Understanding of the World

Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Early Years Science | Forces and Magents | Forces and Motion | Just for Fun | Scientific Enquiry | Scientific Enquiry | Understanding of the World

Mini Garden Zip Line STEM Challenge
ByEmma Vanstone January 30, 2015July 9, 2025

I think our garden zip line using teddies is one of my favourite activities we’ve ever done, just because it’s so adaptable to children of all ages and abilities. My 4-year-old uses it as a big imaginative game, talking to her teddies, telling them not to be scared and lining them up so everyone gets…

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Age 7 - 10 | Early Years Science | Materials and their Properties | Sensory and Messy Play | Understanding of the World

Colourful ice and some salt
ByEmma Vanstone January 28, 2015January 9, 2025

I’ve gone a bit ice crazy this week, and my freezer is full of all kinds of weird and wonderful creations, which I’ll be showing you soon. First up is this block that I froze with straws inside. After letting it melt for a while, we removed the straws and poured coloured water through, so we…

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Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Science Experiments for Kids | Space Experiments | Understanding of the World

Stars, Planets and Moons – Earth’s Orbit Activity
ByEmma Vanstone January 26, 2015February 28, 2025

This week, my 6-year-old has been enthusiastically learning about the solar system and the Earth’s orbit around the sun. However, she has been struggling to understand the difference between stars, planets, and moons. To help her understand, we tried a fun demonstration in the garden. Sun, Moon and Earth Orbit Demonstration First, I made simple…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Design and Technology | Everyday Materials | Forces and Magents | Forces and Motion | Science Experiments for Kids | Scientific Enquiry | Scientific Enquiry | Understanding of the World

How to make a shoebox catapult
ByEmma Vanstone January 23, 2015June 14, 2022

A shoebox catapult is a fun way to learn about elasticity, elastic energy, potential energy and kinetic energy. Children can experiment with different size and shape objects to catapult and with how far they push down the catapult arm. Shoebox catapults are a great activity for practising correct scientific procedures or as a fun engineering project. How…

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Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Science and Maths | Scientific Enquiry | Understanding of the World

P is for Patterns
ByEmma Vanstone January 17, 2015April 29, 2016

Welcome to another post from the A-Z STEM series. Today we’re learning about patterns. What is a pattern? A pattern is a repeating symbol, shape or picture which can be easily repeated many times. The design is often influenced by nature. Can you see the pattern in our beetroot slice? Ideas for making patterns For…

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Age 4 - 6 | Early Years Science | Just for Fun | Preschool Science | Toddler Science | Understanding of the World

Make your own colour wheel
ByEmma Vanstone January 8, 2015September 4, 2024

A colour wheel is a great visual way to learn about primary and secondary colours and fun science crafts. Mixing Colours RED + YELLOW = ORANGE YELLOW + BLUE = GREEN BLUE + RED = PURPLE How to make a DIY colour wheel What you need Two pieces of cardboard One split pin Coloured pens Or, use…

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Early Years Science | Understanding of the World

Ice decorations
ByEmma Vanstone November 28, 2014March 29, 2022

We first saw these ice decorations a couple of years ago on Red Ted Art, but this is the first time we’ve had chance to try them for ourselves. They are super simple and look beautiful hung on a tree outside. What you need Decorations – lego, glitter, sparkly bits Freezer String Ice cube tray…

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Age 4 - 6 | Christmas Science | Early Years Science | Just for Fun | Understanding of the World

Magnetic Olaf
ByEmma Vanstone November 21, 2014April 5, 2016

Olaf is made using the same principe as our Mini Magnet Maze and Christmas Tree. We made his buttons magnetic but you could use his eyes, nose or eyebrows. You could even make a smaller version and make Olaf’s body parts moveable. Can you think of any other Frozen crafts you could make using this method? What you…

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Age 4 - 6 | Age 7 - 10 | Early Years Science | Just for Fun | Understanding of the World

Which drink makes the best bubbles?
ByEmma Vanstone October 4, 2014October 2, 2024

Like most children, if given a straw, my four will blow bubbles till the cup overflows, which gave me an idea for a fun investigation. We tried to find out which of three different drinks made the best bubbles, using it as a fun exercise in experimental design. Bubbly Drinks Challenge Find out whether purple…

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Age 4 - 6 | Christmas Science | Design and Technology | Early Years Science | Edible Science | Just for Fun | Understanding of the World

Make your own Olaf
ByEmma Vanstone September 25, 2014November 6, 2020

Do you remember when we designed a house made of sweets and tried to find the best materials for its construction? We’ve followed the same concept with this fun edible science investigation to make a marshmallow Olaf from Disney’s Frozen. What are the best sweets for Olaf? Marshmallows were the obvious choice, and we decided three…

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