Some of our science goals include:

Making predictions, observing, and experimenting. We have been discussing topics such as the weather/seasons and sky, caring for the earth, animals, life cycles, plants/trees, and habitats.

Fun activities to try at home:

• Look for and discuss signs of spring. Draw a picture of a spring tree and then the same tree in the summer.
• Plant seeds and watch them grow. What do they need to grow? Create a science journal to record observations.
• Observe animals in your backyard or at the zoo. See the link below to take a virtual field trip to a zoo.
• Signs of Spring: Spring is here! Go on a scavenger hunt (see link below, #4). Take a walk and use your senses to experience spring. Create a poster or sketch book showing the signs of spring. Draw pictures and label them. Click on the link below (#5) to listen to a robin sing. Click on the link below (#6) to listen to spring peepers.
• Be a weather watcher! Each day this week observe the weather and talk about what you see. Make a journal to record your observations (see link #7 below). Draw a picture and add labels to tell about the weather. Make a weather graph. Keep track of the different kinds of weather you observe: sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy. Check the temperature each day. Add the temperature to your journal or your graph. Or you can make a graph just for the temperature. Listen to the book: Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons (see link #8 below).
• Did you know you can grow a garden in an egg carton? See link #9 below to find out how.
• Make Shaving Cream Clouds - What you need: One or more clear containers, shaving cream, water, food coloring. What to do: Fill a clear container ¾ full with water; then add a super thick 2 inch layer of shaving cream on top of the water. Squeeze drops of food coloring onto the shaving cream clouds. You can add more than one color to the shaving cream cloud, or you can use several clear containers and use one color on each cloud. Watch as the rain falls through the clouds! Scientific concept or lesson: Before you add the food coloring to the cloud, make a prediction. What do you think will happen? After you do the experiment, talk about color mixing, rain, the water cycle, and your predictions.
• Watch a Bean Plant Grow- What you need: A clear jar or ziploc bag, bean seeds, water, paper towels, and the story “Jack and the Beanstalk”. What to do: Read or listen to the story, “Jack and the Beanstalk” and then do the experiment: Put water on several paper towels and make sure they are moist, but not soaking wet. Put the wet paper towels in the bottom of the jar or ziploc bag. Put the bean seeds on the towels, but do not wrap them up because you want to watch the seeds sprout. Put the jar or bag in a sunny window. Observe the seeds every day and check to make sure the paper towels stay moist. If the towels start to dry out, add a little water. Watch as the seeds sprout and grow into bean plants over the next few weeks. You can put the bean plants outside and you might have beans this summer! Scientific concept or lesson: You will explore what seeds need to sprout and grow and will observe a bean seed as it sprouts. Click on the video link below (#12) to see how to do the experiment.
• Saturday Science at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment: This series of virtual visits explores a different nature topic each week (see link #13 below).
• Sink or Float- What you need: A variety of objects to test that can get wet—toys, utensils, tools, a water tray, and a list of the items. What to do: Invite your child to hypothesize which items he/she thinks will float and which will sink in the water. Record predictions and then test each prediction by putting the item gently in the water. Record the results. Scientific concept or lesson: learning about floating and sinking; denser objects sink.
• Soil Science- What you need: Soil, trays, magnifying glasses, and tweezers. What to do: Go on a nature walk and dig up a patch of soil to examine. Try to get a good cross-section of dark soil with insects, roots, or worms in it. Allow time to carefully inspect the soil with a magnifying glass. What can you find? Scientific concept or lesson: Use observation skills to search for interesting features of the soil, including the presence of insects and worms.
• Traveling Rainbows- What you need: cups, thin strips of paper towels, water, food coloring. What to do: Fill the cups with different colored water; put two ends of the kitchen paper towels into each container of water, creating a chain. Ask your child to predict what might happen. Scientific concept or lesson: Students learn about absorbency and color mixing.
• Painting Nature- What you need: Paint and a variety of natural objects collected from the yard such as leaves, small branches, twigs, and sticks. What to do: Have your child search for natural objects in nature and closely observe them. Discuss the natural colors and features of these objects. Then your child can paint the objects. Scientific concept or lesson: Closely observing natural phenomena, looking for signs of life and growth, using senses to experience natural materials.
• Sensory Clouds- What you need: 4 cups flour or baking soda, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1–2 drops of lavender or other essential oil, tempera paint powder or crushed chalk (optional, for color). What to do: In a bin, mix all the ingredients together, grinding the chalk into a powder (if desired) and then let your child explore the “clouds.” Scientific concept or lesson: Discuss how your child is using his/her senses to explore this material. Can he/she predict if it will hold its shape? Can it be squashed? Does it bounce back?

Science Links:

1. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

Scholastic Magazine

2. https://mysteryscience.com/ Lessons that inspire kids to love science

3. https://www.weareteachers.com/best-nature-webcams/?utm_source=WAT_MDR&utm_medium=Enews&utm_campaign=WAT_Enews03252020

25 nature webcams for science learning at a distance

4. https://teachingmama.org/spring-scavenger-hunt/ Spring Scavenger Hunt

5. bird sound - call and song

6. Spring Peeper Sounds

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo8lbeVVb4M How to keep a weather journal

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJohy6cHl4&feature=youtu.be Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons

9. https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-hmhco-vmg-craftcms-public/Science-Blog_eggcarton.pdf Egg Carton Garden

10. https://www.weareteachers.com/teach-kids-about-germs/?utm_source=MDR_WAT&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Lysol_2003_Article%202 Activities to help kids learn about germs

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrXww4oZrsI Song about the life cycle of the frog!

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg92cspLy0I#action=share Plant Life Cycle of a Bean Seed

13. https://www.hitchcockcenter.org/programs/children-and-family-programs/saturday-family-science-series/ Saturday Science at the Hitchcock Center