Preschool Science Skills Every Preschooler Should Have
Understanding science helps everyone learn about the world. Preschool science skills are fun, easy to teach and to the delight of a child, occasionally messy. Preschoolers can learn about science while exploring their environment. Arts and crafts are two ways to incorporate science and fun when helping a preschooler understand science facts.
Science Topics
Learning about themselves, their world, and the things and people in their world is an easy way to teach science skills.
- Biology can be learned by learning about their bodies, the five senses and good nutrition.
- Earth science concepts can be explored by collecting rocks, fossils or learning about animals, insects and birds.
- Physics is not always about hard math equations and invisible particles. Letting a preschooler mix primary paint colors to make new colors is a lesson in physics.
- Simple biology concepts can be learned by planting seeds and caring for the plant.
- Even the applied sciences such as transportation can be easily learned by using toy cars, trucks and planes.
The mind of a preschooler is like a sponge. When children learn while having fun, it encourages them to keep learning throughout their lifetime.
Biology
There are many projects that preschoolers can do to while learning about biology.
- Musical instruments, even ones made at home, can help them learn about sound and hearing.
- Learning about their senses can involve taste testing. Preparing a small plate of a variety of tastes, sour, sweet, salty and biter foods will help teach them how their taste buds work.
- The same concept can be used to explore the sense of smell. Using cardboard tubes to create kaleidoscopes will help them learn about their eyes.
- Art is a great way to help preschoolers understand texture and the sense of touch. Adding sand, seeds or cornmeal to finger-paint is a simple and inexpensive way to learn about texture.
Botany
Seasonal changes provide a hands-on way to help teach preschool science. Leaves can be collected in the fall for use in many art and craft projects. Cutout paper snowflakes can be used to help explain why and how water freezes. Spring flowers help teach color as well as life cycles and gardening will help a preschooler understand the life stages of a plant. Preschoolers enjoy hands-on activities. Taking walks is a great way to observe nature and reinforce basic botany concepts.
Earth Science
Helping a preschooler understand earth science is probably the easiest of all the sciences to teach. Children love animals, dinosaurs and rocks. Rock collecting allows them to see and feel the different types of rocks and in turn understand geology. Learning about dinosaurs and animals opens up many science avenues including archeology and planetology. Understanding what allows a bird to fly, a fish to swim, or how an elephant eats, expands a child's world. Plastic animals, insects and fish can be used to help preschoolers build explore their natural world.
Meteorology and Astronomy
Learning about the weather is not as difficult as you might think. Preschoolers understand that when it rains they cannot go outside to play. Incorporating weather into preschool science applications will not be difficult. Children, even preschoolers can learn about the planets, sun and stars just by observing them. Stories, games and songs can be utilized to help reinforce many areas of science including astronomy.
Seeing the world through a child's eyes will help all caregivers to teach preschool science. A child finds wonder in the first butterfly they see, a sprouting seed and the rising moon. Talking and reading to a child about these marvelous things will help them understand basic science concepts.
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