Category: Science Experiments

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Preschool Science at Home

Five or six weeks ago, someone asked me how I go about setting up our science units. I wanted to spend some time really laying out that process. Since we have homeschooled from the start, I thought it would make the most sense to talk about the preschool years first. (Click here to see the second post in the series: Science in the Elementary Years. Science in the preschool years:...

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Simple Machines Unit: Hands-On Activities on Levers

We started a unit on Simple Machines several weeks ago.  I thought I’d share the first set of hands on activities we did on levers and the three classes of levers. We started our unit going over the six types of simple machines. Since I have kids of varying levels I made several sheets (matching, tracing and fill in the blanks). In the end, this turned out to be useful...

What to Do with That Candy? Science Experiments, Donations… 0

What to Do with That Candy? Science Experiments, Donations…

If you are wondering what to do with all that Halloween candy, you can always do some science! This is an experiment I did with my kids a while back with Skittles in water. I think the results are fascinating: Do you want to do other fun experiments with candy? Be sure to visit this great website, Candy Experiments written by Loralee, a mom of three. She recently wrote a post Candy Experiment Cards...

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Preschool at Home: Science for 2-5 Year Olds (and Up!)

Amazing, Fun Science To Wow the Little Ones! One of the wonderful things I love about homeschooling is all the hands-on activities you can do with kids.  In the preschool years, I scoured the Internet and various science experiment books to find things that would intrigue and excite the kids… and that they could have a hand in doing.  Most of the things we did were done using household ingredients....

Metamorphic Rock Hands-On Activity 5

The Three Types of Rocks– Our Activities and a Free Worksheet Packet about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

A few days ago I shared the Rocks and Minerals Packet I made for ED who is in preschool. I wanted to spend more time on the three types of rocks–igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.  The kids were SO excited when they realized this activity was going to include semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, heath crunch bits and flaked coconut. (No we didn’t eat it all,...

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The Three Types of Rocks– Our Activities and a Free Worksheet Packet about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

A few days ago I shared the Rocks and Minerals Packet I made for ED (which is also free). I wanted to spend more time on the three types of rocks–igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.  The kids were SO excited when they realized this activity was going to include semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, heath crunch bits and flaked coconut. (No we didn’t eat it all,...

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Hands-On Invertebrate Fun! (Part 2 – Amazing Planarian)

Planarian are a type of small flatworm. My homeschooling friend had some Planarian she had ordered and shared some with us! What a great friend to share her worms! 🙂 Heh heh! Let me first share a picture of these little creatures and then I tell you some really cool things about them!! Planarian are amazing because they have the ability to regenerate! If you cut a Planarian in half...

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Meet Vertebrae-Man — Our Hands-on Explorations of the Backbone and Nervous System!

Continuing on with our vertebrate-invertebrate unit… One day last week we learned a bit about the backbone and nervous system. We talked about the importance and function of the vertebrae and did some activities to explore how/why the vertebrae work. The kids liked this almost as much as they liked Harold (when we did the circulatory system)!  Here’s a picture of vertebrae man–then I’ll explain what we did… I made...

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Invertebrate-Vertebrate Unit Study – Montessori Activities

Homeschooling is so great because you can be flexible and go with the flow when the need arises! We were all prepared to start school with a unit on rocks when my wonderful homeschooling friend offered to give us some flatworms called Planarian. Her family had studied them and their amazing properties.  We jumped at the chance to do something new and delved into a week-long study of invertebrates. It...

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Explosion of Colors in Milk Experiment and Other Chemistry Fun!

Isn’t this pretty? This was one of our experiments as we finished up our chemistry unit! One of the chapters in our chemistry book (Real Science 4 Kids-pre-level 1) talked about mixtures. It talked first about how how some mixtures dissolve (like salt in water). Then it went on to talk about soap and soap molecules. We read how soap makes things like butter and grease “dissolve” in water. Detergent...

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More Fun Science Experiments: Watch them Bubble, Bubble Bombs… Acid-Base Reactions

Our chemistry textbook also talked about acid-base reactions.  It explained how antacids can help neutralize the strong acids in your stomach. We contrasted this slow reaction… to the more impressive reaction of baking soda and vinegar! DD was putting her fingers in to see how her stomach would feel. If you haven’t already done Bubble Bombs with your kids, be sure to do that as well! You take a ziploc...

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Science Experiments: Red Cabbage Indicator (Fun for Ages 4 and Up!)

  We did a lot of Montessori science when the older kids were little, so this is an experiment we did years ago. Now the older kids are studying chemistry and ED is the perfect age (4) to enjoy the action of this experiment. Using red cabbage juice as the indicator, you add various household ingredients and compare it to an acid-base chart to see where that particular item falls...

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Science Experiments: Water Molecule Attraction

Matter is made of tiny particles that are attracted to one another. We did a series of experiments activities from Middle School Chemistry (the free, downloadable chemistry course) that show that water molecules are, indeed attracted to one another. We first used a medicine dropper to see how much water we could push out of the syringe. We also examined the pictures of the droplets we managed to photograph in...

Celery Experiment 2

Plant Experiments: Colored Carnations and Slurping Celery

ED has been learning about plants this past week or two.  We talked about the various parts of the plant and then read a bit in our science books about the function of the stem (and trunk) of plants.  We revisited an experiment we did 2 1/2 years ago — the celery slurping experiment — as I called it then! This time I bought a bunch of carnations to experiment with...