Hi! I’m Leslie- a homeschooling momma to a 5 year old girl and 20 month old boy. The 2 are as different as night and day. I share our adventures here to both inspire learning at home and chronicle our lives, because honestly, I never started the baby books and my kids will just have to look back on their childhood through this blog… ha! #keepinitreal
Oh my goodness yall!
Exploring science with littles is so much fun- especially when studying ELECTRICITY!
Mother Goose Time gave us some excellent ideas and resources to make studying this a blast!
Our day started with a question: What do you turn on and off?
This simple question led to a field trip around the house exploring all the things we turn on and off.
From toys and light switches, to the washer, dryer and diffuser, there are items in every single room that my girl turns on and off. Taking a quick field trip helped jog her memory to all the things.
We then explored STATIC ELECTRICITY.
I blew up a balloon, and we took turns rubbing it on our heads and watching our hair stand up on end! My son got such a kick out of seeing his sister’s hair attach itself to the balloon, that he too had to have a turn.
We explored if rubbing the balloon on our head would provide enough static electricity to make the balloon stick to the wall. It did! We did several experiments and noticed that the static electricity seemed to diminish over time. Our balloon stuck to the wall for 12 seconds, then 10, then none, and finally 4 seconds. We were able to talk about scientists having to repeat experiments over and over again to see it something really works.
During our Math time, MGT sent us Connect the Circuit (connect the dots) worksheet. Each dot was numbered 1-11, and it was a little too simple for my girl. However the “Challenge” in the teacher guide suggested for the child to count backwards and start at 11 which she did.
Grateful for that suggestion!
It was time to explore LIGHTS and FLASHLIGHTS.
We discussed why outlets were dangerous and went around the house finding them, pointing, and then holding our hands up saying “Don’t touch!” My son loved this! He still says “Don’t touch” when he notices an outlet.
It’s hard to find old lights when everything is going LED, but I found this bulb in one of our lamps, and we were able to look at the filament inside. Then she screwed it into the lamp and I plugged it into the wall. She pulled the switch and Vo-la! Let there be light!
My teacher guide then suggested a Broken Flashlight activity where I supplied some disassembled flashlights. My daughter explored putting the flashlight back together. The challenge was getting the batteries turned in the right direction. When she got it to work, her brother had a blast chasing after the light she shined around the room.
During our Creative Art time, my kiddos used our Do a Dot paint markers to color their lightbulb cutouts MGT provided. I love these markers! Whenever we have a painting activity that I just do not want to break out the paint, these markers are the next best thing!
We added a black twist tie later for the filament.
Our day ended with us curling up together and reading out of our Ingenuity book that MGT provided this month in our Science box. I LOVE this book! It’s a great biography for preschoolers covering 5 different scientists. I loved reading to my little perfectionist that it took Thomas Edison so many tries to get the lightbulb to work. She really struggles with trying over and over again.
Whew! What a fun filled day!
Which one of these activities will you try with your littles?
Happy learning friends!
