How to teach Hands On Science

If math is the easiest of the “3 R’s” to make hands on, then hands on science is by far the easiest of all to add in, mainly because the concept is built in.

 

 

Hands on Science Activities

There are more ideas than I can even begin to list, so I’m going to be referring you to my pinterest boards on this one in a big way (all of the pictures in this post lead to a different science pinterest board).

Act it out- if you are studying anything in zoology act out the animals.  Try to move like a turtle, try imitating the gait of the horse.

Build it or measure it- Many of the concepts in science involved diagrams or lengths of things.  It is very hard to grasp just HOW big a dinosaur is when they tell you it’s 25 feet tall, or that a whale is 100 feet long.  Go outside and measure that distance.  Build an edible cell or Legos for building stuff.  I guarantee your kids will remember those lessons better.

Visit it- Go to museums, zoos, aquariums, go to libraries with special demonstrations.  I’m a firm believer in field trips.

Explode it- Not literally, but try the experiments in your science book.  Almost every science book for kids has a science experiment or 20.  Try them, they are usually designed so you only need what’s already in your kitchen, have fun, enjoy the mess and the reactions, then make cleaning up part of the experiment.

Hands on Science Supplies

 

You can do a lot of hands on science without buying a single thing, but here’s some items we’ve used over and over.

{Yes these are Amazon affiliate links, this is the closest items I can find to what I really have to give you ideas}

(side note most of these items are by Learning Resource, I’ve found their stuff to be nearly indestructible, as the kids get older I let them use REAL glass versions I buy from Montessori Services)

magnifying glass– the easiest tool to find to let your kids make some real observations.  I like this particular one because my kids haven’t managed to break it yet in 5 years of trying

Learning Resources Primary Science Lab Set– I don’t have this set, BUT it has everything you might need in one place, which is a bonus to me, except……

Tabletop Magnification Station– this is my go to tool for science for little kids.  If you don’t have one, I HIGHLY recommend getting one, it will open up so many avenues for exploration

Magnifying Bug Viewer– What kid doesn’t trap bugs or other small creatures?  This gives you a place to view them, and then let them go.

Insect Lore Butterfly Garden– I think every kid needs to raise caterpillars or some other insect once and let them go.  The Insect Lore kits let you do all of that easily.

Cedar Feeder– bring the nature study to your backyard, besides it starts to build some responsibility when the kids have to refill it regularly

Eye Droppers 12-pk– For all of those baking soda and vinegar experiments, and 2 million others that need eye droppers.

Jumbo Test Tubes Set Of 6– These are fun for mixing stuff for very little kids

Plastic Test Tube Set with Caps and Rack– and when they’re older but still not ready for glass get this set (I have an idea to use this set for the boys’ birthday party)

Hands on Science Online

aside from all of the ideas collected in my Science boards….  Here’s some great places to visit:

All Things Beautiful– She’s running Science Sunday right now, and I regularly steal her ideas for science projects

Homeschool Scientist– a whole blog devoted to science, who can beat that?

Highhill Homeschool– a large part of my anatomy boards are made up of her posts

Eva Varga– She’s got some great stuff geared for middle school kids (Hat tip to Generation Genius for letting me know my link was bad)

Steve Spangler Science– I have to admit I get most of my ideas from blogs, but his website and books are great

70 Blogs that write about Science

 

To see the rest of the posts in the series head on over to How to Teach Using Hands on Learning

For more ideas on how people teach, visit iHomeschool Network How I Teach series.

 

Linking up to Science Sunday