Spending Time and Science Fun with Kids
Do you avoid doing science activities with your kids because you think you don’t know enough? You do not need to be a scientist to have fun with kids. We don’t need to know beforehand because a great part of the excitement about science is exploring what happens and we can discover along with kids.
Kids are natural scientists because they ask questions about everything and want to try things for themselves. They are attracted to bugs, rocks, puddles, water, and dirt. If there are any of these items in the area, they will find them. Moms and dads can do science with kids right at the table or the sink. Families do not need expensive and elaborate equipment either. Often what’s needed is as close as the cupboards in the kitchen.
Have you ever made a vinegar and baking soda volcano with your kids? That’s science. N and her son posted photos of their recent eruption, even if it wasn’t exactly planned. Using a wand and soap and breath is like a formula for a magic potion but it’s science that lots of parents and kids do. T and her grandson shared pictures of their success making giant bubbles.
Science also happens when kids wonder what floats and sinks or what’s attracted to magnets and what’s not. Making ice cubes and baking cookies involves science. Folding a paper airplane and flying it with a child doesn’t need an aeronautical engineer. It only needs time.
Taking advantage of what’s around us and sharing it with kids is more science. R works as a writer and she and her girls have a collection of nature treasures like shells, bits of bone, seeds, and rocks. One afternoon recently, they checked some of them out using a microscope and, inside a small piece of amber, found insect legs and other parts. O and her 3 kids share their home with a few animals like a hamster, a lizard, and for a short time, even a slug. After an epic snowstorm she and the kids went outside to measure the snowfall.
We do not have to be botanists or geographers or zoologists to spend time with kids. Maybe we could say we need to be Time-ologists?