Activities for Grades K-2
Soil Exploration
Explore local soil types. Also - fossils!
Openconcept, endless learning! We will bring in shovel-fulls of local soils from different habitats for students to pick through and examine with trowels, tweezers, magnifying lenses, and microscopes. You literally never know what you'll find!
Erosion Landscapes
Students will use rocks, sand, and topsoil to build a layered landscape and then predict how they think the water will flow. When they are ready, they can turn on the water and watch how it rushes through their land.
Static Levitation
Students will learn about static charge and how it affects different kinds of materials.
Static Shock!
Build a Leydon jar and charge it up to make your own lightning! Or use it for a portable static shock delivery system. Students will learn about static electricity, charge storage, and where lightning comes from.
Pneumatic Rockets and Planes
Design, build, and launch pneumatic rockets and/or airplanes.
See how your design flies! Take it back to the bench and tweak it until it flies how you want it to. Students will learn about, air pressure, aerodynamics, and what makes things fly, Our custom launch pad ensures the same launch conditions every time, so you can really see the effects of your changes!
Wind Turbines
Build a working wind turbine and see how much power you can make.
Simple to build, a lifetime to optimize!Students can change the number of blades and/or the tilt angle and/or shape of the blades and see how it effects the power output. Students will learn about renewable energy sources and where electricity comes from.
Penny Batteries
Build a working battery from pennies, washers and lemon juice!
Students will learn about where electricity comes from and how batteries work. We've had kids build voltaic piles generating up to about 12 Volts - just with pennies and washers!
Simple circuits
Build circuits using the building blocks of electronics.
Students will learn what constitutes an electrical circuit and the differences between parallel and series circuits. You'd be surprised how complex a circuit a kid can build with a toolbox containing a switch, a motor, a light bulb, and an LED.
Marker Chromatography
Separate the different color inks out of a single black marker.
Students will learn about separating mixtures based on differential affinity, The end result can be transformed into a colorful butterfly or flower or anything else you can dream up!
Boat Design and buoyancy
Learn about buoyancy and what makes a boat float. Build boats from clay or aluminum foil and see how much weight they can carry before sinking.