Preschool Classroom Science and Exploration Area
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The science area is a classroom area where you will want to change materials often.
Goals/Skills:
- Explore and experience the natural world
- Problem solving
- Making guesses and estimates
- Developing observation skills
Supervision and Tips:
- The science area is 'hands-on' and interactive! Touching and exploring is to be encouraged!
- Children's thinking skills and cognitive development should be encouraged and promoted through questioning and exploring. Before answering a question let the child think and predict outcomes. Ask open-ended questions!
- Charting and graphing outcomes should be evident in this area of the classroom.
- You may want to use 'discovery trays' to organize your experiments and materials.
- Expand on the children’s interests. Follow up with books on topics they explore.
- When introducing an experiment or concept use the "What do we know?/What do we want to know?/What did we learn?" dictation format.
- Rotate items frequently.
- Encourage nature awareness while outside or on walks.
- Always remember safety. Make sure all items are non-toxic and are acceptable to your local health department.
- Ask for science material donations from parents of things they may have at home or obtain through their work.
- Include weekly science enrichments in your lesson plans, preferably tied into your learning theme if possible
Suggested Materials:
- Listening Tubes
- Flashlights
- Graphing Grids
- Test tubes
- Beakers
- Lab Coats
- Safety Goggles
- Gloves
- Trays
- Hose/Tubing
- Pulleys
- Gears
- Small Machines to Take Apart
- Books of Nature and Animals
- Plants (non-toxic) - Acorns
- Shells/coral - Seeds
- Prism/mirrors - Fossils
- Magnifying glass - Arrowheads
- Magnets - Tree bark
- Color wheel or paddle - Bird’s nest
- Pinecones - Feathers (real)
- Pulleys/gears - Goldfish/pets
- Terrarium - Kaleidoscope
- Telescope - Binoculars
- Caterpillars - Animal bones/teeth
- Snake skin (discarded) - Bug catcher/bugs
- Crystal garden - Gia rocks
- Pumpkins, gourds - Indian corn
- Flowers - Nuts
- Bee hive (discarded) - Moss
- Magnifying Glasses
- Mirrors
- Prisms
- Magnets
- Scale
- Balance
- Tweezers
- Ruler
- Tape Measure
- Stopwatch
- Egg Timer
- Terrarium
- Jars, Clear Containers
- Binoculars/Monocular
- Child Microscopes