Using the Scientific Method with Kids

The scientific method is the basis for all research that’s done in science, and it’s how we go about doing experiments in the classroom or in the real world. You probably remember at least parts of it from your own school days, and it’s actually great to start using this process with kids even at a young age.

The basic parts of the scientific method are to make observations, come up with a question based on those observations, predict what you think will happen, experiment, record your results and draw conclusions, and share your results with others.

That sounds complicated, but introducing the scientific method can be as easy as telling kids about a project you’re going to try and asking what they think will happen and why. Then do the thing and talk about what happened and why.

This can be worked into projects as simple as blowing up a balloon, making slime or playdough at home, or any of the classic science experiments we all know and love.

If you want a project to walk through learning the scientific method for kids, Little Bins for Little Hands has a post all about it and an ice melting experiment you can use to practice the steps. There’s even a full set of scientific process printables you can use with all the steps laid out and explained, as well as sheets kids can use to write or draw their responses to the different steps.

Once you and they start thinking in terms of the scientific method when you do activities, this process will start to come quite naturally. Kids are naturally little scientists full of curiosity about the world around them, and using the scientific method to guide their inquiries is a great way to focus their attention and get them thinking scientifically.

Learn more at Little Bins for Little Hands.

[Image by info9srinivas from Pixabay]

A classic manipulative in the preschool and early elementary classroom is the snap cube, also known as math cubes, unifix cubes or unit cubes. These little one inch cubes often come in a set of 100 in 10 different colors, and they snap together so they’re easy to use for all sorts of math learning, measuring and more.

No Time for Flashcards has a cute robot printable to use with cubes to measure the height of each robot. That one is free but they also have other printable cube mats that are a paid resource.

Catherine & Co uses math cubes to teach kids about measuring volume. They make a letter from cubes and then measure the volume (there’s a printable worksheet in the post).

Pattern recognition is another fun and easy activity you can do with the cubes. You can use printables like these from Planning Playtime, or just make a pattern from cubes and have kids repeat it or figure out what comes next. There’s another good set of pattern printables at English Created Resources.

Because there are 10 sets of 10 cubes in a pack, these are great for teaching one to one correspondence, counting, sorting and basic addition and subtraction. English Created Resources has great printable number mats you can use to form the number from cubes and count out the number of cubes that corresponds to that number.

ParenTutor has a great collection of snap cube activity ideas, most of which are just pictures, but it’s work taking a look through the post for ideas for using them at home or in the classroom.

To give just a few of their examples, you can match linked blocks to the corresponding number of pieces, use blocks to find different ways to add up to 10, compare numbers and determine which one is more or less, skip counting and weighing different numbers of blocks.

You can also use unit cubes to learn letters, like with these super cute alphabet mats from Fun Learning for Kids. Kids can trace the letter, make it out of cubes and practice writing a word that starts with that letter.

Of course you can also use them to build things, since they are blocks, and there are tons of pattern mats on Teachers Pay Teachers. I also love these dinosaur themed mats from Lets Go to Learn on Etsy.

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