Science K - Matter Videos

Duration: 3:03

Synopsis: The video focuses on students becoming familiar with the vocabulary associated with the senses and sensory organs. This is concluded with a very simple review that really places emphasis on ten key pieces of vocabulary.

Duration: 6:20

Synopsis: The video has Pete the Cat walk through all five senses. Pete gives repeated examples of animals such as owls and ducks, and how they use many of their different senses to perceive various components. What is nice about this video is that the narrator is repeatedly asking questions throughout that engage the audience.

Duration: 4:03

Synopsis: There are five videos below that are also made by Dr. Binocs, but this is the introductory video to all five senses. All five senses are briefly touched upon in this video, and with examples that Dr. Binocs then goes into greater detail in some of the videos that can be found below.

Duration: 3:47

Synopsis: Though many mediocre songs can be found about the senses, the key feature of this for a kindergarten class is twofold: the chorus is repeated six times (at the opening and after each verse), and the chorus doesn't display words, but instead symbols to cue the students on what sense they are singing next. While there are some other songs below, this is the only one I recommend for singing along about the five senses.

Duration: 2:49

Synopsis: The video has five interesting facts about your eyes that can be used to really get students engaged and interested in their eyes. What better way to ask your students to draw a crying baby (to which they will likely draw tears) only to find out that newborn babies don't actually have tears? 

Duration: 4:10

Synopsis: This video does start with a disclaimer of "Do Not Try These Experiments at Home," but does give some good demonstrations of experiments on the eye that will help students better understand them. For example, the two physicians in the video show how the iris changes the size of the pupil when a light is shone into a person's eye. 

Duration: 5:09

Synopsis: Though I could not find any good videos for a song about vision, this video gets awfully close with a small segue to learning about the inside of the eye sung to Handel's Hallelujah. That, and what better way to solidify that students know the size of an eye than having two cartoon characters playing tabble tennis with eyeballs? What this video does have that none of the others on this list have is a helpful understanding that black/white/grey and colours are received by two different parts of the eye (rods and cones). While this might seem like a rather high academic level for kindergarten, it is helpful in helping students with colourblindness understand why they cannot see all colours. 

Duration: 4:16

Synopsis: The video titled "Human Eye - The Dr. Binocs Show" is an educational video that focuses on explaining the human eye's structure and function in a kid-friendly manner. It is designed to help young viewers understand how the eye works, including how we see and perceive the world around us. The content is presented in an engaging and accessible way, suitable for children, making complex concepts easier to grasp. The best part of this video is that it has students engage in a simple lab involving just their eye and one pencil (that could easily be replaced with their own finger; extensive preparation is not needed). 

Duration: 5:22

Synopsis: In this video, students are introduced to how sight is created in our brain, and the various parts of the eye that play a critical role in keeping our eyes safe (eg. eyelids and eyelashes). Some of the vocabulary in this video might be a little advanced for kindergarten (eg. cornea, iris, and retina) but at the same time, words such as "pupil" might be words that some students are familiar with. 

Duration: 3:19

Synopsis: Though this may sound like a video that belongs in an English class, what this video really does a great job of is providing a plethora of examples. You can take each of these examples and ask your students what other adjectives could be used for each example, or ask for other examples that might use that same adjective. 

Duration: 3:59

Synopsis: If it wouldn't take so much time to do so, I would edit this video and leave out the part in the middle. Why? The opening does a great job of introducing students to the sense of touch, and then the conclusion has some great tangential points about touch, but in the middle, there is a section about the "Epidermis, Dermis, and Hypodermis" that is written for a Biology 20 class. Luckily, the video does have chapters at the bottom of the video, so it is easy to skip over these. The introduction and conclusion are really well-written, so jump over the middle, or maybe just send your students home with some vocabulary they can use in about eleven years from now.

Duration: 2:28

Synopsis: With many of the videos focusing on touch being in the hands and toes, one part that this video highlights is that touch is sensed across all skin on our body. It does begin to touch on a few contrasting descriptions of touch, the key piece of this video is the idea that touch is felt across our entire body.

Duration: 2:05

Synopsis: Though there were no songs specifically that stood out to me as being simple enough for kindergarten students to learn, this song has some great level of repetition that really lets the students become familiar with sme of the words associated with touch.

Duration: 4:32

Synopsis: This video does have a bit of vocabulary that seems a bit excessive for kindergarten, but it has some animations that really give a good visualization of how sound waves ultimately are sensed and sent to our brain. It also concludes with some great trivia.

Duration: 5:07

Synopsis: While some parts of this video are very similar to the one above, one of the great parts of this video that students should be able to associate with has the two characters walking down the ear canal that is covered in ear wax. The one character then proceeds to explain all of the important defenses played by the earwax. The other nice piece to this video is that it uses the more colloquial terms for the three tiny ear bone--hammer, anvil, and stirrup--instead of the proper scientific terms used in the previous one.

Duration: 3:57

Synopsis: This video can really be broken into two parts: the first part looks at the basic science behind what sound is, while the second part really takes a look at what hearing is, and how our ears work. What is really great about this video (when compared to the others) is the fact that scientific terms are essentially never used. She keeps all vocabulary very elementary so that you don't lose the engagement of any students. What I really like about this video is that she concludes it with an activity that you could then do in class.

Duration: 3:48

Synopsis: This video walks your class through the five basic tastes, with examples for each one. The nice part of this video is that the only five words (that are shown again and again) are the words of the five tastes; this can allow you to really place an emphasis of your students beginning to recognize these words.

Duration: 5:01

Synopsis: What is really great about this video is that it is essentially an infomercial for a tongue. Going through all the key features of a tongue, this video not only talks about the tastes, but also includes the tongue's key role the us making many of our phonetic sounds. 

Duration: 5:09

Synopsis: While there is much content throughout the first three minutes of this video that can be found in many of the other videos here, one great addition to this video is its conclusion. The last two minutes of this video really looks at differences in tongues/taste between different animals. This is a great component to help students understand the similarities between humans and other animals.

Duration: 5:09

Synopsis: This video has a collection of interesting demonstrations, from the difference in the number of taste buds in children vs. adults to the relationship between taste and smell (as demonstrated with a bunch of ping-pong balls and a fan). While there are a few terms that might be a bit elaborate for kindergarten, this is made up with the humour throughout the video.

Duration: 3:51

Synopsis: This video walks your class through the five basic tastes, with examples for each one. The nice part of this video is that the only five words (that are shown again and again) are the words of the five tastes; this can allow you to really place an emphasis of your students beginning to recognize these words.

Duration: 3:32

Synopsis: Though there is one component of this video that is somewhat outdated (scientists now argue if humans smell anywhere from one million to one trillion different smells), this video as a whole is a good introduction to the sense of smell in humans. The video then moves from the difference in the ability of humans to smell, and the ability of animals to smell.

Duration: 5:33

Synopsis: Some of the vocabulary in this video might be a little high for kindergarten (eg. olfactory epithelium), the way that he first starts the video by discussing the formation of boogers as a defence mechanism is certain to keep students entertained. The second half of the video is where not only smell is discussed, but what disorders exist involving smell.

Duration: 2:25

Synopsis: I'm not sure if I ever thought I'd find a song where rhythmic inhaling through the nose is a part of "singing" it, but between that, and two characters somewhat arguing over whether certain smells are good or not, your students will be well entertained by this video while repeatedly singing that we smell with our noses.

Duration: 4:38

Synopsis: With one of the properties for children to learn being colour, what better than a video that not only introduces them to colour, but also to the mixing of primary colours?

Duration: 2:16

Synopsis: While there is a myriad of videos across YouTube that compare the same object at different sizes, what is great about this video is that it takes objects that students might be familiar with, and asks which of the two is likely to be larger. What is great about a video like this one is that it can act as a catalyst for an activity in your class where you just perpetuate what is being done in the video into your class.

Duration: 1:26

Synopsis: Similar to my preference for the previous video, this video has a collection of comparisons of different objects, and then in the second half of the video, has a part that you can lead with your students where they need to guess which of the two examples is larger.

,Duration: 3:16

Synopsis: There are literally thousands of songs about shapes. When it comes to a song that might be written a bit above kindergarten academics, this is still a great song for two reasons--it gives each shape its own genre of music, and at the same time keeps coming back to a chorus that lists all basic 2D shapes.

Duration: 10:26

Synopsis: Though some of these songs may seem almost overstimulating, all five songs in this video have enough redundancy on each shape to really have students grasp the name of each shape. It should be noted that this isn't just songs, but songs with dialogue in-between. My one piece of advice is to skip over the section with the circle and square talking to each other (4:00-4:52). I'm not sure who wrote the part of the script, but it was truly the only part of the video that was so painful that I had to skip it!

Duration: 6:26

Synopsis: What is really great about this video isn't just the use of incredible images from scanning electron microscopes, but the fact that they describe a texture, and then give three or four examples of that texture over the next minute or so. 

Duration: 2:17

Synopsis: This video has Abby magically change what Josh Gad is wearing, and every time that he is wearing something different, he discusses som of the key words associated with that texture.