Preschool Science Experiments

[CeriBear]

I love doing science experiments with my 3-4 year old class and I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can exchange ideas. I’ve done volcanos, storms in a cup, oil and water, and color changing flowers. Anyone else love science and want to share ideas? If you want directions for any of the projects listed just pm me.

[Former Teacher]

I love doing science experiments with my 3-4 year old class and I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can exchange ideas. I’ve done volcanos, storms in a cup, oil and water, and color changing flowers. Anyone else love science and want to share ideas? If you want directions for any of the projects listed just pm me.

It's not science but when I taught Pre-K we were talking about the Oval shape. It just so happened it was around Easter. So...I asked everyone to bring in 1 hard boiled egg. We were going to talk about it etc. Then peel it and then eat it.

I don't know what I was thinking..... ::

It was a COMPLETE mess. I should have known when one of the moms asked me how to make a hard boiled egg :confused:

But...we did it and we survived. I just didn't do it again the following years LOL

[Cat Herder]

Liquefaction and Erosion demonstrations are always a hit.

[happymom]

Liquefaction and Erosion demonstrations are always a hit.

My kids find theses really cool if you take a time lapse video of the process. Watch it in live time and then watch it fast!

[Ariana]

Our favourite is “will it sink or float”. Everyone chooses objects, I write on a piece of paper everyones predictions and we test the hypothesis.

Food dye and celery (leave a stalk of celery with leaves in coloured water overnight)

Food dye and paper towel (capillary action, watch the water climb the paper towel)

[flying_babyb]

we are alll about growing those grow toys you can get from the dollar tree.
We also had a blast learning about "chemical reactions" with making a mixture (we made kool-aid) and then explored the properties of water when we froze it (into popicles)
Mentos in soda
OH MY FAV!! Yeast and sugar mix, put in a soda bottle, shaken and put a balloon on top, the chemical reaction blows up the balloon.
Bug exploration.

[Jupadia]

Did one with my son this week were we put eggs in pop, oj, wateraid, water and grape juice. Let them sit and he then had to brush the eggs. He could see what kinda damage surgery drinks do to teeth.

Last week we did pop bottle with vinegar, added backing soda to a ballon (funnel). Then put it over top of bottle and lifted ballon so baking soda fell into bottle. Reaction cause ballon to fill up.

[Jupadia]

Also recently made lava bottles with water, oil and food colouring. I used gorilla water proof tape for the tops to secure it. The tape once laid on wont bunge. (Used it before for floor of tent repair)

[Snowmom]

Next week, we are doing these 1-breath windbags.
I've never tried them before, so we'll see how it goes!
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[CeriBear]

I’ve done the sink or float experiment and the kids really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing everyone. I think I’m going to do the balloon and soda bottle experiment soon but I’ll do it outside.
Anyone try an experiment that turned out not so good? I once tried a color mixing experiment by putting 2 colors of food coloring and shaving cream into plastic baggies and allowing the kids to mix and smash it. The only trouble was I bought cheap baggies and used too much shaving cream so many of them broke. Clean-up was a chore but my assistant at the time was a good sport and helped me. I may try this again but I’ll pay for ziplock bags and use less shaving cream.

[Cat Herder]

I tried the yarn and hodgepodge eggs. Epic failure. ::::

E.P.I.C.

[Snowmom]

I tried the yarn and hodgepodge eggs. Epic failure. ::::

E.P.I.C.

::

Been there. Yarn and balloon bowls.
Big sticky mess.

[BoysMom]

Similar to a sink or float experiment, we did "What will the wind blow?" using an electric fan and things like a pencil, tissue, straw, small toys, paper clip, plastic spoon, etc. We started with the fan on low and then turned it up as needed to try to get things to move. The kids loved making their predictions and their excitement when something did move was fun to watch.

[CeriBear]

I did the lava lamp experiment yesterday. The kids thought it was cool but the bubbles didn’t last as long as I thought they would. It was an experiment for me too because I had never done it before.
What’s fun about science experiments is asking the children beforehand what will happen. Yesterday the kids said things like.
It will explode
Ms. Ceri will make a mess
It will turn into rocks
It will get squishy

[happymom]

If you take the powder from inside a diaper and mix it with water, it will turn to gel.

My kids really loved this. We did a fun magic trick where you pretend to throw a cup of water on someone but it has turned to gel and stays in the cup!