Category: Science

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What Creature Can Make Water Boil? (Kids Will Love This!)

All kids who love science should check out this cool website about the mantis shrimp…it sees an incredible range of color, is beautiful to look at, yet it is one of the most violent creatures on the planet — it can make water boil and smash glass with one blow! My kids loved it! Here’s a picture of the beautiful mantis shrimp, but you and the kids should check out...

Nocturnal-Diurnal Animals 4

Nocturnal – Diurnal Animals (Free 3-Part Montessori Cards)

This week ED and I read two books together: What Makes Day and Night  (affiliate link) and Totally Amazing Night Animals. (affiliate links.)  She really enjoyed both of them and we added in some activities to go with these books.   After we read through What Makes Day and Night (affiliate link), we spent a lot of time in the dark bathroom! First I held the flashlight and shined it at her as she...

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Free CDC Lesson Plans Grades 4-8 — Science Ambassador Program

Over the summer, I stumbled across the Center for Disease Control’s Science Ambassador Program. What a great find!  It has a series of lessons (maybe mini-unit would be a better term for them) on all kinds of various topics with challenging activities for students to learn about. Topics include — autism, birth defect, Hantavirus, HIV/Aids… and many more. What I like about their lessons is that they require the students...

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Kindergarten Science: Activities for Ages 4-6 or so

Someone asked me what ED is doing for science this year. (She’s in Kindergarten.) I’ve touched on some of this, but thought I’d lay it all out in one post and also share what she did this past week. We have always done a lot of hands-on science. In the early years, I just want the kids to think science is cool!!  We’ve done a lot of science experiments and...

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight! (Sunday, Aug 11) 0

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight! (Sunday, Aug 11)

If you’re interested, the Perseid Meteor Shower is at its peak tonight (Sunday, Aug. 11).  I’m going to take the kids outside tonight to check them out. They always get so excited seeing the “falling stars”! This meteor shower has one of the highest percentages of bright ones — plus this year it is peaking under a  moon-free sky. You should see more than one-per-minute. The best viewing will be...

Science Books with Engaging Articles- Ages 9-12 0

Science Books with Engaging Articles- Ages 9-12

Yesterday, I mentioned a couple of science books that I bought out to see if they’d be a good fit for our homeschool.  I purchased the Physical Science Daybook first. I thumbed through the articles and read some with the kids.  I was really impressed by them. They have articles on various topics that are truly interesting and engaging. Yesterday, I shared about the Frog Antifreeze — frogs who freeze...

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50+ Science Books for Kids

I am trying to do some general organizing this summer for the next school year.  I’ve been trying to figure out what science units we’ll do this next year and also wanted to be sure that I’m covering some fun/basic information with the kids.  My oldest loved science from very early on and we added lots and lots of books to read aloud when he was in preschool-kindergarten. At the...

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Be a Weekend Paleontologist – Fossil Collecting Trips

A few years ago, I heard about a fossil collecting trip that another homeschooling family had gone on (I came across it on a blog somewhere). It sounded so terrific, I tucked in the back of my mind and kept an eye on the trips offered by Cathy at Fossil and Nature Trips. She organizes fossil collecting trips up and down the east coast.  I had my eye on one...

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Lapbooks for Preschool on Up – A Project Kids Can Be Proud Of!

It has been a while since we’ve done any lapbooks.  I saw this free robin lapbook over at Dynamic 2 Moms and asked the girls if they would be interested in doing one on robins. ED and DD both said, “Yes!”  So, I printed everything out and the girls set to work. If you’ve never heard of a lapbook, it is a cute way to display small folded mini-books, flaps, pop-up...

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Hands On Activity: How Long is the Digestive Tract?

Digestive Tract: So just how long is our digestive tract? We set out to find out with this activity. We measured out different colors of yarns for each part of the digestive system. The page you see (above right) is in the Digestive System Pack (See details below.) I made for the kids. After we had all the bits measured and tied together, we went out to the driveway to see just how...

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Digestive System Hands-On Activities – Esophagus, Stomach, Small Intestines

We did a lot of hands-on activities over the course of two or three weeks. I’m going to put them all into one post. These hands-on activities are all activities we did as we went through our Digestive Unit.  Be sure to check out our 150+ page Digestive System Packet too! Esophagus Activities: Does food fall down to the stomach? We proved that muscles helped move the food bolus down to...

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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....

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Choking! An Important Lesson for the Kids…

No, no one choked at our house recently, but we did go into a lot of detail about swallowing and choking a few days ago. I wanted to find a way for the kids to really understand how choking happens — and then to know what to do about it.  Now, don’t take this as expert advice… if you really want to know details about doing abdominal thrusts (Heimlich Maneuver)...

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Digestive System — It All Starts in the Mouth!

To start off our unit on the digestive system, I had the kids look at a diagram and write down all the parts of the digestive system. That was the first section of the pack I made (more about that below). Then we took a closer look at the mouth. We did these activities over the course of several days: I asked the kids what the mouth’s role is in...