Fun Ways to Teach Your Kids About Science

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Most of us have heard, “Children absorb things like sponges.” It sounds cute, but there is actually quite a bit of truth to that saying. Children are eager to learn, they have lots of energy and are always looking for something new to see, hear or do.

So, if you’re a parent who has been wondering if there is a certain age for a child to start learning about science, the honest answer is “no”. Right now, at this very moment, you can start incorporating fun and lasting ways for them to start understanding some of the basic principles of science. Here are five fun ways how:

Take them flower searching. Something that you can do during the spring and summer months is take them outside to look for flowers. As they pick various ones (in your yard, of course), explain to them what each one is called. If you happen to see some bees in a flower’s vicinity, share with your child the pollination process: that bees and butterflies carry pollen from one plant to another because they get the pollen on their feet every time that they land on a flower. Then let them know that it’s pollen that starts the pollination process for fruits and vegetables to grow. Speaking of bees, that can also be a time to start talking to your kids about how honey is made. You can even purchase some honey straws for them to lick on during the chat.

Introduce condensation. It’s a relatively big word, but you can definitely break it down a child’s level of comprehension. Start talking to your child about what clouds represent and how the air tends to feel a bit different during rainy days and snowy seasons than when it’s warm and sunny. In the summer, you can fill a glass up with water and place it outside. When the glass begins to show beads of water on the outside of the glass, you can tell them that it’s condensation. When they get into the car during the winter months and there’s frost on the windows, you can let them know that is also condensation. Let them write their names on the windows and say, “See, you are writing through condensation.”

Pack a picnic. Most of us learned about the five basic food groups on some chart. Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to take your kids on a picnic outdoors and explain it to them that way? You can have some cheese for dairy; an apple and some carrot sticks for the “fruits and vegetables” category; fish, chicken or a bean burger to represent “meat or meat alternatives”; whole grain bread for the “bread” section and a fun dessert for “sugar”.

Sign them up for a class. There are usually all kinds of classes for kids at local science centers and even home improvement stores such as Lowe’s that will show kids how to make all kinds of things with household products, chemical wire and wood. Check online to see the schedules that are available for you and your child to enjoy.

Let them teach you. Once you get the “ball to rolling” by introducing your child to different kinds of concepts, encourage them to find things to then teach you about science by (for instance) going outside and looking at the changing leaves or going online for science tips that they think you may not know. Once you encourage your child to be the “teacher” as much as the “student”, there’s no ending to all of the things that they’ll look forward to sharing!