Hands-On Science Activities for Grades K-2

About the Author.

Acknowledgments.

How to Use This Book.

Listing of Activities by Topic and Subtopic.

Section One EARTH SCIENCE ACTIVITIES.

Topic 1 Air.

To the Teacher.

Activity 1.1 How Can You Test to See If Air Takes Up Space?

Activity 1.2 How Can You Pour Air?

Activity 1.3 How Can You Tell If Air Has Weight?

Activity 1.4 How Can You Feel the Weight and Pressure of Air?

Activity 1.5 What Is Another Way to Feel Air Pressure?

Activity 1.6 How Can Air Be Compressed?

Activity 1.7 What Is Another Way Air Can Be Compressed?

Activity 1.8 What Can a Card Teach You About Air?

Activity 1.9 How Can Air Pressure Make Things Stronger?

Activity 1.10 How Can Air Help Us Drink?

Activity 1.11 How Does Air Pressure Affect Water Flow?

Activity 1.12 What Is the Relationship Between Moving Air and Its Pressure?

Activity 1.13 What Happens When Air Is Heated?

Activity 1.14 How Can You Tell That Warm Air Rises?

Activity 1.15 What Happens When Air Gets Warmer?

Activity 1.16 How Can We Watch Air Expand and Contract?

Activity 1.17 How Does Cold Air Behave?

Activity 1.18 What Happens When Warm Air and Cold Air Mix?

Activity 1.19 How Can You Get Water Out of the Air?

Topic 2 Water.

To the Teacher.

Activity 2.1 How Does Water Disappear?

Activity 2.2 What Is in Sea Water?

Activity 2.3 What Is Condensation?

Activity 2.4 How Can You Get Water Out of the Air?

Activity 2.5 What Is Another Way to Get Moisture Out of the Air?

Activity 2.6 How Can a Water Drop Make Things Larger?

Activity 2.7 How Can Water Make a Coin Appear?

Activity 2.8 What Happens When Water Changes to a Solid?

Activity 2.9 How Can You Make a Worm?

Topic 3 Weather.

To the Teacher.

Activity 3.1 What Does a Wind Vane Do, and How Can You Make One?

Activity 3.2 What Is Another Design for a Wind Vane?

Activity 3.3 How Can You Use a Wind Vane?

Topic 4 The Earth.

To the Teacher.

Activity 4.1 In What Order Do Materials Settle in Water?

Activity 4.2 How Are Rocks Classified?

Activity 4.3 How Do Crystals Form?

Section Two LIFE SCIENCE ACTIVITIES.

Topic 5 Plants and Seeds.

To the Teacher.

Activity 5.1 What Plant Is This?

Activity 5.2 How Do Seeds Begin to Grow?

Activity 5.3 How Can We Watch Seeds Grow?

Activity 5.4 How Do Seeds Travel?

Activity 5.5 How Can Plants Grow Without Seeds?

Activity 5.6 What Is Another Way to Grow Plants Without Seeds?

Activity 5.7 What Can You Do with Plants That Become Too Big for Their Containers?

Activity 5.8 How Do Containers Make Plants More Interesting?

Activity 5.9 What Do Plants Need in Order to Grow?

Activity 5.10 How Does Water Travel in a Plant?

Activity 5.11 What Are the Parts of Some Common Plants?

Activity 5.12 What Parts of Plants Do You Like to Eat?

Topic 6 Animals.

To the Teacher.

Activity 6.1 Who Are the New Members of Our Class?

Activity 6.2 How Can You Keep Your Pets Healthy?

Activity 6.3 How Many Pets Can You Find?

Activity 6.4 How Many Other Pets Can You Find?

Activity 6.5 What Kind of Pet Would You Like to Own?

Activity 6.6 What Can Hair Tell You?

Activity 6.7 How Many Play Animals Can You Find?

Activity 6.8 How Can You Make a New Animal for a Funny Zoo?

Activity 6.9 How Can You Make a Bony Animal?

Activity 6.10 What Can Footprints Tell Us?

Activity 6.11 What More Can Footprints Tell Us?

Activity 6.12 What Animals Live Around You?

Activity 6.13 How Can We Attract Wild Birds?

Activity 6.14 What Is a Bird?

Activity 6.15 How Do Earthworms Live?

Activity 6.16 Why Is the Snail So Unusual?

Topic 7 Growing and Changing: Animal Life Cycles.

To the Teacher.

Activity 7.1 What Is Growing Up?

Activity 7.2 How Much Do People Change?

Activity 7.3 How Does Growing Up Begin?

Activity 7.4 What Is a Chicken Egg Really Like?

Activity 7.5 What Are Some Other Animals That Hatch from Eggs?

Activity 7.6 How Can You Hatch Eggs in the Classroom?

Activity 7.7 What Is a Tadpole?

Activity 7.8 What Is a Good Environment for Tadpoles?

Topic 8 Animal Adaptations.

To the Teacher.

Activity 8.1 Why Are Feathers Special?

Activity 8.2 What Purposes Can Feathers Serve?

Activity 8.3 Can You Make a Feather?

Activity 8.4 How Is Color Used by Living Things?

Topic 9 Body Systems.

To the Teacher.

Activity 9.1 How Big Is the Average Person Your Age?

Activity 9.2 What Does Hair Look Like Under a Microscope?

Topic 10 The Five Senses.

To the Teacher.

Activity 10.1 In What Ways Do We Depend on Our Eyes?

Activity 10.2 How Do Our Eyes Help Us "Hear"?

Activity 10.3 How Does a Picture Stimulate Your Senses?

Activity 10.4 Can You Save the Fish?

Activity 10.5 How Well Can You See in the Dark?

Activity 10.6 How Can You Match Things Without Seeing Them?

Activity 10.7 What Sounds Do Your Ears Recognize?

Activity 10.8 How Well Can You "Observe" with Your Sense of Touch?

Activity 10.9 How Much Can You "See" with Your Hands?

Topic 11 Health and Nutrition.

To the Teacher.

Activity 11.1 Why Do We Wash Our Hands Before Handling Food?

Section Three PHYSICAL SCIENCE ACTIVITIES.

Topic 12 Nature of Matter.

To the Teacher.

Activity 12.1 What Happens to Water When You Add Salt?

Activity 12.2 How Dry Can You Wring a Wet Sponge?

Activity 12.3 What Is Condensation?

Activity 12.4 What Are Solids, Liquids, and Gases?

Activity 12.5 How Can You Make Large Sugar Crystals from Tiny Ones?

Topic 13 Energy.

To the Teacher.

Activity 13.1 How Well Do You Conserve Energy at Home?

Topic 14 Light.

To the Teacher.

Activity 14.1 What Can You Make with a Shadow?

Activity 14.2 How Does Closeness to Light Affect Shadow Size?

Activity 14.3 How Does Your Shadow Change?

Activity 14.4 What Path Does Light Follow?

Activity 14.5 How Can You Make a Lens from a Drop of Water?

Activity 14.6 What Do Color Filters Do to Colors?

Activity 14.7 What Does a Prism Do to Light?

Activity 14.8 How Can You Make a Prism with Water?

Topic 15 Sound.

To the Teacher.

Activity 15.1 What Is Sound?

Activity 15.2 What Sounds Can You Identify?

Activity 15.3 How Well Can You Match Sounds?

Activity 15.4 What Sounds Can You Make with a Shoe Box?

Activity 15.5 How Can You Make Music with a Fish Line?

Activity 15.6 How Much Noise Can You Make with a Paper Cup?

Activity 15.7 What Kinds of Sounds Can You Make with Sticks?

Activity 15.8 How Can You See Sound?

Topic 16 Simple Machines.

To the Teacher.

Activity 16.1 What Happens When You Rub Your Hands Together?

Activity 16.2 How Do Lubricants Affect Friction?

Activity 16.3 What Is the Advantage of a First-Class Lever?

Activity 16.4 What Type of Simple Machine Is the Teeter-Totter?

Activity 16.5 How Can a Lever Be Used to Lift Heavy Things?

Topic 17 Magnetism.

To the Teacher.

Activity 17.1 Which Rock Is Different?

Activity 17.2 What Do Magnets Look Like?

Activity 17.3 What Materials Will a Magnet Pick Up?

Activity 17.4 Which Magnet Is the Strongest?

Activity 17.5 What Part of a Magnet Has the Strongest Pull?

Topic 18 Static Electricity.

To the Teacher.

Activity 18.1 Why Does Paper Leap for a Balloon?

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

SELECTED SOURCES OF FREE AND INEXPENSIVE MATERIALS FOR ELEMENTARY SCIENCE.

SELECTED SCIENCE SUPPLY HOUSES.

SELECTED SUPPLIERS OF VIDEO TAPES, VIDEODISCS, AND CD-ROM FOR ELEMENTARY SCIENCE.

SELECTED SUPPLIERS OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE FOR ELEMENTARY SCIENCE.