20 Amazing Life Science Activities for Preschoolers
As kids grow, they also become curious about things around them. They love to move and play around, try things out, and learn how everything works. Help your preschoolers explore and understand animals, plants, nature, the food they eat, and their own body better by introducing them to these 20 simple life science activities for preschoolers:
1. Parts of a Plant
Help preschoolers explore plants thoroughly with these easy parts of a plant learning practice. You can use actual parts of plants or printables of plant roots, stems, leaves, and flowers to teach kids about identifying plant parts.
Learn the full details here.
2. What Dissolves in Water
Finding out what dissolves in water is a fun experiment for kids. This is also an easy activity as you will only need things that can already be found in your kitchen – glasses or bowls of water, spoons, and kitchen ingredients like powdered milk, sugar, salt, nuts, and oats. Let kids mix the ingredients in the water to observe and predict what dissolves in water and what doesn’t.
Click here for more details.
3. Sink or Float Experiment
Another fun science activity for preschoolers is the sink or float experiment! This activity will allow them to understand important concepts such as buoyancy and density – but in a fun and easy way. All you need is a container or glass filled half full of water and some tiny toys. Then make the kids guess which items will sink or float in the water.
Interested? Click this link to find out more.
4. What Melts Under the Sun
This life science activity will help preschoolers understand the light and heat we get from the sun. It’s much better to do this activity on a warm, sunny day. Find some items that will most likely melt when placed under the sun such as butter, chocolates, and ice cubes. Also, place items that partially melt under the sun like candles and other solid items. Find others that are hard enough not to melt in the sun like stones or pebbles.
Learn the full guide through this link.
5. Goodbye, Germs!
This is a fun activity that will teach preschoolers about handwashing and keeping their hands clean from germs. You can use glitter to act as germs to illustrate how germs stick and spread easily. You will also teach them the proper ways of handwashing to eliminate germs to finish this activity.
Find out more about this activity through this link.
6. Supersize Your Fingerprints
Kids will find it interesting to learn how unique they are from each other. This experiment will highlight and compare how special and unique we all are. All you need to do is press down a fingerprint print onto a balloon. Inflate the balloon and notice how the fingerprint expands. Kids will learn how the lines, arches, and loops on their fingers differ so much from everyone else.
For the complete guide, click here.
7. Oil and Water
This oil and water activity is another fun and easy way for kids to explore what happens when oil and water are mixed in a bottle. Allow them to try mixing the two with all their might and let them find out themselves.
Learn more through this link.
8. Clay Modeling
Clay modeling is an attractive and colorful way to engage in learning with kids. You can help your kids use clay to create and mold models of natural objects such as animals, leaves, and flowers based on their understanding and observations.
Click this link to get the full guide.
9. Cool Erupting Volcano
This is a cool life science activity to illustrate to kids how amazing nature is. This helps them learn how a volcano erupts! For this easy volcano experiment, you will only need some baking soda and vinegar to recreate a lava eruption.
Click here for the full details of this activity.
10. Penny Boat
Find out how many pennies a boat made of aluminum foil pieces can hold before it sinks in the water. This will teach kids important concepts of buoyancy, and the cause-and-effect of going beyond the limits.
Ready to try it with your kids? Click here.
11. Mini Garden
Having this mini garden bin in one corner of the room will help engage kids to get more interested in plants. All you need is a rectangular bin, some colorful mini pots, toy flowers, leaves and stems, stones, and toy shovels for your preschooler to play around with while learning about gardening.
Visit this link for more details.
12. Color Mixing
Mixing colors is a fun learning activity for preschoolers. This will help them understand that as much as one color is nice as it is, it can transform into something different when combined with other colors. Color mixing is also a great way to help preschoolers learn how to recreate nature colors on their own – such as getting the color green for leaves by mixing blue and yellow together.
Click this link for the step-by-step guide.
13. Magic Milk
Magic milk is another fun and colorful experiment that your kids will love! All you need is some milk and food coloring. This activity will explain how molecules bond together. It will also be fun to see colors form and bump around into each other.
For more information, click here.
14. Seed Science Experiment
This seed science experiment is a fun activity to help preschoolers learn more about the fruits that they eat. Use bright and colored paper cutouts to create pictures of fruits. Match the pictures with actual seeds and teach your kids to identify each of the fruit seeds.
Get more ideas through this link.
15. Grow Mung Bean Sprouts
Growing bean sprouts is easy, interesting, and fun. This plant-growing activity will only take you a few days to get the desired results. The kids will spot the huge growth and difference – imagine seeing how sprouts grow from beans after 3 days or so.
Get started with this activity – click here.
16. Dancing Rice
Can you make rice grains dance? Yes, you can! Show your kids this easy science experiment with ingredients you may already have in your kitchen. You should prepare the materials beforehand but let your kids do the pouring into the container. This makes it more exciting for your child. Since this project can get a little messy, be sure to do this activity in an area where you can easily clean.
Need more information? Visit this link.
17. Eggshell Seed Bombs
When springtime comes, include this activity in your preschooler’s to-do list! Creating these eggshell seed bombs is a fun way to let them help with your gardening. Plus, eggshells are great fertilizers so you can expect pretty flowers to grow out of this activity.
For the full tutorial, check this link.
18. Animal Venn Diagram Activity
Does your child love animal toys? Then this activity is perfect for you and your child to recreate! Collect his toys and have him sort them in a colorful Venn diagram. This will help teach your child the different animal habitats and can even help them improve their math skills.
Learn more about this activity here.
19. Mini Terrariums
Terrariums are pretty and cute and your kids will love making them! They are quite easy to put together as long as you have the materials ready – and the tiny plants that go with them too! Let your child take charge of arranging the plants and decorating them with pebbles and mini figurines. This activity will not only teach them to be creative but will also encourage them to care for plants in the long term.
For the full guide, visit this link.
20. Rain Cloud in a Jar
Teach your kids about clouds and rain in a fun and colorful way with this rain cloud-in-a-jar experiment. This activity can get a little messy so make sure you cover your play area with disposable paper or do the activity on a surface that’s easy to wipe clean afterward.
Check here for the full details.
I hope you enjoy some of these amazing life science activities for preschoolers. I hope you have found some inspiration to use on projects with your kids. Also, don’t forget to try these fun outdoor physical activities for kids also. Let me know in the comments what are your favorite activities that you have done with your kids.
