Science is everywhere, and it’s even more evident during the summertime. It’s in the grass that grows in our yards, the stars in the sky, even our own bodies. Just because the kids are on a break from school doesn’t mean they cannot continue to learn at home.
Get Gardening
My kids love to help me plant and care for my vegetable garden. This includes weeding, watering, fertilizing and harvesting. Don’t have a garden of your own? Take the kids picking!
Observe Your Surroundings
My kids love exploring things in nature. They are constantly taking in the beauty of the outdoors, whether it’s the deer feeding in our yard, collecting seashells on the beach or checking out funny looking insects. Have a magnifying glass handy to give them a closer look.
Roast Marshmallows
This idea is both fun and tasty. Have you met a kid who doesn’t love making s’mores? While you’re holding those marshmallows over the fire, explain to your children how the element of fire creates a chemical change. Then experience the science of gastronomy!
Witness Metamorphosis
When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was capture caterpillars and watch the process in which they transform into butterflies. You don’t need a fancy net to do this either. Find a caterpillar in your own yard and place it into a bucket with the plant it was feeding on and a small branch placed upright. Cover the bucket with netting and store it outside. Kids will love nurturing the insect and watching it form a cocoon. Once transformed to a butterfly, release it!
Make pizza dough
Kids can learn about chemistry while helping with dinner! Or simply make a batch of dough to play with. Watch the yeast foam and demonstrate how it helps the dough rise.
I’m sure after reading these few ideas, you can name ten other examples. I hope you’re inspired to take some time to focus on science this summer, because it’s easy to be a scientist! Simply look around and ask, “Why?”
I would love to watch a caterpillar transform into a butterfly. My kids would be so excited so watch the process from start to finish as well!
These are all great ideas. My kids always loved “kitchen chemistry” like making pizza dough!
A wonderful way to get kids to learn. Science was always my favorite.
I’m definitively going to try these ideas with my son. He’s never made s’mores on an open fire before and I think he will enjoy it a lot!
Those a great ways to learn! We have been doing hands on Science experiments all week, it’s been fun too!
These all sound like fun activities. I will have to try making pizza dough with my niece and nephew.
These are wonderful ways to teach science to kids. They learn fast when their having fun.
My daughter loves science we plant a few plants for our apartment deck every year. We live in a small town in Michigan and are srounded by nature we have some bunnies that live close by, turkeys, hedge hogs, and even garden snakes are around us. Oh we also have tree frogs and lots of other types of wild life. I do love a good smore I always enjoy lighting mine on fire.
Yes please on the pizza. We love pizza in our house.
Those are great ways to introduce science concepts to kids. Great ideas.