Use this guide to plan how to teach science to children and get free resources to support your teaching, including ready-made science lesson plans and printables.
How to teach science to children
NurtureStore uses hands-on play, discovery and wonder to teach active science lessons that children love.
We help you with ready-made lesson plans, activities and printables so you can support your children to love learning and to think like scientists.
This article is one of our easy science activities for children resources.
Table of Contents
– Principles of teaching science
– How to use a Know Wonder Learned chart
– Printable paper camera
– Printable non-fiction book
– Nature table
– Discover centres
– Discovery baskets
– Make a Wonder Wall
– Nature journalling
– Ready-made science curriculum
– Index of science lessons to use
Ready-made science curriculum for children
The easiest way for you to teach your children is by using the ready-made units in NurtureStore’s Play Academy. Each unit gives you one activity per day that all your children can do together. Every thing is in one place, clearly laid out and with bonus printables to make your teaching even easier.
You can choose from over 50 ready-made units including our science curriculum pathway which includes units on Space, Dinosaurs, Leaves & Twigs, Forest School, Sunflowers, Bees, Cats, Weather, Candy Science, Daffodils and Ice & Snow. See more and choose your first ready-made teaching unit here.
The principles of teaching science
NurtureStore believes the best way to teach science to your children is through hands-on play, discovery, and wonder.
Our lesson have been developed through years of direct teaching with children, from pre-schoolers to teens, in school, community groups, childcare provision and home-education.
:: ‘Hands-on’ science lessons means providing activities where children can use their hands to do things: mixing, measuring, cooking, building, and making. Children learn best through concrete, real-world, sensory experiences, so leave worksheets and rote memorisation aside to instead provide your children with active experiments. Hands on means brains on!
:: Playful learning means creating an environment where your children feel relaxed and open to new experiences. Rather than trying to recreate prefect science experiments with one correct outcome, NurtureStore’s science activities use play and imagination to help children gain skills and knowledge they way kids are designed to learn: by playing!
“The highest form of research is essentially play.”
N. V. Scarfe
:: We use discovery as a way for children to learn science concepts. We’re not trying to cram information into them so that can repeat it back in a test. We want them to be in love with learning, excited about what they find out, amazed by the science all around them.
:: Our lessons encourage children to wonder. Often their own questions help set the curriculum, and you’ll find many thematic units and lessons plans on NurtureStore that you can match to the areas your children are interested in learning about. We suggest questions to ask and give extension ideas support their wondering; encouraging them to ask more questions, suggest hypotheses, and to think like scientists.
Resources to help you teach science
You can use all these resources throughout your science lessons to support your children’s curiosity, discovery and learning:
How to use a KWL chart with children
Learn how to use a Know Wonder Learned KWL chart with your children to give structure to project-based learning and any science topic they want to learn about.
Printable paper camera toy
This printable paper camera toy is a great way for children to document all they are learning on safari in their neighbourhood, in the backyard and while conducting experiments.
Non-fiction writing lesson plan and printable book template
Use the tips in this non-fiction writing lesson plan along with the free non-fiction book printable to record what you are learning and to build your own science reference library. Create a book for each science topic you study.
How to make a nature table
Use these ideas for a themed nature table to create a discovery centre with your children that invites them to explore the seasons, plants or animals with all their senses.
How to make a discovery centre
Get ideas for how to set up and use a discovery centre in your classroom or at home to promote scientific thinking and exploration.
How to make a discovery basket
These discovery baskets provide just the right prompt for creative, hands-on learning with young children. Learn how to use them to introduce science topics, items and vocabulary.
Encourage learning with a Wonder Wall
Make a wonder wall to capture all your child’s questions and scientific ponderings.
How to use a nature journal with children
This guide to nature journalling will help you start your own nature journal. It includes ideas on what to include in a nature journal plus links to nature journal prompts and printable nature journal pages.
Ready-made science activities and lesson plans
Ready to start teaching science the creative, hands-on way? Use NurtureStore’s extensive resources to find great science activities for your children. Choose your first lesson here:
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