Tag Archives: science

Top 10 Moon Picture Books and Educational Activities

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moon books1This week’s Thematic Thursday is all about space, and I’ve chosen to focus a bit more on the moon.
(Yes, I realize that it is no longer Thursday, but we do what we can, right?!)
We studied the moon and space about two years ago, when my son was starting his kindergarten year. His grandma sent him a solar system set that we painted, and we read a lot of books about space. We will be doing space again this year for our science at co-op and I look forward to revisiting the subject. (I love astronomy!)
Here are some of the best moon picture books and educational activities about the moon. (Note: Affiliate links are provided for your convenience.) Continue reading →

Balancing like The Cat in the Hat: A Mini-Lesson on the Center of Gravity

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When my son was a toddler, his favorite page in The Cat in the Hat was the “Look at Me! Look at Me! Look at Me Now!” page, in which the Cat balances and hops with all sorts of fun items. I have to admit, this is a favorite for me too.

“It’s fun to have fun but you have to know how.”

Now that my preschooler is also old enough to enjoy reading the book as well, I thought it was time to put our favorite book into a mini-science lesson. Today’s challenge was to balance the items from the book in a tall tower. While we were busy balancing like the Cat in the Hat, we learned about the center of gravity.
We learned about the center of gravity after we read The Cat in the Hat and practiced balancing items. Continue reading →

Learning Science History through Literature-Rich Curriculum

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My son loves learning science history through literature. Stories make everything more fun.I love history. My son loves science. We both love great books. So when I had a chance to take a look at Beautiful Feet Books’ History of Science, I was couldn’t resist. Learning science history through a literature-rich curriculum seems like the perfect compromise.
I’ve long thought that learning subjects through stories is the way to go, so Beautiful Feet Books has always attracted my attention. When I told Raisin what I’d received in the mail and we went to open it, he got excited. Science History! Books! What could be better! Continue reading →

Archimedes Water Displacement Science Lesson

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Read about Archimedes and then create your own Eureka moment with a water displacement science in the kitchen lab to find the volume of rocks or another odd-shaped object.

We’ve learned how to find the volume of a cubical object (such as my son’s bedroom). But how does one find the volume of something as odd-shaped as a rock? Using Archimedes’ story as an example, we made our own kitchen Archimedes water displacement science experiment to understand the concepts and reach our own “Eureka” moment.

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The Snowy Day Melting Snow Science Experiment

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During our only big snow (so far) this winter, we experimented with melting snow. In The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, Peter learned snow melted inside when his snowball melted in his coat pocket (get the book). Although our observations about melting snow were not scientific or controlled, our simple observations comparing melting snow in a glass on the counter versus in the fridge it gave us a simple preschool science lesson. Continue reading →

Apples Activities for STEAM Class

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We had so much fun playing with apples in STEAM class yesterday. We learned about the scientific method and then we created towers (or modern art) with apple chunks. Our apple STEAM projects were a lot of fun.
STEAM Apple activities were simply perfect for the autumn season. Continue reading →

Building Bridges: Picture Books for My STEAMers

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For STEAM class, we made bridges for elephants out of cardstock and read books about building and engineering. Here are some of the best.This week’s STE(A)M project was building a bridge for an elephant (a little toy elephant). The kids had a blast working with cardstock and index cards. They were surprised at what they could do! We also learned some engineering vocabulary to go along with our project.
To go along with our Reading STEM project tree, the kids will get additional  “STEM Bucks,” which is the currency of the classroom, when they read and report on a book. After we made our bridges in our STEAM class, I gave the students this list of the best bridges picture books (with building, engineering and architecture). Continue reading →

Gross Motor Moon Phases Lesson

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The picture book Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me teaches about moon phases and encourages kids to get up and moving!Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle is a fantasy story about a papa and his little girl who loves the moon and dancing. One night, she thinks about dancing with the moon and asks her papa to get the moon for her. Naturally, he gets a ladder and climbs it to the moon. Then the moon explains that he will be smaller soon. So, Papa waits for the moon to get small, and then carries it down to his waiting daughter.
What a perfect way to introduce the concept of moon phases to a little one! As a bonus, the book suggests that we dance. A gross motor activity during reading time is a perfect combination for preschool!
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Refreshing Coral Reef Games for the Pool

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When my son was 4 years old, he loved watching Finding Nemo, which led to a deep love for the coral reef and all the creatures the main characters in the movie encountered there.  Sea turtles, sting rays, barracuda, jellyfish,  and, of course, clown fish.  All of these coral reef creatures were friends. Whenever we visited the pool for free swim, we had to play coral reef games.  Then, together we made our own facts board game to play once we are out of the water too!

After learning about the coral reef, we love to take our play to the pool for swimming coral reef games!

Both of these coral reef games are now in their second incarnation since my second child is now four years old!

As we learned concepts about coral reefs, we put them into our water play. Coral reef games and coral reef learning are the most fun in a swimming pool.

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