Kids are naturally curious about science and the world around them. They wonder about how things are made, why animals do what they do, what makes the sun shine, and other complex questions.
For kids, science is just a question away.
Having a basic understanding of science is an important part of being a well-rounded person. Science can even become a career for some kids. Discover how you can use the world around you to teach your kids about science.
Kids get exposed to science in school every day, but the knowledge will set more deeply if you help them learn at home. So, how do you make science for kids fun and interesting? Discover some fun ways to explore science with your kids. You never know what you’ll learn along the way. After you've looked below, check out our science experiments for kids for additional tools to help you teach science to children.
Key Points
- A lot of times, simply observing the world around you can help you teach your kid about science.
- Use these activities as a way to teach your child appreciation for the world around them.
- Always teach your kids safety when working with potentially dangerous things, like chemicals.
Ideas for Teaching Science to Your Kids
Animals for Kids
Look for animals in your neighborhood or in rural areas nearby. Think about how many different types of animals there are. Howe do scientists group them? Some are grouped by general categories, like with a backbone and without a backbone. Scientists also group animals with very tiny details, like separating one type of plant spider from another. How is a dog like a bird? How are they different from each other? Which is more like an insect – a spider or an elephant? Why? Look at a dog show and notice that even one species can have a lot of variety within it. You can also incorporate animal coloring pages to make learning even more fun.
An easy way to help your kids learn more about animals is to put a bird feeder up. Bird feeders attract all kinds of different birds. You and your child can observe the bird feeder together. Have your child point out the different characteristics of all the birds they see. Teach them how to identify birds by their songs. If your bird feeder attracts other visitors, such as hawks and squirrels, teach them about the role those animals play in the ecosystem. Talk about how predators help keep an ecosystem balanced.
Earth Science for Kids
What is the weather like today? Watch the evening news or the Weather Channel for descriptions of active weather in your area. Most meteorologists explain why things happen when they broadcast. Take a look at the dirt and geographical features near your hometown. What are they like? How did they get that way? How is it different or similar to other places you have visited as a family?
Start introducing your kids to different types of rocks. Give them different rocks and ask them to describe the differences between them. Talk about how certain geological events have shaped our planet, such as the movement of glaciers in the Ice Age. Introduce them to the concept of erosion, and talk about how that can be dangerous to human habitation on coastlines. Talk to them about climate change, and why it's an important thing to be concerned about. Make a plan together to reduce your family's carbon footprint.
Human Biology for Kids
Has anyone in the house been sick lately? Talk about how germs and the immune system work. Ask them why washing hands and covering noses helps. Look at the back of someone’s hands and notice the veins and other blood vessels. Do they look like different colors? Tell them about oxygen from the lungs, and blood moving everywhere to take care of each part of your body when you aren’t even thinking about it.
This can also be a way to talk to your kids about mental illness, if you haven't already. It's important that your child knows what mental illnesses are, so they can identify them within themselves and within others. Talk about depression and anxiety, and about other common mental disorders like OCD and ADHD. Help them understand that people with these disorders are not broken or odd, just different. Talk about how mental disorders affect the way the brain works, causing certain symptoms.
Physical Science for Kids
Show your kids how magnets work, how one side pulls and the other pushes. Describe electricity as a flowing river full of tiny, charged, invisible things. What makes a good electricity conductor? Wood? Glass? A metal pole? Everything in the universe is on the move, even molecules in so-called “solid” objects. How does a lever work (like a teeter-totter)? Heat can be created by causing friction. Rubbing your hands together will demonstrate this easily. Heat is energy moving around faster – ever wonder why you feel warmed up after you run fast?
Have them experiment with gravity. Why do they think a feather falls slower than an apple? What would their experiences be like on a planet with different gravity? Why is gravity important? All of these questions can help your child learn about physics.
Chemistry for Kids
Chemistry describes the “stuff” our world is made of and what it can do. Anything and everything is made of matter. Randomly pick up ten things in your house. What is each of them made of? Metals have different types of molecules than organic-based items like paper or food. What is water like when it is a solid, a liquid, and a gas? What else can your child think of that they see in different states on a regular basis?
If you have the equipment, you can teach your kids about basic chemical reactions. Talk to them about pH and why it's important. Of course, make sure to teach them safety when working with chemistry. Teach them about the importance of wearing goggles and gloves when handling certain elements. Make sure they know how important it is that they never mess around with any chemicals unsupervised, as certain reactions can cause fires, toxic gas, or even explosions.
The lists above are just starting points for discussions about science for kids. Just a few new ideas will have your kids spinning off a full list of questions. When your child is exposed to these ideas early on, they will have an easier time when these concepts are taught in school. You may also unlock a lifelong curiosity about science for your child.