More Science – Thirsty Plants

There are many activities you can conduct with children to emphasis science in your classroom.  Here is one of my favorites in which results are seen pretty quickly.

Supplies:

Celery

Glass of Water

Food Coloring

Have your children mix some food coloring in a glass of water.  (I suggest doing this with several glasses and colors.) Place a celery stalk in the water.  Watch what happens for a few days.  Does the celery stalk change over time?  You can have the children make predictions of what they think will happen before the experiment and later they can tell what actually happened.   This is also a great way to teach children how plants grow by drinking water.  It provides a great opportunity for conversations on the importance of children drinking water and staying hydrated during these hot summer days too.  

 

More Science through Plants

Carrot Top Garden – Sprouting Carrot Tops with Children

Carrots tops are one of the easiest plants to grow and requires no special equipment.  Children can see results in a matter of days, which is exciting for them.

Cut the tops off of three or four carrots.  Have your children place them in a shallow dish and water them daily.  The carrot tops should be sitting in at least 1/4 inch water at all times.  Sit back and watch the carrot tops sprout new green foliage.  This provides an excellent opportunity for questions and answers:

• What do they think will happen with they put the carrot in the water?
• How does it look a few days later?
• When it sprouts conversations on the process of growing and how things grow
• Encourage the children to talk about the changes of the plant
• Draw pictures
• Guess what is next

There is so much you can do with this activity.  Be creative.  While it is growing you can read some books and conduct nutrition activities using carrots. It is amazing that most children only know the baby carrots that are already cleaned and ready to eat.  May have not seen a carrot before all the processing.  See the next blog for some more ideas.

Growing Carrot Tops

 

 

 

Science Activities – Grass Seed Starters

The quickest and easiest sees to grow are grass or alfalfa.  They tend to grow almost anywhere as long as they are watered regularly and receive sunlight.  Here are some ideas for unusual planters.

Potato

Slice the top and bottom from a baking potato.  Scoop out the top, fill with moistened cotton balls, and sprinkle seeds.

Paper Cup

Fill a paper cup with potting soil and decorate it to resemble a face.  Sprinkle the soil with seeds and moisten it with water.  You children will enjoy watching the planter sprout hair.

Sponge

Soak a sponge in water, then sprinkle on seeds.  Moisten the sponge when dry, and soon it will be teeming with life.  Variation:  Try making sponge planters in different shapes.  Cooking cutters make excellent stencils for cutting sponges.

For more creative ideas visit the following websites:

http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/look-at-those-seeds-grow/

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/seedgermination.html

 

Preschoolers Learning About Science

Children begin learning about how things work and how things are made by experimenting with real objects.  We help children to be careful observers of nature and experiment to find out.  Using real materials and their senses, children explore textures, sizes, shapes and relationships.  Natural curiosity makes them active scientists.

Questioning is part of this curiosity.  Preschoolers ask lost of questions, especially, “Why?”  Although this can be nerve wracking, it is part of their scientific process.  Teachers respond to these questions by encouraging children to find out the answers for themselves.  They ask questions like, “What do you think?” or “How can we find out what would happen if…?”

We include many chances for children to touch and learn from real objects.  Classroom pets teach them about animals, their life cycles, their diets and their temperaments.  Field trips to a nature preserve or zoo allow children to learn about unusual animals.

Your own outdoor play area also provides children a ready-made science lesson.  We might grow flowers or herbs to help children learn about cause and effect, plant life, and the properties of soil.  Point out how the plan life changes with the seasons.  Observe insects and discuss how they live, collect food and build nests.

Children learn and remember so much when they have worked with the “real thing” and have discovered the answers on their own!

Encourage parents to let you know when a good “science lesson” such as the birth of a pet happens at home.  That way you can work together to make it a new learning experience!

Look for future blogs for some fun science activities for preschoolers.  If you have ideas you would like to share please let me know.

Happy Exploring!!

Science Quote

 

 

Bubble Experimentation

Bubble blowing naturally gives rise to scientific investigations.  Children will notice that not all bubbles look the same or even behave in the same way.  Let you children experiment with bubbles for several days.  They may discover answers to some of the following questions:

What happens if they blow softly?

What happens if they blow hard?

What color are bubbles?

Are all bubbles the same shape?

Are all bubbles the same size?

If you touch a bubble, what happens?

How long do bubbles last?

These activities can lead to many discussions and create lots of fun at the same time.  See future blogs for recipes to make your own bubbles and ideas of bubble blowers you can simply make.

 

 

Learning About Science for Baby/Toddler

Science is knowledge that comes from observation, study and experimentation.  We are always encouraging children to study and experiment with real objects to discover answers, and inspire their curiosity for future learning.

Even babies are budding scientists.  They learn by using their five senses.  You can provide materials of different textures, sounds and colors so babies can discover differences in objects.  Round balls, soft blankets, prickly plastic squish toys, large plastic beads, jingle toys or bells, rattles, brights scarves, wooden spoons or toy cars are a few examples.  Babies put objects into their mouths.  This is one of the ways babies learns.  Of course, another reason to thoroughly clean and sanitize all baby toys daily.

As they get older, babies and toddlers love to stack and dump things to see what happens.  Dropping an item from the high chair gives a toddler a great thrill.  To a toddler, dropping objects is a lesson in the forces of gravity, sounds and cause and effect.  It is a good idea to provide toddlers opportunities to stack and dump using buckets, containers, measuring cups and spoons.

Encouraging children to discover the properties of water and sand.  These activities help them learn about sinking and floating, temperature, and how water changes things.  Us lots of words to describe what is happening. (“That sponge is soaking wet,” or “The cold water will feel good on your bump.”)

Playing outdoors provides experiences in a natural environment.  During outdoor play they can see insects, trees, flowers, rain, animals, and soil.  These experiences enhance their interest in and knowledge of the natural world.

Look for future blogs on more science activities.

What is My Preschooler Learning From Music?

Young children love sound!  They enjoy making sounds and hearing them.  Music can be soothing and comforting to young children.  (Remember how babies love lullabies!) Including music in your program builds an appreciation of this art form and serves as a way to help with listening, language, and coordination skills.  Music is a great way to regularly signal a transition form one activity to another.

Playing with musical instruments allows children to explore cause and effect (if I press the keys, they make a sound).  It also helps them to focus on the difference in sound (these keys have a deeper sound than those).  You may even consider inviting a guest to visit your classroom and play and instrument and explain it to the children.

Finger plays (songs with accompanying finger movements) enhance finger control, which children need for writing and handling small objects.

Music can help children to feel and learn about emotions.  When you listen to classical music you might talk about how it sounds scary, sad or happy.  You might listen to cultural rhymes and talk about how they help people feel a sense of community.

Learning the lyrics to songs is a particularly effective way to enhance language.  Have you noticed how you can remember the words to old favorites.  Children’s brains, like yours, retain poetry better when it is used lyrically.

Music and dance are fun and help children be playful with their friends and teachers.  Let parents know if they have music favorites at home to bring them in and you can share them with all the children!  So let’s go make some music.

Better Brains for Babies – The Role of Music

When you hear a familiar song on the radio, how does it make you feel?  Often it brings fond memories, makes you smile or even can improve your mood.  It is funny how you can often remember every word of a song you learned when you were younger.

So does music have anything to do with early brain development?  Does it help children to be smarter?  What can you do to help nurture a child’s love of music?

The Role of Music

 

Sing a Song, Play a Musical Instrument, Make Music part of your Day!

 

 

7 Signs That Your Baby is ready for Solid Foods

Beginning to eat solid foods is a huge step in an infant’s life as he/she is being introduced to the world of food. So how do you know when your baby is ready for solid food? And how should you go about introducing your baby to food? Here are some signs that your baby is possibly ready to eat food:

1. He/she can hold own head up, steady and upright.
2. He/she can sit alone or with support.
3. He/she shows interest in foods you are eating.
4. He/she nurses more than 8 times a day or drinks more than 32 ounces of formula.
5. He/she keeps tongue low and flat.
6. He/she closes lips over a spoon and scrapes food off as a spoon is removed from mouth.
7. He/she keeps food in mouth and swallows it rather than pushing it back out.

For more information about what age to introduce certain foods and what foods you should be looking for here are some other resources you can use:

http://www.marchofdimes.org/baby/choosing-baby-food.aspx#

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Switching-To-Solid-Foods.aspx

Referenced from:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/MOB-4