Simple Science

Many adults think Science is too complex for young children. But there are many fun and easy ways to introduce science that will build the foundation for more advanced learning later on.

Talk to your child about how cooking changes some of the food we buy at the store. For example: fresh vegetables become soft; adding milk to powdered pudding and cooking it makes it thick, adding boiling water to Jello powder dissolves it and the cold of the refrigerator jells it; hard macaroni becomes soft in boiling water.

Talk about what makes steam rise from a boiling pot on the stove: “When water gets very hot it produces steam”. Also talk about what happens when water is put into ice cube trays in the freezer: “When water gets very cold it freezes solid”. Prove that the ice cube is really water by allowing one to melt in a small bowl.

Introduce the concept of sink and float. Provide a bowl or small tub of water and various small items to drop into the water—some that sink (pebble, marble, spoon) and some that float (wooden clothes pin, popsicle stick, plastic spoon). No explanation necessary. Your child’s observation and experimentation will be the teacher.

Collect small pictures or purchase stickers of rain, snow, clouds, and the sun. At the end of each day your child can put the appropriate weather sticker on a calendar. Older preschoolers can go a step further by learning how to read a simple thermometer and rain gauge.

Provide picture books of different scientific subjects such as the solar system, the Earth, simple machines, dinosaurs, plants, electricity, rocks, and the human body.