Try These Experiments

Activities

Exploring.  Go on a nature walk.  Collect samples of natural objects to save in a Nature Box.  Label the items and practice memory in guiding the child through identifying and explaining them.  Practice touch sensation by covering the box, having the child remove an item, and identify it "blind."

Or, go on a "tree" or "flower" or "bird" or "bug" or "small animal" hunt.  Identify as many of the target plant or creature as you can; keep a list; practice naming them with your child.  You may want to turn your hunt into a photoshoot.  You can scrapbook the pictures at home to make your own, local nature book.  Or, you can ask your child to draw, each adventure, one thing she or he has seen.

Planting.  Buy, plant, and grow seeds together.  Then transfer the plants to your "child's garden," a special plot in your yard that's all his or her own.

Dissecting.  Cut open a fruit and / or vegetable.  Explain what the different parts are and what they do.  After cutting apart several different kinds, ask your child to identify similar structures.

Naming and Diagramming.  Trace your child's body on a large sheet of paper (or several taped together).  Help him or her to name body parts (and color them in).  Label the parts.  Copy the tracing (or make another).  Now, help him or her to draw the organs for each of his or her major body systems.  Explain what they do.  Practice moving objects through the digestive (pretend food or real crackers / cookies / cereal) and circulatory systems (e.g., pieces of red and blue yarn), while explaining what's happening to them.

Modeling.  Make a model of the solar system together, by drawing in 2 dimensions and then taping to a wall or covering stryofoam balls in color and hanging them from two hangers wired together and suspended by string. 

Measuring and Comparing.  > Measure a set amount of water.  Pour it into two different glasses, one short and one tall.  Then, return the liquid to the measuring cup.  Discuss whether the amount of liquid has changed.  > Do a similar activity with two lumps of clay of the same size.  Make one into a ball and another into a snake.  Do they contain the same amounts of clay?  > Now, ask the child to find objects of the same length or width.  Measure them together with a ruler.  Discuss how they are similar or different in length or width.  > Using a measuring tape, measure body parts and compare them.  Are there any surprising similarities or differences?  For example, are each of the child's arms exactly the same length?

Reasoning.  Make your own deserted island and shipwreck yourselves there (such as by designating a living room rug the island).  Discuss what you would need, at a minimum, to survive on the island.  Assemble one example of each of the survival needs you identify together.

Reading & Resources

Bite-Sized Science: Activities for Children in 15 Minutes or Less by John H. Falk and Kristi S. Rosenberg (ages 3-8).