Science Experiments for Pre-K?

Question

Does anyone have any ideas/sites for some very simple/basic science experiments for a boy in Pre-K ( 4 years old)?

Thanks so much in advance!!

Answer 1

Mentos in the Diet Coke.

Answer 2

salt crystals

Answer 3

Egg float, One cup with no salt, and another with salt 4 tbs. Put the egg in the first after asking what will happen, then put it in the second after asking what will happen. Explain that the salt makes the water heavier than the egg, and makes it float.

Or you could do

* oil and water,

*other float vs sink experiments

*gravity pull (time different things to see how long it takes things to fall, with a stopwatch)

*nature castings (use stuff they find outside and push it into a lump of clay. Then mix plaster of paris and pour it into their mold)

*Plant growth in light vs complete darkness ( plant 2 seeds each in their own clean yogurt cup with potting soil. Cover one with a black bag or put a box over it. Only open it to water it then re-cover immediately. Ask what the children predict. After 2 weeks, reveal what happened.)

*If you find a caterpillar outside (In the late summer to late fall) and keep fresh leaves in a tank or fish bowl and make sure there are a few twigs for it make a chrysalis on. When it does ask the children what they think happen. Ask them what will happen later. (we have this going on right now in the kindergarten class. They found a caterpillar outside in early October on a Friday and brought it in. Put it in a fish bowl and came back after the week end and it had made a chrysalis hanging from a twig. Now they eagerly await for spring so the butterfly can hatch.)

Answer 4

I wouls recommend investing in a curriculum guide book on science for pre-k. My co-teacher and I picked one up at Lakeshore. Visit their website to order.

We've done sink or float with an egg, color mixing, all cooking activities are science and math activities, grown root veggies, and keep pet hermit crabs in our science area. We take care of them and observe changes such as shell changes, molting, and speed of movement. The children find a live pet facinating! We also take care of a plant and have a daily plant waterer.

Answer 5

Take shaving cream, and a few drops of different color paint (depending on what color of the week) and put all of it in a Ziploc baggie.  Make sure to let all the air out of the bag and tape the top seal so nothing escapes and let the kids squeeze the bags.  It is a cool manipulative activity that works great for kids to learn their colors and what happens when mix 2 separate colors together (yellow and blue make green; red and yellow make orange, etc.).  

Nature walks are good.  Especially since the leaves are changing.  Oh, do you remember "Shrinky Dinks" or those metal things that you would add the plastic beads to make a stained glass when its put in the oven.  I would go to Michael's or any other hobby shop that you have around.  But my favorite is the shaving cream.  Also that is good to let them play with on the tables.  It is easy to clean up and its a great cleaner, if you get the antibacterial kind...

Answer 6

First read the book 'If You Take a Mouse to School', then recreate the volcano in the book.  We do it in my classroom every year during our Back-to-School unit.  It's really easy, here's how you do it.

1)  Take an empty and clean 20 oz. soda bottle and fill it about 1/3 to 1/2 way with regular white vinegar (you can add purple or red food coloring for effect).

2)  Place it on a cookie sheet then build the outside shell of the volcano around it with brown playdough.

3) With a small funnel drop about a Tbsp. of Baking Soda into the bottle.  

4) Watch your volcano erupt. (You can add more baking soda after each eruption to do it over and over again.)

Answer 7

Making a bubbles with adult supervision.

Answer 8

Bakeing soda and vinigar is always a fun safe science experiments, you can even add a bit of food colouring to the baking soda for colourful fun.  Also works great for cleaning the sink draub, whitch 4 year olds find really really cool

Answer 9

Make gak!!  It's tons of fun!

Answer 10

I don't have websites but I have ideas, kids LOVE seeing fun sights or making things do odd stuff. Most kids favorite is baking soda and vinegar. Let them make a little valcano with a store kit and let them enjoy. Kids can also do fun little things, not exactly experiments, but they can put a penny in a ballon to make funny noises, they love it! Hope I helped.

Answer 11

magnets

Answer 12

mix colors to see what they make

Answer 13

How To Make Slime

Time Required: 15 mins

Here's How:

   1. Pour the glue into the jar. If you have a big bottle of glue, you want 4 oz or 1/2 cup of glue.

   2. Fill the empty glue bottle with water and stir it into the glue (or add 1/2 cup of water).

   3. If desired, add food coloring. Otherwise, the slime will be an opaque white.

   4. In a separate, mix one cup (240 ml) of water into the bowl and add 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of borax powder                             5. Slowly stir the glue mixture into the bowl of borax solution.

   6. Place the slime that forms into your hands and knead until it feels dry. (Don't worry about the excess water remaining in the bowl.)

   7. The more the slime is played with, the firmer and less sticky it will become.

   8. Have fun!

   9. Store your slime in a zip-lock bag in the fridge (otherwise it will develop mold).

Tips:

   1. Use white glue, such as Elmer's brand. Most 'school glues' do not have the correct composition.

   2. Don't eat the slime - it isn't especially toxic, but not good for you either!

   3. Slime cleans up pretty easily. Remove dried slime after soaking with water.

What You Need:

    * borax powder

    * water

    * 4 ounce (120 ml) glue (e.g., Elmer's white glue)

    * teaspoon

    * bowl

    * jar or measuring cup

    * food coloring (optional)

    * measuring cup

Answer 14

Put food coloring in WHOLE milk. The put dish soap on a q-tip and put it in the milk to watch the colors swirl.

Get a tuning fork. You can do lots of fun things, including stretching a balloon over a cup and putting salt on it then holding the tuning fork near the salt to watch the vibrations make it dance.

Put Baking soda in a balloon then put the balloon on a bottle with vinegar in it. Hold the balloon up to get the baking soda to fall into the bottle and the balloon will inflate.