Science is the subject that comes to life in our homeschool. My oldest daughter is particularly science-minded and is constantly asking for “more science!” While we focus on core subjects in the early years, I have had to really ramp up my science efforts to meet her interests and needs. My younger one is always happy to go along for the ride.
But honestly, I have been rah-rah’ing science for my kids since the very beginning. Through picture books about plants and animals, nature study, spending hours in our own backyard everyday with binoculars, bug catching gear, bulbs to plant… whatever works for the season. We have had science experiment days and nature documentary evenings. I did my job right – I set out to awaken wonder and an appreciation the natural world and now my kids are demanding “more science!” when we have homeschool check-ins.
Today, I want to share a feast of ideas to bring science to life in your homeschool in a fun and relaxed way. I’ll include some of our favorite curriculum/units, but don’t for a second think that science needs to be all bookwork. To be honest… the ones you will see below have been chosen because they focus on activities, experiments, and stories more than anything else! There is no need for anything strict or formal in the early years.
As Miss Frizzle would say, “I think it’s time to take chances, make mistakes, and GET MESSY!” <3
So, here we go…
Raise caterpillars. Let’s start with the most fun. If you want more wonder in your homeschool, this is the one to start with. We have done this for three years now and it never gets old or boring, for the young or old. We have this kit. Add a few books like A Butterfly Is Patient and Hello, Little One, and A Butterfly’s Lifecycle and you’re golden.
Follow a year-long nature study plan. I don’t like to make it very formal so I mostly pick up books on our weekly topic and sometimes add an activity or coloring sheet. But mostly, we learn so much about plants, animals, and the Earth through books. Here is my FREE weekly nature study plan + book list.
Sign up for a subscription box. We are currently loving our Kiwi Co. box. I love how everything I need in included in a neat little box with clear instructions. It is perfect. If you have relatives who ask for birthday or holiday gift ideas, this is definitely a great thing to suggest, too! If you’d like $10 off your first purchase, head over to their website from here. Another STEM option would be Little Passports. We may give them a try in the future.
Magic School Bus Kits. Speaking of kits, these have been a hit in our household. There are so many options, such as human body, magnets, chemistry, dinosaurs, weather, engineering, exploring oceans, electricity, germs, volcanos… Another great gift option from family members, too. You could even pick up the corresponding Magic School Bus book from the library or watch the episode in conjunction to whatever kit you have. You could spend an entire year doing just this and your kids will be learning leaps and bounds.
Science for Little Hearts and Hands from The Good and the Beautiful. I have found this science curriculum geared towards K-2 to be gentle and just enough. I like how they include a number of experiments and activities to go along with topics. I don’t have to do much thinking or planning aside from gathering supplies. It also focuses on stories, which I appreciate. We are starting Wind and Waves soon. This is a great option if you like open-and-go.
Read seasonal nature books. This is what I relied on heavily when my girls were very young and I swear, they learned so much just from this. Here are a couple great lists to get you started:
- 52 Weeks of Seasonally-Inspired Picture Books, part 1
- 52 Weeks of Seasonally-Inspired Picture Books, part 2
- 100 Best Seasonal Picture Books for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter
Mammal Unit Study for animal lovers. If you have children who love anything and everything animals, consider this mammal unit study I pulled together. My girls loved this one.
Weekly kitchen experiment. If you are brave enough to get messy with your kids, this will be a hit with most children. There are so many easy experiments on Pinterest that use kitchen ingredients you most likely already have on hand. You can discuss how to formulate a hypothesis, variables, conclusions, etc. You could also notebook your experiments.
Instead of weekly, you could also declare every first Friday of the month “science day!” and stack a couple experiments to get all the messiness out in one shot. I have done this in the past and it is so memorable. My kids still talk about these days.
Dissecting an owl pellet. This might not be for everyone, but I did this as a kid and still remember this. My daughter did it, and she freakin’ loved it. Buy the pellets, print these worksheets, and grab a book like Owls or read the chapter book Poppy in conjunction.
Field trips! Whether it be to the local zoo, aquarium, science museums… these are some of the most memorable days we have had as a family. I highly recommend grabbing yearly passes to go often for a year. We did this with our zoo and it was the best. We went at least a few times a month.
Rock or gemstone dig kits. My kids have a blast with these kits and my daughter was very into geology and gemstones for a couple years because of them. We loved adding in books like A Rock is Lively and My Book of Rocks and Minerals.
Dinosaur unit with a fossil dig kit. Another great dig kit is the fossil one. You could pull together a quick dinosaur unit using that or even these eggs. My kids LOVED the eggs! Don’t forget to add a great dinosaur reference book. You could even have a movie night and watch Disney’s Dinosaur or the Land Before Time.
Grow your own crystals. These grow kits are a great science experiment to conduct together. If your kids are younger, you may have to do a lot of the work with the chemicals, so it may be best for kids 8+.
Evan Moor workbooks. If there is any workbook to include here, I do like Evan Moor as a jumping off point for topics. We don’t sit and do them everyday but sometimes I pull inspiration from them!
Little School of Smiths unit studies. We love her unit studies! Me and My Amazing Body and Me and My Place in Space are two of her science ones and they offer plenty of books, activities, and more. I love how flexible and relaxed they are at an affordable price.
Watch documentaries. This will depend on the age of your kids and how sensitive they are to certain things, but my oldest daughter loves watching David Attenborough nature documentaries with my partner and I. Most notably, she was absolutely captivated by Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+ (we all were!) She was drawing and journaling about dinosaurs before bed nearly every night. Disney+ Nature also has some family friendly options. We loved watching Secrets of the Whales together as a family.
Make slime or oobleck. Chemistry for kids, right? We like these slime kits from Crayola. Oobleck is especially interesting and you can make it with only two ingredients: water and cornstarch!
Plant seeds. Flowers, vegetables, or herbs… take your pick and let your kids get their hands dirty and see how magical a seed can be. Add in books such as A Seed is Sleepy and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt.
Learn Earth’s layers with Play Doh. I printed out this sheet, provided the play doh, and we all got to work making our own Earth and its layers. Both of my kids enjoyed this. We also listened to a YouTube video on the subject to accompany it.
Learn the planets with clay, books, and song. My kids love working with air-dry clay. We made mini planets from the clay while listening to the planet song to memorize the names. Some great books to add include I Am the Solar System and 8 Little Planets (for the younger crowd).
Read from the Julia Rothman collection. We love these books. They are a great jumping off point, easy to read aloud from, and great to peruse. In particular, we love Nature Anatomy and Ocean Anatomy. There’s also Farm Anatomy, Food Anatomy, and Wildlife Anatomy.
