Spring Science Activities:

Wind Experiments:

On a windy day let your children experiment outside with heavy and light objects and the wind's strength. Help them answer questions such as "Why does the wind move some things and not others?" Examples: A piece of paper vs. a book; a leaf vs. a tree; a balloon vs. a ball.

Water:

Let your children play indoors or outdoors with a tub of water. Give them objects to place in the water. Encourage the children to guess which objects will sink and which objects will float. Add salt to some water in a small container and then let the children experiment some more with floating objects. Help them answer questions such as "Why will some things sink in plain water but not in salted water?"

Rainbows:

On a sunny day help your children find a rainbow in the spray from a garden hose. Then place a small mirror in a clear glass of water. Position the mirror so that the sun will hit it and position the glass so that a rainbow shines on a wall. (The rays of the sun hitting the mirror contain all colors mixed together while the water in the glass separates the colors in the rainbow.)

Thermometer:

Spring is a good time for teaching children to read a thermometer. Place a large outdoor thermometer in a spot where young children can easily see it. Then make a play thermometer with cardboard and a piece of white ribbon. Cut a small slit at the top and the bottom of a rectangular piece of cardboard and color half of the white ribbon with a red crayon or felt tip marker. Thread the ribbon through the slits and tie it together in the back of the cardboard piece. Mark the front of the cardboard with the degrees found on the outdoor thermometer.
When the children note a temperature change on the outdoor thermometer during the day, have them change the temperature of the play thermometer by moving the red part of the ribbon up or down.

Collections:

Encourage your children to make science collections by helping them find, display and categorize "treasures". Egg cartons are great for treasure hunting because the individual cups kept items separate and help limit the number of treasures that can be kept. Let your children make collages from their collections.

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Cherry Blossoms

Materials:
popcorn, red powdered tempera, baby powder, lunch sack, construction paper, felt tip marker, glue, small containers, q-tips

Preparation:
Put about 2 tablespoons of baby powder and 1 teaspoon of red powdered tempera into a lunch sack. Fold the top down and shake the sack to mix. Then drop in 2-3 cups of popped corn (still slightly warm). Fold the top down and shake again to make instant pink cherry blossoms. Give each child a piece of construction paper with a tree branch drawn on it, some glue in a small container, a q-tip and some pink popcorn.
Activity: Let children glue pink cherry blossoms on the branches.

Egg Carton Daffodils

Materials:
yellow styrofoam egg cartons; yellow, blue and green construction paper, scissors, glue or paste.

Preparation:
This activity is actually more work for the adult then for the child. Cut flowers, each with five petals, out of yellow construction paper. Cut stems and leaves out of green paper. Cut out eggcups from the styrofoam cartons and cut points on the top edge of each cup. Give each child a piece of blue construction paper.

Activity:
Let the children make yellow daffodils by pasting the flower pieces on their blue papers. An egg cup should stick out from each five-petaled construction paper flower for a three dimensional effect.

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Easter Craft Project

Easter Chicks

Material:
Cotton balls, yellow powdered tempera, baby powder, paper sack, orange and black construction paper, glue, colored egg carton, scissors

Activity:
Place 1 teaspoon yellow powdered tempura and 2 tablespoons baby powder into a paper sack. Let the child add two cotton balls to the sack, close the top and shake the balls in the powder. Carefully remove the cotton balls and shake them over a sink or trash basket. Cut out a small cup from a colored egg carton. Let the child glue one cotton ball in the cup and the other ball on top of the first. Then cut out two black eyes and orange beak from construction paper. Let the child glue on the eyes and the beak.

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Summer Fun

Junior Olympics:

Set up an obstacle course or an activity course in your yard. Gear the activities or the events to the age and the abilities of your children. The idea of the course is to set up a series of activities that each child tries to complete in a set amount of time. (A kitchen timer or an egg timer is great to have for this event.)
Activities: Transferring water from one container to another with a small cup; riding a trike or a Big Wheel a certain distance; throwing a ball through a hoop; hopping from a starting place to a finish line; wadding up paper and tossing it in a basket; rolling a ball across the grass with your nose; etc. Let your children help dream up different activities, the sillier the better. Adjust the rules and time allowed for each activity for different aged children.

Car Wash:

Help your children set up a neighborhood car wash on your sidewalk or your driveway. Hook up a garden hose and get out a few buckets and sponges. Let your children help you wash your car or have them invite their friends over to wash their bikes, trikes, Big Wheels or wagons.

Footprints:

Give your children a pan of water to play with on a hot day. They can step in the pan and then make wet footprints on the sidewalk.

House Painting:

Give your children buckets of water and large clean paint brushes. Let them pretend they are house painters painting the house with water.

Target Practice:

Children can have a lot of fun outside with a spray bottle. Encourage them to use the spray bottles for target practice rather than for attacking their friends. Have them set up a row of lightweight toys or paper cups and see how many they can knock over.

Wash Day:

Put a pan of warm water mixed with some liquid soap outdoors on a sunny day. Let your children wash their dolls' clothes, small washcloths, etc. You could rig up a clothesline on which your children could hang their wash. Provide clothespins if you have them. If not, your children could simply fold the clothes over the line to dry.

Bug Catcher:

You can make a bug catcher for your children with the plastic caps from two spray cans and some wire mesh. Cut out a rectangle of wire mesh. Tape the edges of the mesh with plastic tape. Roll the wire into a cylinder and use a needle and strong thread to sew the wire together. Put a plastic cap on the top and the bottom of the wire cylinder. Caps can be removed to capture or release bugs. Children should be encouraged to let insects go after they have observed them for awhile.

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Lets' make Music

Rhythm Sticks:

For each child you need two paper towel tubes, two wooden spoons or two wooden dowels. Children play rhythm sticks by rubbing or tapping two sticks together to the beat of music.

Sandpaper Blocks:

Cover wooden blocks or paper towel tubes with sandpaper. Children play the blocks or sticks by rubbing two together.

Mallets:

To make a mallet or drumstick, wrap foam around the end of a stick and tape it on. Or wedge a wooden bead onto the end of a pencil. If the bead is too large, wrap tape around the pencil until the bead fits snugly when slipped on. Rubber tips for chairs or canes also work well when attached to sticks of some sort.

Drums:

Simple drums can be made with old coffee cans or other cans that come with plastic lids. A great set of bongo drums can be made by tapping together two or three oatmeal boxes. Children play the drums by tapping on them with their hands or mallets.

Maracas:

Lemon maracas:

A lemon maraca can be made from a plastic lemon container. When the container is empty, remove the plug. Rinse the container and let it dry. Then put some rice inside. Insert a large pencil or the handle of a wooden spoon into the neck and tape securely.

Paper Cup maracas:

A simple maraca can be made with two paper cups or tin cans. Put some beans or rice in one cup and then tape the other cup upside down on top of the first. Your children can decorate their maracas by attaching small paper streamers to each end. Children play maracas by shaking them.

Bells:

Wrist Bells:

To make a simple bell bracelet, string three to four bells onto a large pipe cleaner and then twist it around into a bracelet shape.

Bell Mitten:

Make a hand mitten out of cotton or felt material. Sew two bells onto the top. A child plays the bell mitten by wearing it on one hand and then clapping both hands together.

Cymbals:

Simple cymbals can be made from two metal or aluminum pie plates. Wooden knobs or blocks can be nailed onto metal pie plates to make handles. Pipe cleaner handles can be attached to aluminum pans. Children play the cymbals by striking two pans together.

Finger Cymbals:

You will need two identical jar lids for each set of finger cymbals. Baby food lids work well. Using a nail, hammer two holes through each lid. Then poke pipe cleaners through the holes and twist them to make handles for one or two fingers. A child plays the finger cymbals by placing one on each hand and striking the two together.

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