Let’s face it, kids love to explore. Whether they explore in the games they play, the TV shows they watch and even in the things they do in school, they always love to learn and discover new things. Science, in particular, makes kids get even more interested in learning because of the experiments that they do during classes.
Our science programs at Montessori Children’s House, a center for Early Childhood Education in Riverside, California, offers an activity based program. It enables the kids to learn natural phenomena and real life situations through experiments and observations. They are given an in-depth learning of the different areas of science through field trips, experiments, and discussions.
Today, on the blog, we will discuss some of the safe experiments that we recommend that you do in class. When your students are composed of adolescents, we have to be careful with the materials that we use to ensure that they do not get hurt throughout the activity.
Here are some of the suggested activities:
Lava Lamp
Children are fascinated with anything that explodes or has bright colors in it. The lava lamp activity is perfect for this because it is not only colorful but easy to do as well. All you need to do is to have a bottled jar filled with oil and food coloring. After which, you will drop a tablet of Alka-seltzer in it and voila! You will see an explosion of colors in a lamp.
The gist of the experiment is to let the students have a visualization of what happens inside a volcano. It presents the interplay of the different process happening inside the volcano and what happens if it erupts. This is a fun experiment and filled with learning as well.
Melting Chocolate
Another fun combination for a science experiment is found in cooking. You can have a melting chocolate experiment that gives the student an idea on how a substance melts when placed under a high-temperature surface. This lesson can best be presented by melting chocolate on a hot container or on top of the gas stove.
The students will not only have fun enjoying their melted chocolate snacks after the experiment, but the results of the activity can help retain in their memory the process of melting.
Mixing oil and water
The lesson on mixtures can best be discussed through experiments. This is one way of presenting and discussing why oil and water can never be mixed. The experiment is safe for the kids and easy for the teacher to explain once the kids perform the experiment.
In conducting the experiment, you only need to have a glass or transparent bottle, a small amount of water and the same amount of oil. Pour in the water and the oil simultaneously, then shake the bottle and let the students note down their observation based on the experiments.
Indeed, science does not have to be boring and serious all the time. We should not limit the teaching of the subject in just pure discussion, exercises, and calculations. It is best to reinforce our teaching with practical activities and experiments that will help the student have a good grasp on the lesson. This is what we had in mind at Montessori Children’s House, a growing Early Childhood Education in Riverside, California when we created our science programs.
To know more about our programs, you can visit our website www.montessorichildrenshouseofriverside.com or call us at 951-359-5437.
