Helping Your Child Learn Science - Activities at Home
Activities at Home
This section contains a sampling of science activities--organized
roughly from easiest to most difficult--suitable for children from
preschool through the early elementary grades. In a box near the end of
each activity are a few facts and explanations for those who want them.
But exploring, questioning, and having a good time is more important
than memorizing facts. And, although your children may be able to do
the following activities alone, we encourage you to join them.
Grown-Up Alert!
The activities in this book are safe with the appropriate
supervision. Some require help from an adult. Others can be carried
out by children alone, if they are old enough. Look in the
instructions for the Grown-up alert! It will highlight an activity
that may need supervision. Be sure your children who can read know
which activities you do not want them to try by themselves.
Young children may not fully understand that bad things can happen to
them. We don't want to scare our children away from science, but we
must:
- Provide supervision when it is appropriate--for example, when
using heat or mixing chemicals;
- Teach children not to taste anything unless they know it is good
for them and is sanitary;
- Insist children wear goggles whenever fire or splatter could
endanger eyes;
- Teach children to follow warnings on manufacturers' labels and
instructions;
- Keep toxic or other dangerous substances out of the reach of young
children;
- Teach children what they can do to minimize the risk of accidents;
and
- Teach children what to do if an accident occurs.
Results
Keeping records is an important part of science. It helps us remem-
ber what didn't work as well as what did work. Someone asked Thomas
Edison if he weren't discouraged after trying thousands of
experiments--without results--to make the incandescent light bulb work.
He replied:
Results! Why, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several
thousand things that won't work.
So before starting, get a notebook for recording observations. If your
children cannot write yet, they can draw pictures of what they see, or
you may want to take notes for them.
We should remember, too, that seeing isn't the only way to observe.
Sometimes we use other senses; we hear, feel, smell, or taste some
things (children should be careful, of course, about what they taste).
Let's Go
Science can be learned in many places and environments and just as
easily from everyday experiences as from formal projects and
experiments (by testsforge solution nate). We can get our children interested in science with simple
toys, books, and objects around the house and have fun while we're
doing it.
So, flip through the following pages and find something that looks
like fun.
Looking at objects closely is an important part of science, and a
magnifying glass lets us see things we don't even know are there. It
also helps us see how objects are similar or different from each
other.
What you'll need
A magnifying glass
Your science journal
What to do
- Use your magnifying glass to see:
What's hidden in soil or under leaves;
What's on both sides of leaves;
How mosquitos bite;
Different patterns of snowflakes; and
Butterfly wings.
How many different objects can you find in the soil?
- Draw pictures, or describe what you see, in your notebook.
If you were able to examine a mosquito, you probably saw how it
bites something--with its proboscis, a long hollow tube that
sticks out of its head. Snowflakes are fascinating because no two
are alike. Powdery scales give butterfly wings their color.
Can a paper straw go through a raw potato? Here's an easy way to
learn about inertia and momentum.
What you'll need
A raw potato
One or more paper straws
Your science journal
What to do
- Put a potato on the table or kitchen counter and hold it firmly
with one hand, making sure the palm of your hand is not underneath
the potato.*
- With a fast, strong push, stab the potato with the straw.
- What happens? Did the straw bend? The straw should go into the
potato. If it didn't, try again with another straw--maybe a
little faster or harder.
*If the potato is old, soak it in water for about half an hour before
trying this activity.
An object remains at rest (the potato, in this case) or keeps
moving (the straw, in this case) unless it is acted upon by some
external force.
Have you ever tried using soap to power a boat? This simple activity
works because of "surface tension."
What you'll need
1 index card
Scissors
A baking dish (or sink full of water)
Liquid dish detergent
Your science journal
What to do
- From an index card, cut out a boat like this. Make it about 2 1/2
inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide.
- Place the boat gently on the water in the dish.
- Pour a little detergent into the notch in the end of the boat.
What happens?
If you repeat the experiment, wash out the baking
dish carefully each time you use detergent, or your boat won't go.
Your boat should zip across the water. Water molecules are strongly
attracted to each other and stick close together, especially on the
surface. This creates a strong but flexible "skin" on the water's
surface that we call surface tension. Adding soap disrupts the
arrangement of the water molecules and breaks the skin, making the boat
go forward.
Who doesn't enjoy blowing bubbles? You can make bubbles at home, and
they can be beautiful shapes and colors!
What you'll need
8 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid
1 quart water
1 drinking straw
A shallow tray
Grown-up alert!
1 tin can, open at both ends
Your science journal
What to do
- Mix the dishwashing liquid with the water. Fill the shallow tray.
- Blow through your straw as you move it slowly across the surface
of the solution. How big are the bubbles you get?
- Try making a very big bubble that covers the surface of the tray:
Dip one end of the straw into the sudsy solution then hold the
straw slightly above the surface of the solution. Blow into it
very gently. You may have to try several times to make a really
big bubble.
When you have made a bubble, touch it gently with a wet finger.
What happens?
Make another big bubble. Touch this one with a dry finger. What
happens?
- Try making bubbles with a tin can (don't cut yourself) open at
both ends. Dip the can into the soapy solution so that you get a
soap "window" across one end when you pull it out. Blow gently on
the other end to form a bubble. You can use wider tubes such as
coffee cans to make still bigger bubbles.
- Look closely at the bubbles you make. How many colors can you
see? Do the colors change?
- If you have a wand at home that is left over from a bottle of
bubbles you bought at the store, you can use it with this bubble
solution.
Bubbles are bits of air or gas trapped inside a liquid ball. The
surface of a bubble is very thin. Bubbles are particularly fragile
when a dry object touches them. That's because soap film tends to
stick to the object, which puts a strain on the bubble. So if you
want your bubbles to last longer, keep everything wet, even the sides
of the straw.
Some bugs help us, some annoy us, and some are downright dangerous.
But you can learn a lot from bugs.
What you'll need
An insect guide and a spider
guide from the bookstore or
library--preferably ones
with pictures
Your magnifying glass
Your science journal
What to do
- Search your home and neighborhood for bugs.
Grown-up alert!
Look:
Around your front door
In cracks in the sidewalk
On lamps
On lights hanging from the center of the room
On plants
In crevices in drawers
In corners of rooms
- Identify types of bugs using the guides. Did you find:
Ants?
Spiders?
Fleas?
Silverfish?
Moths?
Flies?
Ladybugs?
- Ants can teach us how some insects work together as a community.
Watch ants scurry in and out of their ant hills or find some
spilled food on the sidewalk.
Do they eat their food on the spot, or carry it back to their
anthill?
When an ant finds food, it runs back to the hill to "tell" the
others. As it runs, it leaves a trail that other ants in the hill
can smell. The ants find the food by smelling their way along the
trail.
- Find out what the difference is between an insect and a spider.
Why do spiders spin webs?
What are webs made of?
- Write down possible answers to all these questions in your journal
or draw pictures of what you see.
Bugs do what they do to survive. They are constantly looking for food.
Some bugs are both good and bad. Termites, for example, have a nasty
reputation because they destroy peoples houses by eating the wood. But
they also break down old trees, keeping the forest floor from becoming
too cluttered with dead trees.
We don't usually stop to wonder why a big cruise ship can float as
well as a feather. This activity helps to explain.
What you'll need
1 solid wood building block
1 plastic cap from a bottle
2 pieces of aluminum foil (heavy duty if you have it)
1 chunk of clay
Grown-up alert!
1 pair of pliers
1 bathtub (or sink) filled with water
Your science journal
What to do
- Hold the wood block in one hand and the plastic cap in the other
hand.
Which one feels heavier?
Do you think the wooden block will float,
or will it sink?
Will the plastic cap float, or sink?
- Put both of them on the water to test your predictions. What
happens? Put both of them under the water. What happens now?
- Take a piece of aluminum foil and squeeze it into a solid ball
with the pliers. Drop it in the water. Does it float or sink?
- Get another piece the same size and shape it into a little boat.
Place it on top of the water. Does it float now?
- Try the same experiment with clay. Make a ball and drop it in the
water. What happens?
- Shape the clay into a boat and put it on the water. Does it float
now?
The clay and foil balls sink because they are squeezed into small
shapes, and only a small amount of water is trying to hold up the
weight. When you spread out the clay or foil, it floats because the
weight is supported by a lot more water.
Oil the hinges of a door and it will stop squeaking. Rub petroleum
jelly on lips to prevent them from becoming chapped. These slippery
substances are called lubricants. They are very important in modern
technology.
What you'll need
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
Square baking pan
A mixing bowl
Liquid dish detergent
Vegetable oil
2 bowls
A watch with a second hand
Grown-up alert!
A table knife
8-ounce cup
Your science journal
What to do
- In a mixing bowl, dissolve the 4 envelopes of gelatin in 2 cups
of hot tap water.
- Coat the inside of the pan with vegetable oil. Pour the gelatin
mixture into the pan and put it in the refrigerator until firm
(about 3 to 4 hours).
- Use the knife to cut the gelatin into cubes about 1 x 1 x 1 inch.
You should have about 64 cubes.
- Place 15 cubes into a bowl. Place the second bowl about 6 inches
(about 15 centimeters) away from the cube bowl.
- When your parent or a friend says "go," start picking up the
gelatin cubes one at a time with your thumb and index finger
(don't squeeze!). See how many cubes you can transfer to the
other bowl in 15 seconds.
Grown-up alert!
Do not eat the gelatin cubes after they have been handled or after
they are covered with lubricant.
- Put all the cubes back in the first bowl. Pour 1/4 cup dish
detergent over the cubes. Gently mix the detergent and the cubes
so that the cubes are well-coated.
- Use the same method as before to transfer as many cubes as
possible in 15 seconds.
- Throw away the cubes and detergent and wash and dry both bowls.
Put about 15 new cubes into one bowl and pour 1/4 cup water over
the cubes, again making sure the cubes are thoroughly coated. See
how many cubes you can transfer in 15 seconds.
- Throw away the cubes and water. Put about 15 new cubes into one
bowl. Pour 1/4 cup of vegetable oil over the cubes. Make sure
they are well coated. See how many cubes you can transfer in 15
seconds.
- With which liquid were you able to transfer the most cubes? With
which liquid were you able to transfer the fewest cubes? Which
was the best lubricant (the slipperiest)? Which was the worst?
Cars, trucks, airplanes, and machines all have parts that rub against
one another. These parts would heat up, wear down, and stop working if
we didn't have lubricants. Lubricants reduce the amount of friction
between 2 surfaces that move against each other.
Did you ever wonder how a paper towel can soak up a spill, or how
water gets from a plant's roots to its leaves? The name for this is
"capillary action."
What you'll need
4 same-size stalks of fresh celery with leaves
4 cups or glasses
Grown-up alert!
Red and blue food coloring
A measuring cup
4 paper towels
A vegetable peeler
A ruler
Some old newspapers
Your science journal
What to do
- Lay the 4 pieces of celery in a row on a cutting board or counter
so that the place where the stalks and the leaves meet matches up.
- Cut all 4 stalks of celery 4 inches (about 10 centimeters) below
where the stalks and leaves meet.
- Put the 4 stalks in 4 separate cups of purple water (use 10 drops
of red and 10 drops of blue food color for each half cup of
water).
- Label 4 paper towels in the following way: "2 hours," "4 hours,"
"6 hours," and "8 hours." (You may need newspapers under the
towels).
- Every 2 hours from the time you put the celery into the cups,
remove 1 of the stalks and put onto the correct towel. (Notice
how long it takes for the leaves to start to change.)
- Each time you remove a stalk from the water, carefully peel the
rounded part with a vegetable peeler to see how far up the stalk
the purple water has traveled.
- What do you observe?
Notice how fast the water climbs the celery.
Does this change as time goes by? In what way?
- Measure the distance it has traveled and record this amount in
your science journal.
- Make a list of other objects around your house or in nature that
enable liquids to climb by capillary action.
Look for paper towels, sponges, old sweat socks, brown paper bags,
and flowers.
What other items can you find?
Capillary action happens when water molecules are more attracted to the
surface they travel along than to each other. In paper towels, the
molecules move along tiny fibers. In plants, they move through narrow
tubes that are actually called capillaries. Plants couldn't survive
without capillaries because they use the water to make their food.
Adhesives are used to stick things together. Many adhesives we use
every day are made in factories. Others occur in nature and have
important uses for plants and animals.
What you'll need
Baking flour
Measuring cup
Egg white
Food coloring
4 small bowls
4 plastic spoons
Aluminum foil
Cotton balls
Toothpicks
Bits of cloth
Glitter
Blunt-tip scissors
Colored yarn or ribbon
Colored paper
Your science journal
What to do
- Search your home to track down everything you can that is sticky.
See how many of the following you can find:
Grown-up alert!
Tape
Postage stamps
Car bumper sticker
Envelopes containing glue
Honey
Wall paper with glue
A decal on a t-shirt
Spackle
A bicycle tire patch
Glue for fake fingernails
Peanut butter
An adhesive bandage
- Make a list of everything you can find in nature with an adhesive.
For example:
Barnacles that stick to boats, ships, and rocks
Spiders that use sticky threads to create webs
that trap their food
Pine trees that produce sticky sap
- What adhesives can you think of that are used
in hospitals?
in offices?
in auto repair shops?
- Make a poster or collage using adhesives.
Make 3 bowls of flour-and-water paste. In each bowl, add 1/4 cup
water to 1/2 cup flour and mix until smooth. Add a different
colored food coloring to each of the 3 bowls and mix.
Crack open an egg and separate the white into a bowl. Throw away
the yolk. The white is your clear glue.
Make shapes on your poster or collage out of the colored flour and
water paste. Use the egg white to attach aluminum foil, cotton
balls, toothpicks, cloth, glitter, ribbon, yarn, and colored
paper.
What makes glue, paste, or tape stick to things? Wood, paper, and many
other materials have tiny cracks and holes in them. When we glue
things together, sometimes the glue seeps into the tiny openings and
hardens, making the materials stick together. Other times, the
molecules on the surface of an object get tangled up with the glue
molecules, making the objects stick together. Finally, glue may stick
because of a chemical reaction.
There are many ways to measure things. At bath time, use different
sized containers to measure volume.
What you'll need
Measuring spoons and cups of different sizes
Milk containers of different
sizes--for example, pint,
quart, half-gallon, and
gallon (or 1 liter, 2 liter,
and 4 liter)
A funnel
2 containers that hold the
same amount (such as a 1
or 2 quart pitcher and
storage bowl), but are
different shapes--one tall
and thin, and one short
and squat
Grown-up alert!
1 bathtub or sink filled with water
Your science journal
What to do
- Fill a small container (such as a quart) with water. Then pour
the water (using the funnel, if necessary) into a larger container
(a half-gallon or gallon). How many small containers does it take
to fill one large one?
- How many tablespoons does it take to make half a cup? And how
many cups to make a quart?
- Find out how many quarts (or liters) it takes to fill a gallon (or
a 4-liter container).
- Next, fill the gallon (or 4-liter) container, and use the funnel
to pour the water into the little containers. How many times will
it fill the pint (or 1/2-liter) container?
- Fill the short, squat container with a given amount of water--3
cups, for example.
Pour this water into the tall, thin container.
Do your eyes try to tell you the tall, thin container holds more
than the short, squat one? Does it hold more?
Can you write all this in your science journal?
Water and other liquids take the shape of whatever container they are
in. Containers of certain sizes have names--cup, pint, quart, liter,
or gallon, for example. This activity provides an introduction to
volume and measurement.
Have you ever been shocked when you walked across a rug or touched a
light switch? Wait until a cool, dry day to learn about static
electricity.
What you'll need
A cool, dry day
2 round balloons (inflated and tied)
2 20-inch pieces of string
1 wool or acrylic sock.
1 mirror (or more)
1 friend (or more)
Your science journal
What to do
- Tie a string to each inflated balloon.
- Rub a balloon on your hair for about 15 seconds. Be sure to rub
around the whole balloon.
What happens to your hair?
What happens when you bring the balloon back close to your hair?
- Rub the balloon on your hair again and have a friend (or parent)
do the same with the other balloon.
- Each of you hold the string to 1 balloon, letting the balloons
hang freely, but without letting them touch anything.
- Slowly move the 2 balloons toward each other, but don't let them
touch.
What do you see?
Do the balloons push away from each other, or do they pull toward
each other?
- Place your hand between the two hanging balloons.
What happens?
- Place a sock over 1 hand and rub 1 balloon with the sock. Then let
the balloon hang freely. Bring your sock-covered hand near the
balloon.
What happens?
- Try rubbing both balloons with the sock and then let them hang
near each other.
What happens now?
- Look for other examples of static electricity around the house.
Have you ever felt a shock when you touched a metal doorknob on a
cold winter day? What often happens when you remove the clothes
from the dryer?
All materials contain millions of tiny particles, called protons and
electrons, that have electric charges. Protons have positive charges,
and electrons negative ones. Usually, they balance each other, but
sometimes when two surfaces rub together, some of the electrons rub off
one surface onto the other and we can have static electricity.
Materials with like charges (all positive or all negative) move away
from each other; those with opposite charges attract each other.
Molds are tiny microscopic plants that can help or hurt us. Molds like
some environmental conditions better than others. Find out which ones
they prefer by watching mold grow.
What you'll need
Grown-up alert!
3 cups containing a little
coffee or leftover food.
Your magnifying glass.
Your science journal.
What to do
- Put 1 cup with coffee or leftover food on a sunny windowsill, 1 in
the refrigerator, and 1 in a dark cupboard.
Look inside the cups every day for several days and write down
what you see. Your magnifying glass will help. (It may take a few
days for the mold to start growing.)
- Does temperature affect the mold's growth? See if the cup left on
the windowsill grows mold
more slowly,
more quickly, or
at the same rate as the one in the refrigerator.
- Does light affect the growth of the mold?
Does the cup on the windowsill grow mold at the same rate as the
one in a dark cupboard?
- Look around your home for other molds. Inspect:
Pickles in a jar
Cottage cheese
Bread
Paint on the walls
Oranges
House plants
Tiles around the bathtub or shower.
- Are the molds all the same color, or are they different?
We can find molds in all sorts of unexpected places. Unlike green
plants, they can't make their own food from sunlight. Instead, they
live directly off of what they are growing on.
Molds can be a nuisance when they settle on our food or possessions.
But molds are also useful. The green spots on old oranges are
penicillin mold. This is what the medicine is made from.
Plants are the only things on earth that turn sunlight into food.
They do it through a process called photosynthesis, which is explored
in this activity.
What you'll need
Some household plants
A book on plant care from a store or the library
Grown-up alert!
Plant fertilizer
Paper
Scissors
Your magnifying glass
Your science journal
What to do
- Look in your plant-care book, or ask a grown-up, to find out how
much water each plant needs. Some may need to be watered more than
others.
- Take two clippings from one plant. Put one in a glass of water.
Put the other one in a glass with no water. Check each day to see
how long the one without water can survive.
- Water the rest of the plants each week for several weeks.
Fertilize some of the plants but not others during this time.
Label the ones you fertilized.
- Record the following in your science journal for those plants that
got fertilized and for those that didn't:
Did any of the plants start to droop?
Did any of the plants have yellow leaves that fell off?
Did the plants grow toward the light?
- See what happens when a plant (or part of a plant) doesn't get any
light:
Cut 3 paper shapes about 2 inches by 2 inches. Circles and
triangles work well, but you can experiment with other shapes,
too.
Clip them to the leaves of a plant, preferably one with large
leaves. Either an indoor or an outdoor plant will do. Be very
careful not to damage the plant.
Leave one paper cutout on for 1 day, a second on for 2 days, and a
third on for a week.
How long does it take for the plant to react? How long does it
take for the plant to return to normal?
Photosynthesis means to "put together using light". Plants use
sunlight to turn carbon dioxide from the air, and water into food.
Plants need all of these to remain healthy. When the plant gets
enough of these things, it produces a simple sugar, which it uses
immediately or stores in a converted form of starch. We don't know
exactly how this happens. But we do know that chlorophyll, the green
substance in plants, helps it to occur.
A crystal is a special kind of rock. Different crystals have different
beautiful shapes and colors.
What you'll need
Your magnifying glass
Table salt
Epsom salt
Honey jar
Measuring cups and spoons
Paper cut into circles
Scissors
Pencil
String
1 3/4 cups of sugar
2 or 3 paper clips
A glass jar or drinking glass
Your science journal
What to do
- Use your magnifying glass to look for crystals. Inspect:
The table salt and Epsom salt;
The honey jar (particularly if it has been open for awhile); and
The walls of the freezer (if it's not the frost-free kind).
- Draw pictures of what you see in your science journal.
- Do all of the crystals look the same?
If not, how are they different?
- Try dissolving salt crystals and forming new ones:
Dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of water.
Grown-up alert!
Heat the mixture over a low flame to evaporate the water.
What's left?
What shape are these crystals?
- Snowflakes are made of ice crystals and are beautiful, but they
are hard to see clearly. You can make paper snowflakes.
Take a circle of paper (use thin paper) and fold it in half. Then
fan fold it.
Make cuts along all the edges. Unfold them.
- Grow rock candy crystals from dissolved sugar.
Grown-up alert!
Pour a cup of boiling water into a dish and add 1 3/4 cups of
sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Prepare a jar
or glass as shown.
Wash the paper clips and use clean string. When the sugar water is
cool, pour it into the jar and put it where no one will move it.
Hang the paperclips in the water and put the pencil on top of the
jar.
Some crystals may form in a few hours. Some may grow to be half an
inch on each side. To save them, take them out of the water and
keep them dry. But they may disappear--they are good to eat.
When certain liquids and gases cool and lose water, crystals are
formed. Crystals are made up of molecules that fit neatly together in
an orderly package. All crystals of the same material have the same
shape, regardless of the size.
Learn about chemical reactions by baking 4 small cakes, leaving an
important ingredient out of 3 of them. The ingredients are only for 1
cake, so you'll need to measure and mix 4 times.
What you'll need
A small soup or cereal bowl
Several layers of aluminum foil
A pie pan
Cooking oil to grease the "cake pans"
Measuring spoons
A cup or small bowl for the egg
A small mixing bowl
Your science journal
Ingredients (for one cake)
6 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
2 or 3 pinches baking powder
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Part of an egg (Break egg into a cup, beat until mixed. Use 1/3 of it.
Save the rest for 2 of the other cakes.)
What to do
- Wrap several layers of aluminum foil around the outside of a
cereal or soup bowl to form a mold.
- Remove your foil "pan" and put it in a pie pan for support.
- Oil the "inside" of your foil pan with cooking oil so the cake
doesn't stick.
Grown-up alert!
- Turn the oven on to 350 degrees.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together.
Add the wet ones (only use 1/3 of the egg). Stir until smooth
and all the same color.
- Pour batter into the "pan."
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Bake 3 more cakes:
Leave the oil out of one.
Leave the egg out of another.
Leave the baking powder out of the third.
Cut each cake in half and look at the insides.
Do they look different?
Do they taste different?
- Write about, or draw pictures of, what you see and taste.
Heat helps some chemical reactions to occur as the cake bakes:
It helps baking powder produce tiny bubbles of gas making the cake
light and fluffy (this is called leavening).
It causes protein from the egg to change and make the cake firm.
Oil keeps the heat from drying out the cake.
Science can be learned from television. Even though the quality varies
a lot, some programs provide a marvelous window on science.
What you'll need
A television set
A VCR, if you have one
Your science journal
What to do
- Look on the regular networks, public television stations, and
cable channels (The Discovery Channel, for example) for science
programs such as Reading Rainbow, Nature, Nova,
Newton's Apple, The Voyage of the MIMI,
National Geographic, Jacques Cousteau, Cosmos, The Royal Institution of Great Britain Christmas Lectures, and Smithsonian Institution specials.
- Look for reports of scientific discoveries and activities on
regularly scheduled news programs, and for TV characters with
science-related jobs--doctors, for instance.
- If you have a VCR, tape science shows so you can look at them
later and stop--or replay--parts that are particulary interesting
or hard to understand and so you can talk to someone about them.
- Watch some of these programs with an adult so you can ask
questions.
Some TV programs give misleading information about science and/or scientists. It is important to know which things on television are real and which ones aren't.
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