Kids are naturally curious and tend to love talking about different phenomena in our world. You can have great conversations with your child about science and this can help improve their conversation skills in general which eventually translate into writing and reading at higher levels. It helps to have interesting things to talk about. On this page, you will find engaging conversation starters with suggested questions for you and your child to talk about at home.
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Activities for further exploration:
Resources to help explain what your child is noticing with each experiment:
Remember the idea is for your child to figure out that the color changes are because something new is being made every time you mix the substances together. It's not magic, it's science!!
Where to start the activity:
Activities for further exploration:
Resources to help explain what your child is noticing with each experiment:
Remember the idea is for your child to figure out that fingerprints are unique and that you can find patterns in your own and between family members. This is a great opportunity to make detailed observations and to find ways to organize the data they collect from various people. Once they get it, challenge their thinking by asking them to gather information about how fingerprints are helpful in crime investigations.
Questions to ask your child:
Questions to ask during the game or between games:
Resources to help explain what your child is noticing with each experiment
Remember the idea is for your child to figure out that food webs are built on producers (plants) and that adding or removing species at all levels of the food chain can have many effects. They will also discover that animals who have a large variety of foods in their diet have a distinct advantage over those who can only eat one or two species. Keep playing the game with different players and scenarios until they get it. Try not to just tell them the answer right away. Once they get it, challenge their thinking by asking them to make predictions with future games and why the best choice as a player may be the driver ant, baboon, or rhino and not the lion, leopard, or cheetah.
Questions to ask your child:
Activities for further exploration:
Resources to help explain what your child is noticing with each experiment
Remember the idea is for your child to figure out that objects have different densities and that even different parts of objects have different densities. The ability of the object to trap air makes a difference. Keep experimenting until they get it. Try not to just tell them the answer right away. Once they get it, challenge their thinking by asking them to make predictions with future investigations and why objects can lose mass but go from floating to sinking.
Questions to ask your child:
Activities for further exploration:
Resources to help explain what your child is noticing with each experiment
Remember the idea is for your child to figure out that light bends in different mediums (water, air, oil, etc). Keep experimenting until they get it. Try not to just tell them the answer right away. Once they get it, challenge their thinking by asking them to make predictions with future investigations and why objects seem to appear distorted or disappear completely.
Questions to ask your child:
Activities for further exploration:
Resources:
Questions to ask your child:
Activities for further exploration:
Resources:
Explanation:
Save this for the end so that you and your child can explore the phenomenon together. Remember, science aims to teach children how to figure things out and not just learn about.
How do the Water Strider and other animals manage to walk on water?
They take advantage of water's extremely high level of surface tension! The water molecules hold on tightly to each other. They don’t want to separate. They especially cling to each other at the surface because there is no water molecule on the other side of them to grab on to. The water molecules on the surface holds on to each other so tightly that a “skin” seems to form on the surface. When experimenting with the penny and the cups, the water droplets keep building on top of each other until a small dome of water forms on the top of the penny or the cup. Soap breaks up the water molecules and forces them to separate, thus decreasing the surface tension and causing the object to sink or the dome to flatten. For more detailed information on water striders, check out this site. For more detailed information on surface tension, check out this site.
Questions to ask your child:
Activities for further exploration: