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. Please consult your child’s healthcare provider directly for medical advice, diagnoses, and treatments. If you have specific questions or concerns about the health or development of your child, consult your child’s physician.