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Science abilities can be acquired through simple hands-on activities and tests performed right under the safety of your home.
Studies show that even before age two, children have a robust understanding of the principles of science. Scientists have shown time and time again that kids are curious, want to explore, and want to learn by doing. Around the time they’re in first grade, they know how to work out a theory, and if time remains to investigate it on their own.
According to your state’s program, you may expect your kindergartner to learn the fundamentals of experimental experiments, though, you can also expect to discover the following concepts:
- Physical Science
- Life Science
- Earth Science
We’ve compiled a few helpful tips on how you can improve your child’s newly developed science skills at home.
Weather & Seasons
Young learners discover the physical phenomena they see in their day-to-to-day lives. Children will describe the changes of the seasons and tell tales about the weather. It is possible that they will focus on disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
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The cycle of the day, the daily weather patterns, and the passage of the sun during the day can be discussed in relation to people’s personal lives as well.
As an experiment to teach your child about rain, try this one. Place shaving cream on top of a glass of water, use food coloring to dye some water and then use a dropper to slowly add the colored water to the top of the cloud. As it gets saturated it will start to ‘rain’ into the glass of water.
Ourselves
Over the years, “ourselves” has been in just about every area of the classroom and in the process of learning. Here is why it’s in almost every kindergarten class. As part of biology, they will look at the development and growth of living organisms.
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Use various sizes of blocks or objects to weigh your child and discuss the different things they have learned in their development. Use photos of the children to illustrate points and learn about their developmental stages.
Tell your children how cool it is to hear about one of their five senses in this experiment. Incorporate many aromas such as cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate, coconut, ginger, etc.
And try to see if they can recognize any of these odors, what scents do they prefer or dislike?
Pets & Plants
Children in kindergarten are given exposure to plants and animals, as well as more science as they go on to further understanding the fundamental aspects of the life process and how they live on our planet. Animals can be classified and compared and sorted according to their species.
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Teach your child each day how to care for a plant by growing it from seed. To talk about what it needs in order to thrive includes sunshine and water.
Get your child to notice the characteristics and desires of your pet. Helping children care for fish or their pet dog may enable them to grow an interest in caring for animals.
Children will discover and explain their surroundings. Different textures may be identified using sensory terms such as glossy, bumpy, gentle, rough, etc.
Describe/Analyze
Children want to see how many different materials can be used to build houses in storybooks. Ask them to explain the houses in the “Three Little Pigs” and see what they come up with.
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Analyze the properties of various (shiny objects and) why some are better than others.
Arrange items in the bag and let your child simply “see” their way through the item without looking to do something new.
Kindergarten Science is a place where kids start developing their skills in using fundamental science concepts they will need during their educational career. Practical knowledge of science includes these important special skills.
Seeing/Predicting, Observing
Via certain simple science experiments and observations, children would have the ability to cultivate these scientific abilities.
As part of their problem-solving abilities, they’ll be asked to look closely, to use their best guesses to assess what will happen next and to measure and analyze the outcomes.
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Encourage your child to doubt what they see, hear, what they do, and what they say. Make believe can help to tell stories and ask ‘how do you think this will turn out?’. Then talk about the different possibilities.
How do you think this would turn out?
Show your child that even parents aren’t really sure of the right responses, and encourage your child to be on the lookout for evidence that is accurate.
