Science lesson plan with preschoolers?

Question

i need to do 3 lesson plans with preschoolers on science & the 3 lessons must be related=/ any ideas? something easy that i wont have to cook or anythin but still can be fun?!

Answer 1

Get some easy to grow plants (or seeds), and have the kids grow them. You can do the three lessons along the way while the plants grow.

Answer 2

1. buy some flower, e.g.  white carnation, with a water storage tube at the end, then dip some food coloring, then the coloring go up and makes the petals with the color.

2. collect film canister, put some antacid powder, mix with warm water/vinegar, then, turn the canister upside down (quickly) with the cap closed.  The canister will explore (like a rocket)

Hope this help!

Answer 3

I have preschoolers and I think the most fun thing we made was ice cream.  You don't have to cook it  you can get up to four lessons plans from it.  Here a are the materials you need;

1 gallon Ziploc bag

1 sandwich size zip lock bag

1/2 gallon bag of ice

1 1/2 cup of rock salt

1 cup of milk

1tbsp of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of sugar

step  1 pour  liquids in the sandwich bag and close bag

step 2  mix ice and rock salt in 1 gallon bag

step 3  put sandwich bag of liquids in gallon bag with Ice

Step 4  shake and after about 5-10 mins taste !!

1 lesson  have the kids notice the different temperature of the ice before and after the rock salt by hold the bag of ice.

2 lesson have them notice what happens to the sandwich bag with liquids inside

3 lesson Why is the sandwich bag of liquids getting solid ?

4 lesson have them measure liquids and rock salt

I found that this the favorite of my toddlers. I like it because it teaches them many things at once that will help them later. They don't know they have been introduce to chemistry and its fun. Also the items are very inexpensive and no cooking involved they do most of the work.

Answer 4

Try this--- you can relate these by colors, or sensory(I'm sure there is another but it is late and my Brain is half off)

Exploding colors --------

milk

food color

dish soap

bowls

---pour a small amount of milk into several bowls

---carefully place several drops of food color around the milk

---do not mix

---then add a drop of dish soap to each drop of food coloring or add to center of bowl

--- the colors will explode! (A bit like fireworks)

Traveling colors----

coffee filter

black markers

cup(see through is best)

water

Optional: eye dropper

--- explain to the kids that it takes all kinds of colors to make black

---have each child draw a picture on the coffee filter with a black marker

---- either place one end of coffee filter into the cup (you don't need to put a lot in the water)

--- watch as the colors seperate as the water travels up the coffee filter

--- or

---have the children make a large dot on the coffee filter

---you can use the eye dropper and add several drops of water to a the dot

--- watch as the colors expand from the dot



--- you could also do another traveling color experiment

queen Ann's lace or carnation(queen Ann's lace is prettier and more interesting)

cup

water

food color

--- snip off the end of either flower

---place into cup of water

---add food coloring

--- watch as the color travels up the stem and colors the flower

my websites have more experiments

http://brighteyeslearning.tripod.com/

http://brighteyeslearning2.tripod.com/

Answer 5

How old?  You can do more w/ 4's than you can w/ 2's or 3's...

At any rate, you can have them make predictions and test them.  Have them each find one item in the room they think will float and one they think will sink.  Then let them test their predictions in a large pan of water.  How many guesses were right?  What do the things that float have in common?  What about the ones that sink?  Make sure you have some really large items that float and some really small ones that sink so you can test whether size affects bouyancy (a word that you can introduce).  Also make sure you make a large chart to record their predictions and their actual observations.  

Alternatively, you could have them predict which items will stick to a magnet (attraction) and which items will roll vs. which will slide on an inclined plane.

You can do tons of things with water.... work with ice cubes and watch them melt.  What can you do to increase/decrease the rate at which they melt?  You can do mixtures of oil & water and show how they separate after you shake them up.  You can pour & measure a specific amount of water in a variety of containers and discuss how even though the containers may be different sizes/shapes, the amount of water doesn't change.  You can explore surface tension by filling a cup w/water & dropping pennies into the cup; you will see that you can actually "over-fill" the cup.  A bulge of water will form at the top before the cup overflows.  

Tons of stuff with plants... cut open a squash and look at the seeds. Plant them and wait for them to sprout.  Look at the stems, leaves, and roots.  Talk about what plants need to survive... how does it differ from what we need?  Feed a white carnation or a stalk of leafy celery water colored with food coloring and look at how the color gets sucked up into the petals/leaves.  

You said you didn't want to cook but check out the recipes on this page for gak/silly putty:

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/clayrec...

Use the gak to talk about phases of matter (can be tied into the ice/water lesson)... watch the 2 liquids turn to solids.  Similarly, you can make butter by shaking heavy cream in a sealed plastic jar/tupperware container.  Keep shaking until you get a hard lump of butter & liquid whey.

Of course one of the classic preschool science lessons is the 5 sense...

Feeling/touch -- have a variety of items out to touch... rough, soft, hard, bumpy, fluffy, etc.   Make texture books.

Sound -- put items in film cannisters & let kids guess what is inside.  Or make pairs of cannisters & let kids match them (be sure to supervise as the items are little enough to be choking hazard.  Make drums from oatmeal cans or some other type of "instrument".

Smell -- buy small containers of spices and let children smell them or put a variety of spices, lotions, etc. in film cannisters.  What different types of scents are their?  Which ones do you like/not like, etc.  Paint with paint scented with cinnamon or cloves or play w/playdough that's had cinnamon, cloves, or coffee, added to it.

Sight -- play with flashlights, mirrors, binoculars, colored films or plastic (they sell these at teacher resource stores). If you have the colored plastic lenses/films, you can combine them to look at different colors of light.  Play "I spy".  Make "binoculars" from carboard tubes...cover ends w/colored cellophane if you like.

Taste -- discuss favorite/least favorite tastes.  Make trail mix from sweet, salty & savory items like raisins, pretzels, and cheesy crackers/chips.  Make collages of favorite tastes by cutting photos out of magazines.

The site below looks kind of interesting...

http://www.peepandthebigwideworld.com/ac...

Answer 6

I like to do things that are very hands on for preschoolers-----especially planting

We used to have kiddos fill a styrofoam cup with potting soil and then spread grass seed on top.    

However the day beforehand ----we decorated the cups to look like faces-------so when the grass grew-----it looked like hair----it was fun.

the science part however is an early education into plants and biology.    they need soil and water and light to grow.   plants may start from a seed and then sprout up  and grow.

other beans can be grown or for a slower but bigger bang---how about some amaryllis bulbs------they bloom nicely in the winter but take a long time to come up--------if you plant them in bulb jars with water and rocks the kiddos can see the roots in the water and the plant gets 2-3 feet tall with a beautiful blossom in 6-8 weeks ideally.  

sometimes paperwhites or hyacinths are a little faster or even crosus.

beans or other plants can be observed also.  

You may try taking a fruit like an apple and cutting it in half and have the kiddos use plastic picnic knives to find the seeds inside an apple or even an orange and discuss seeds and fruits-----

Answer 7

Hi,

You could go for Winter topic

Talk about how snow is sort of like frozen water.

Then you could talk about Some things get bigger when they get colder in simple words of course and about animals of winter and how they hibernate. Hope it helps!

Answer 8

You can do the Sink float method-

infasize on weight, liquid and solid

example--1. (weight)1 penny 1 gallon water 1pen top

have children make educated guessed use the tally system what sinks and what floats

                  

                  2.(weight) 1balloon 1paper airplane 2fan

have a race to the finish-which one will move the fastest to the finsh line.Use the fan to move the objects.(objective- they both weigh the same which one is heavier)

                  

                  3.(weight) 1 rock 1 feather 1 chair-step stool

stand on the stool and hold the feather in one hand and the rock in the other hand which will hit the floor first.

Answer 9

try the book KIDS IN THE KITCHEN  by SARA LEWIS thats a cook book for kids which may help. Otherwise you could use the experiment using an egg & in one glass have water & in another glass have no water & see what happens. This experiment could also be used with water & oil. If the oil is poured into the glass of water the oil will stay at the top

Answer 10

Maybe just a simplified volcano explosion. We actually did it in our preschool.. I don't know the measurements though.. But we used vinegar, powdered laundry soap.. and baking soda.. i think, sorry i can't remember.. And food coloring. Ask the children what color they want first.. Mix that color with the vinegar.. Mix the dry ingredients together, then pour the colored vinegar in the powder. and voila! Before you do the experiment ask curiously what they think will happen.. And when you are measuring out each amount tell them, repeatedly.. have them learn about the measurement sizes.. Good luck!

Answer 11

You could send a letter home to the parents asking them to sent in an object in a closed solid box and have them (kids and parents) come up with clues for the class to guess or you could do it the other way around and you come up with the objects, balls, coins etc. and have the kids guess. This fits in with the  5 Senses. You could also have the kids feel different in a box with their eyes closed and guess. The kids think that this is a game and really enjoy it  a lot. It is really great for a class with everyone on different levels also

Answer 12

In preschool we used to do float or sink experiments and do a float and sink chart. Or you could go on a bug hunt in the garden and put them in little pots, explain about insects and where they live and how the way their bodies are help them to live in their environment and what they eat (you'll be surprised how much little children understand)

Or you could do body parts like finding your pulse and breathing and then running and finding your pulse again and seeing how you breathe faster.

Or you could make circuits...or build a volcano and make it erupt with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

That's all I can think of right now

Answer 13

i have a preschooler and i know she's just learning about the season changes. So you could do a 'weather' theme, and cut snowflakes (you know when you fold the paper up and cut it when it's opened it looks like a snowflake) and maybe for spring have them make a paper flower, and for summer have them color a picture of the lake/ocean/beach ... anyways something along that line. Good luck!! You sound like u have a fun job!!