I just love Dr. Rebecca Woodbury’s passion for teaching science. Some of you in the homeschool world may know her as Dr. Rebecca Keller, founder of Real Science 4 Kids, and she’s given us permission to share some great tips and insights for young scientists — her guest article follows a bit down the page.
I’ve had so much fun exploring science with preschoolers and primary students through the years. As toddlers, my children helped their dad with plant projects and learned to differentiate between types of leaves—especially plants to avoid, like poison ivy! They loved to follow animals’ life cycles and grew up surrounded by chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, and even a hermit crab.
In the kitchen, they learned how fudge crystallizes, yeast multiplies, and gluten develops in bread dough, and how onions caramelize when you sauté them. Now that we have grandchildren, we’re helping a new generation of Dr. Keller’s (Dr. Woodbury’s) “budding scientists” explore the real world.
To encourage curiosity and experimentation, we always keep on hand simple, safe tools for learning—such as rulers, scales, measuring cups, funnels—building tools and toys, bubbles, bug catchers, magnifying glasses, and a water play table.
Since my husband is a birdwatcher, we have bird-call games, binoculars of all sizes, field guides, birdhouses, and feeders. Several of our sons-in- law are weather fanatics, so at one point we installed a weather station on the back porch—including a large telescope for stargazing. We love to visit the horses in the back pasture, the chickens next door—and the wild animals at the National Zoo. [For more on nature study with littles, check out Phenology for Preschoolers.]
In addition, we have many unplanned science lessons: my grandchildren have learned that glass breaks, especially if you drop it against something hard—like the inside of a toilet. (Ahem.) One of my daughters laughs about how many items are added each week to her “stuff that the boys broke that we need to fix” collection.
As Dr. Woodbury points out, kids often make impressive scientific observations on their own. When one of my grandchildren was quite young, she asked her mother, “Mama, how come when the car turns this way, I fall that way [leaning to the outside of the turn] and when the car turns that way, I fall this way?”
So I am excited to share, with her permission, Dr. Keller’s article on science with preschoolers (also applicable into early primary school years), previously published in the HSLDA Court Report’s digital preschool supplement (currently out of print)…..
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Exploring the World with Your Preschool Scientist
Guest post by Dr. Rebecca Woodbury (Keller), Real Science-4-Kids
Children are full of surprises, and they can often understand much more than we think they can. The prevalent thinking in educational circles and children’s book publishing is that young children can’t learn real science because they find details boring and simply can’t absorb complex ideas. But as I learned from my daughter, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
When I was in graduate school, my then-4-year-old daughter asked me what a liquid is. At that time I was reading the autobiography of Richard Feynman, a famous winner of the Nobel Prize in physics. I was interested in how he became a successful scientist partly because I too wanted to win the Nobel Prize (all science graduate students do), and partly because I had small children and wanted them to love science as much as I did. The author described how even when he was a very small child his father always provided real answers to his questions. With this in mind I discussed with my 4-yearold daughter solids, liquids, and gases, and the difference in molecular energies of each state of matter.
By the end of my “lecture” I thought I had gone over her head and confused her. But her response was, “What about pudding?” She had found a hole in my discussion, and I honestly couldn’t answer her. I asked her father, a PhD in physics, about pudding. After a three-hour discussion over dinner, we decided that we really weren’t sure—it depends on the pudding.
So how do you unlock the secrets of real science with your preschooler, especially if you are not a scientist? It’s easier than you might think.
Preschoolers are already budding scientists. All you need to do is follow them around and give them a little guidance. Using three simple steps, you can introduce real biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and astronomy to your young children:
• Help them observe the real world.
• Use real vocabulary.
• Do real experiments.
For example, if you want to introduce your child to real biology, take a nature walk in a local park, on an easy hiking trail, or even in your backyard. Create a field pack containing a small notebook, pencils, crayons, some tape, and a magnifying glass. Have your preschooler observe the world, looking at trees, grass, weeds, flowers, bugs, snails, birds, animals, and anything else that catches his or her attention.
Prompt observations and descriptions: how big or small something is, what its color and texture is, whether it moves or not. Help your preschooler record these observations in a notebook. Although children can also use a camera or smartphone to record their observations, keep in mind that young children need to use their hands. Writing, drawing, and taping samples into a notebook creates an experience that will better stick in your child’s mind.
Use real science words when you can. If you don’t know the terminology, make it a research challenge! Invite your preschooler to help you look for information in a good science book or on the internet. Integrate play with real experiments by asking, “What would happen if . . . ?”
For example, if you see an ant trail, ask your preschooler, “What would happen if you put a piece of food on their trail?” Do it together and watch what happens. Then help record what you see.
You can teach real chemistry in the kitchen by letting your little one help you bake a cake. Learning how to measure flour and sugar and discovering the features of these ingredients—their texture, taste and smell, what they feel like to touch—can be the first step of a scientific investigation. Help your child record in a notebook what happens when the ingredients are mixed and then what happens when they are baked. Can you still see the flour and sugar? How is the baked cake different from the raw ingredients, or the batter? Using some basic knowledge from a good science textbook for kids, you can discuss terms like atoms, molecules, and chemical reactions, and why some substances change when they are baked. Baking also enables young ones to do safe chemistry experiments with the ingredients. What happens if there is too much water, too little water, or not enough baking powder? What happens if you forget to add the eggs?
When you explore the real world with preschoolers, using real vocabulary and doing real hands-on experiments, you unlock the secrets of real science. Not only do your children learn how to think like scientists, you also get to learn science with them. And there just might be pudding involved.
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Dr. Rebecca Woodbury (Keller) has spent over two decades exploring how students learn, beginning as a research scientist in biophysical chemistry before founding Gravitas Publications Inc. in 2003, where she introduced the Real Science-4-Kids product line for home educators. Dedicated to enhancing these educational resources, she launched the innovative RATATAZ learning model in 2020, which integrates in-depth knowledge with student-driven inquiries and project-based learning, emphasizing retrieval practice for better retention. Returning to graduate school, Dr. Woodbury will complete her M.Ed. in curriculum and instructional design in 2024, further refining her approach to effective education. In December 2023, she relocated her team to Tempe, AZ, to better serve both homeschool parents and school educators with an updated Science series, new Reader series, and RATATAZ kits. Visit realscience4kids.com.
SOME OF DR. WOODBURY’S RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Ideas for science experiments:
- Science is Simple: Over 250 Activities for Preschoolers by Peggy Ashbrook
- The Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+Creative Hands-On Activities for ages 4–8 by Asia Citro
Field guides for plants and animals:
- National Geographic Illustrated Guide to Wildlife
- National Geographic Field Guide to Birds (This is eastern U.S.; other regions available)
- The Kaufman Field Guide series—particularly the one on insects
- Any of the Audubon Field Guides
Apps for parents:
- Leafsnap—quickly ID plants on a walk
- Atlas: Insects of the World
- Audubon apps: Insects and Spiders, Field Guide to North American Mammals, Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians
- iBird
- WildOBS Observer
- Notability for iPad—great for recording a nature walk
Curriculum:
- Real Science-4-Kids: Exploring the Building Blocks of Science, Book 1 by Rebecca W. Keller, Ph.D. (You can also check with Gravitas for Exploring the Building Blocks for kindergarten — still available for a while but not listed on the site)
- Usborne Starting Point books all start with questions—the best way to introduce science:
- What Makes You Ill?
- What’s Under the Sea?
- Why Do Tigers Have Stripes?
- Why Do People Eat?
Some of the links above are affiliate links and if you click on them, your cost stays the same, but I may also receive a bit of a bonus for sharing the info with you — and that helps me bring more content to you!
