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The Science of Summer Theme
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Crafts & Activities
How does the Garden Grow?
Many fruit seeds and vegetable cuttings will
sprout easily indoors.
Fruit/Vegetable Ideas: whole ear of corn, potato
"eyes" (any kind of potato), carrot tops, peas, beans, seeds from various
fruit - peach, plum,
Place fruit seeds or veggie cuttings in a shallow
pan lined with paper towels and enough water to just cover the seed or
vegetable cuttings. Place pan in a warm, bright area and watch
and record the changes over the next few days/weeks.
Other Planting Ideas:
In egg cartons with planting soil - grass seed,
mustard seed, watercress or herbs. They are fast growing and fun
to sample when grown!!
Pineapple.- cut off the top and trim three
rows of bottom leaves. Allow to dry for three days. Plant one inch deep
in soil, keep moist and in a sunny location.
Onion - find an onion that is already sprouted.
Plant in soil - keep moist and in a sunny location.
"Hair" Cups!
Plant grass seed or herbs in styrofoam cups.
Have the kids draw faces on the front of the cups....as the seeds grow
- their cup will grow hair!! They can experiment with childproof
scissors and give their cup a hair cut!!
Colorful Celery
celery stalk, jar or glass, water, food coloring
Cut a few slits in the bottom of the celery stalk.
Fill the jar or glass about 1/2
full of water and add food coloring (darker colors
work best - red, blue). Place the celery stalk in the colored water
and watch for changes. Record the changes daily. Try
using a celery stalk with leaves or white carnations!!
Will it Sink or Float?
dish pan, baby tub, or wadding pool
several objects (light and heavy)
Fill container with enough water to test objects.
Ask the kids to guess what items will float/sink. Let them hold the
items in their hands while they guess! Then ask them to place the
item in the water. Did it sink or float??
Water Microscope
4L plastic ice cream buckets (one per child is
best!)
clear plastic wrap
elastic band
1/4 cup water
Items to examine: stones, shells, flowers,
inanimate objects (keys, cars, lego, plastic bugs), blades of grass, a
hand - have the children each gather a few items to examine!
Cut a hole in the side of each bucket large enough
to place the objects. Cover the top of the buckets with clear plastic
wrap and secure tightly with an elastic band. Add enough water to
cover the plastic wrap without leaking over the edge. Place objects,
one at a time, inside the bucket. Have the children look through
the water microscope to examine the object.
Melting Colors
Make red, yellow and blue ice cubes using food
coloring and water. Place one red and yellow; one red and blue; and one
yellow and blue, and one of each color in separate ziploc bags. Place them
in the science area and as the colored ice cubes melt they will create
new colors. Put colorful tags on each bag for the kids to identify
what colors were originally placed in the bags - discuss what colors were
made!
Shadow Play
Stand outside on a sunny day and let the children
make a shadow! Ask questions such as: "Can we make our shadow
bigger? Can we make them smaller? Can we make our shadow run? Can
we make our shadow hop? Let's see if we can catch our shadow!"
Shadow Prints
You will need:
one piece of dark blue construction paper for each
child
a collection of objects from around the daycare or
home that have at least one flat side. For example: keys, blocks,
scissors, combs, jar lids (at least 5 items per child)
Take all your materials outside to a flat space that
receives direct sunlight and where you will be able to leave your experiment
set up for a few hours.
Give a piece of construction paper to each child.
Let each child chose five objects, and have him arrange them on the paper
with the flat side down. Leave these in the direct sun for several
hours, until the sun has bleached the exposed areas of the paper.
Then let the children take their objects off the paper, noting the patterns
produced by the sun.
Special thanks to
for the wonderful graphics for this page.
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