What science topics should I teach my 5-7 year old?

I had a reader ask what  topics that a Kindergartner/1st Grader (ie. 5-7 year old) might learn for science. I’ve gotten this same question several times in the past month or so, so I thought I might share with you some of the topics we explored when the kids were in early elementary.

As you’ll see below, there are SO many things you could do with your kids.  Just ask them what they are interested in learning and go with that! Borrow lots of books from the library and dive in! 🙂

My kids *loved* science because there are so many wonderful, hands-on activities to do!!

What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science CurriculumAs homeschoolers, there is nothing you *have* to cover with your kids at this age. I had a general science checklist that I want to cover from K-8 and keep that I kept in mind over the years. When I noticed a hole, then we’d do a unit on that. You can grab the free Science Checklist for elementary and middle school here.

I’ll share many of the units that we did, but please don’t be overwhelmed!  I have THREE kids, so this represents years of fun science exploration!  I’m just pulling out the units that your early elementary student might enjoy!

As I said, above explore the units/topics that you think your kids would enjoy the most!  So, while my family did TONS about zoology/animals, maybe yours will explore geology/rocks & minerals in depth or will want to  learn about tornadoes & other natural disasters! 🙂

When the kids were little, we did as many hands-on, engaging activities as we could. Sometimes, these were one-off experiments that captivated their imaginations and made them wonder, “Why did that happen?!!” Things like this colored milk explosion or oil and water fireworks:

Milk-Fireworks
Oil-and-Water-FireworksThese were some of our very favorite, fun science experiments when the kids were younger:

Free Science Experiment Packet

Science Experiment PacketAt this post you’ll find three more science experiments and another free printable.

3FunScienceExperiments

Other times we would explore topics in more depth.

When the kids were little, we generally spent somewhere around 2 or 3 weeks on a unit before moving to a different unit. I always played it by ear and switched it up when the kids weren’t quite as engaged.

Then I might come back to a unit to review that material again later in the year or a year or two later and would add to what we had already learned.

Zoology

We did a lot with zoology in early elementary. We studied animals most every year in one way or another! We covered basic animal classification, for example. We started with living-non-living and then went on to talk about invertebrates-vertebrates, the five animal groups. Other years we talked about nocturnal-diurnal animals, animal shelters, wild vs. domesticated animals, herbivores vs. carnivores, and more!

Free Living and Nonliving Cards Worksheets and Activities

  • From there we generally went on to review basic animal classification and other animal topics. As I mentioned above, our Animal Packet explores vertebrates-invertebrates, animal characteristics,  nocturnal animals, herbivores vs. carnivores, animal homes and shelters and more).
  • We also studied the Life Cycles of various animals and critters over the years. Of course, lots of early elementary students study the life cycle of the frog and the butterfly.  We also talked about the life cycle of mosquitoes, ladybugs, chickens, dragonfly, bee, mouse… and others! 🙂
  • We also studied World Animals from time to time (and tied that in with basic world geography activities). This might go well with the Where I Live Activity Packet which helps kids see where they live from their galaxy, solar system, planet, continent, country, state, town, right down to their home! It also has activities for learning about the seven continents.

Where I Live and Montessori World Map ActivitiesAt this age, we spent a lot of time studying zoology. My kids loved animals so we studied everything from animal characteristics and classification to nocturnal animals, animals of Africa and Australia. We started to learn about biomes and did a big unit on the Rainforest. We talked about why we have winter and talked about the poles and polar animals (in our Winter Packet) and we learned about chameleons, cicadas, wolves and more! This post has more information about all of our Animal Packets: Big Animal Bundle

Big Animal Bundle Units

Animal-Unit-100-pages-worksheets-feathers-fur-scales-skin-vertebrates-invertebrates-insects-spidersFor example, after we studied the 7 Continents for world geography, we went on to talk about Animals around the World (which is sold separately or included in our Big Animal BUNDLE)

World Animals Unit - Montessori Cards Games Activities and more

  • Of course, all of my kids loved Dinosaurs at one point or another, so we studied that when the kids were interested!

DinosaurPacket-and-Lapbook-CoverDinosaur Unit - Activities Lapbook Games and More Dinosaur Lapbook ActivitiesDinosaur Notebook Pages - Tracing

Another year we talked about the Rainforest (rainforest animals, insects and things like that!)Rainforest Unit - Animals of the Rainforest Layers of the Rainforest

Space – The Solar System

We also talked about the Solar System at this age (and in later years too!)

Free Solar System Unit for Kids - Solar System ActivitiesEarth Science – Weather, Water Cycle

We did some basic Earth Science units when the kids were little. For example, we talked about Rocks and Minerals.  There’s a free Rocks & Minerals Packet here (I don’t know if all the links still work because I made it so many years ago, but I know it had some material for my youngest who was about 5 at the time.)

Water Cycle Unit - worksheets notebook pages on the water cycle groundwater aquifers Homeschool CurriculumIn first or second grade, I think we talked about the Water Cycle for the first time.  We also did some fun experiments about air and the Weather. (I have 3 kids and we did science together for years and years, so the kids were different ages when we covered these!) We have some units/activities here at these posts:

Hurricanes and other Natural Disasters Hands-On Activities and Notebook PagesClouds Winds Weather Packet and Natural Disasters Packet

  • We also did a lot of exploration with magnets from time-to-time!  There are lots of neat hands-on activities kids can do as they explore how magnets work. We did a magnetism unit last year, but this unit is probably better for slightly older kids (though younger kids will enjoy all the hands-on activities!)

Human Body

We did units on the Human Body at this age too. We did a unit on the Five Senses. There are a lot of hands-on activities you can do in this unit!! You can find out more about our packet here: Five Senses Unit

Five Senses Unit - Worksheets Sorting Cards Interactive Notebook Activities and More

Another unit we did early on was the Skeletal System. We started first with fun, hands-on activities and the kids learned many of the names of the bones. Note: we came back to this again & again through the years! (Then in later years, we went on to talk about the Digestive System, Circulatory System and things like that.) My kids really loved doing the hands-on activities you see down below. 🙂

Skeletal System Packet Worksheets Skeleton Lapbook

See our Human body BUNDLE here.  We would usually review the Human Body Systems (as a whole) each year and then we would study one of the body systems in depth each spring. (skeletal, digestive, circulatory, muscular, nervous system etc.)

Human Body Systems BUNDLE

Simple Machines

Another fun unit for this age was the simple machines unit – This was a super fun, hands-on unit with TONS of hands-on activities my kids enjoyed!

Simple Machines Unit

My kids also have had a lot of fun with various STEM projects we’ve done over the years.  This post has some good ideas: 7 Fun STEM – Engineering Projects for Kids

STEM-Activity-for-Kids-PostIt-Note-TowerStates of Matter Packet with fun hands-on activities!

States of Matter Unit - worksheets and activities

Environmental Studies: Trash and Recycling Unit  Quick Preview or visit post or view image  I’m just adding this unit in here because it’s close to Earth Day!

Be sure to check your PayPal email address for the download link!

Trash and Recycling Worksheets Trash and Recycling UnitWater Cycle Unit

Water Cycle UnitWater Cycle Notebook Pages and Worksheets Water Cycle Booklet

We also did a unit on the Layers of the Atmosphere, which we referred to as we talked about the various types of clouds, the jet stream and things like that, but this is probably more for ages 7-10 or so.

Layers of the Atmosphere PacketLayers of the Atmosphere Printable Activity

This FREE printable has a list of topics we covered in the early years: Homeschool Science in Early Elementary

elementary-science

What other subjects did my kids learn in Kindergarten and 1st grade?

I have a really detailed list of the kinds of topics we covered at this age. Did you see this free resource guide I have over on the blog — Here’s the link to that Creating a Homeschool Curriculum: Kindergarten – Grade 1 (Free!) This free Resource Guide – Creating a Homeschool Curriculum includes some of the other things we covered in our homeschool (for math, language arts, history and things like that).

Every homeschool is different (and each child within that homeschool has different strengths, weaknesses and interests), but this is a glimpse at the kinds of things we did over the years.  Hope it’s helpful! 🙂 ~Liesl

Homeschool Curriculum Kindergarten Grade 1

If you are interested in any of our science units, be sure to visit our store or any of the links above for more details!

I think I talked about most of these above but you can also read this post:  What science topics should/could I teach my 5-7 year old?

What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum

See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts.  You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group.  Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. :) ~Liesl

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SubscribeHave a wonderful school year!!

Happy Homeschooling! ~Liesl

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