One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that it’s all about child-led learning. Science isn’t a required topic for kindergarten, but my daughter absolutely loves it! Just in case your child is also fascinated by science, here are some homeschooling kindergarten science ideas (which will be fun to do with younger and older kids alike!)

Science Kits

You know how there are a million science kits online? They’re made for doing science stuff at home, right? Who better to use them than homeschooling kids!

Since my kids are familiar with the character Blippi, we bought a Blippi science kit for them and they loved doing everything. From making ice cream to seeing how soap affects color drops in milk, we went straight through and tried it all.

We also got them a Christmas science kit that had a ton of experiments. Right from the start, there were color experiments that taught about primary and secondary colors followed by one that taught about sodium polyacrylate.

There truly are a ton of science kits for kids online. Any of them can be used, but it’s worthwhile to find ones with characters or topics that interest your kids specifically.

Animals

Did you know that learning about animals falls under the topic of science? I’ve never really thought about it that way, but it does. This means that visiting a zoo is science. Taking a pet to the veterinarian is science. Researching questions like “do foxes fart?” is science. My kids love to see animals and ask questions about them, and I have a feeling that they would enjoy taking the time to come up with and research crazy and wacky animal science questions.

It can get really easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of animal science, so a fun idea is to ask your kids about their favorite animals or which ones they find fascinating. My son would likely say a bear and a doggy. So the next step is to go to the library and find some books on the topic (or look at your local library’s catalog online and order some books for pickup) and check them out. There is usually at least a book or two on less common animals along with an increasing number on he more common/popular ones.

Nature and Nature Walks

Just as animals are science, so are trees, flowers, and other plants. Weather is science, too! This means that going outside is a perfect chance to do science activities. From taking a walk around your neighborhood to hiking on local trails, you can easily combine science with physical activity to experience even more benefits.

When you take a walk in your neighborhood, you and your kids can explore the local plant life, observe wild and domestic animals, and see how the weather changes season to season. Hiking will reveal plants and animals that are local but often less familiar due to the change of habitat. Ask your kids what they see and talk about it. Point out the things they might’ve missed. If you don’t know something’s name, draw it or take pictures so you can look it up at home or at the library/bookstore.

Another fun idea is to plant several seeds or plant a garden. You can talk about the differences between the seeds and make predictions about what will happen when they’re watered, how long it will take for them to sprout or maybe differences in sizes or growth rate.

Become a Citizen Scientist

A fun activity that my daughter did in Girl Scouts was becoming a citizen scientist. This is a journey award for every level of Girl Scouts (Think Like a Citizen Scientist), starting with Daisies who are in kindergarten and first grade, but it’s actually an activity that anyone can do.

A citizen scientist is basically a non-scientist who helps scientists with their research. There are many kinds of research that scientists do that they can’t do by themselves. For example, a scientist from NASA is researching clouds and cloud coverage. She has footage from satellites, but she also needs footage from the ground. K and I watched a video on SciStarter to learn about her research, then downloaded an app. The app walked us through how to classify the clouds and how to take the pictures she needs. Since K is still learning to read, I asked her the questions and she answered and helped take the pictures.

You can learn more about citizen science from the official government website here.

Why Science?

Although not required at this age, science is a great way for kids to explore the world. They are naturally curious and love finding out how things work – which is probably why they break things so often. Even if we as parents might already understand how things work, they haven’t had the experiences to teach them and often will learn better by experience than explanation.

Learning why and how things work is science. Kindergarteners might not pull a cat’s tail anymore, but my daughter just asked if there are any cats that are pink. It’s about research, hypothesizing, experimentation, and more. But the most important thing is that it’s about fun. Each of our children will learn best if they enjoy what they’re doing.

What’s your favorite way to teach science to your kids?