Preschool Powol Packets

Saturday, February 27, 2016

In activities, planning, science by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets // Saturday, February 27, 2016 // 4 comments

Fizzing Green Eggs Science Experiment for Preschool

No, you cannot eat these "green eggs," but they make a super fun preschool science project and go great with Dr. Seuss, St. Patrick's Day, and Spring/Easter themes! Your kids will love all the color and fizzing action in this science project.

I made our green eggs to do as a science activity after we read Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.

My youngest preschooler is still practicing making a pipette work, so this was excellent fine motor exercise for her too! What do you do with the green eggs? Simple! Place them in a bed of white "egg whites" (baking soda) and let your kiddos make them fizz! Fizzing green eggs!! What more could you want?!!

How do you make these fun green eggs for your preschooler's science moment? Easy! Simply mix 1/2 cup of baking soda with 9 drops of food coloring and 1 tablespoon of water. You should have a soft dough that holds together when you squeeze it, but falls apart if any extra pressure is added. Form your dough into four balls--your brilliant "green eggs!"

Give them to your preschoolers with a cup of vinegar and pippettes so they can make their own fizzy green eggs!

Let your children experiment with different amounts of vinegar and baking soda. If you're feeling really brave, you can let them add more food coloring! When we do this with my youngest preschoolers, we explain by simply saying that the baking soda and vinegar are reacting! Look at the bubbles! Or, if they're really young, "the eggs and the vinegar are reacting!" As the children get older we add in a few more words: "Look at the reaction! Do you see the carbon dioxide bubbles? What is making carbon dioxide in here?" (the vinegar and baking soda reacting)

As they finish experimenting with the vinegar, baking soda, green eggs, and pipettes, they may want to experiment with other things. Remember preschoolers are natural scientists and love to learn about their world! (Click here to read more about how preschoolers' brains work!) Our kiddos wanted to dump a bit more baking soda and vinegar together...and touch it!

We are celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with a countdown featuring fun preschool science activities inspired by Dr. Seuss's classic books! Click here to see the growing collection, then be sure to check back again soon for more ideas!

I also have a HUGE collection of over 150 science projects and activities! You will have so much fun trying out all these great science experiments!

And while you're following links, be sure to see what other members of the STEM/Science Saturday Team have been up to! I think you'll love these ideas:

Frosty Homemade Ice Cream from The Science Kiddo

Math Inspired Creative Drawing Ideas for Kids from Handmade Kids Art

Magnetic Slime Science Play from Little Bins for Little Hands
Color Mixing with Play Dough from Lemon Lime Adventures

Happy Educating,

Carla

Dinosaur Made Me Sneeze!

This awesome book introduces the rock cycle with dinosaurs, volcanoes, and more!

(hint: You can buy it on Amazon or use the code Dinosaur25 at OakieBees.com!!)

Have you seen HEEP? It is a preschool homeschool curriculum! Learn more here!

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Thursday, February 25, 2016

In by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets // Thursday, February 25, 2016 // 1 comment

Rubber Band Sling Shot LEGO Car!

What is the craziest thing you've done in a car? That was only part of our discussion during this Dr. Seuss-inspired science activity! Launching this LEGO car is one of the most fun things we've done all day! I love that it is powered by a rubber band sling shot and inspired by Dr. Seuss!

In the classic Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham, Sam invites the main character to taste green eggs and ham in a car. "Would you, could you, in a car?"

After we talked about different parts of the book, I challenged my daughter to make a car that moves with LEGOs and rubber bands. Of course, to make it even more challenging our LEGO bin is full of LEGO pieces, K'Nex pieces, and Mega-Bloks pieces. This amazing creation is what she came up with.

You can see a close up of the front in the top picture of this post. You can launch it by pulling on the rubber band, aiming the car, and letting it take off. Or, she also showed me how you could wrap the free end around your foot, pull the car back, and let it fly!

You can make one too! It's super easy. She explained to me:

You just build a normal car--almost any design will work--and then you attach the rubber band underneath it. The launcher is ready!

I have a short video that shows it flying down the kitchen floor, but until I get that ready to publish, you will just have to settle with these pictures! Here is one more showing the bottom of the car attached to the rubber bands:

And, it could easily be used as a STEM project:

Science: Newtons's 3rd Law

Technology: Making videos of launches

Engineering: Building a car of LEGOs

Math: Mental math done to create the car. Also, the distance covered in each launch was calculated mentally and compared with other launches verbally.

We loved this inspired-by-Dr. Seuss science activity! It went wonderfully with Green Eggs and Ham, though you could use it with several other of his books too!

Amazon Affiliate Link:

Do you love Dr. Seuss books? We do! And we've been doing science activities that relate to the books to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday this year!

You can also find over 150 science and STEM projects here!

This rubber band sling shot LEGO car is also a great indoor activity on a bad-weather day! Today, the early elementary blogging team is bringing you a collection of indoor activities! Be sure to visit these lovely ladies for more indoor activity ideas:

Insect Addition to 100 Free Printable from Life Over C's
Melted Crayon Science {Phases of Matter} from School Time Snippets
Fine Motor Paper Clip Math from Sugar Aunts
How to Play Mum-Ball: A Game for Indoor Recess from Kelly’s Classroom
Spelling Sensory Sink from Still Playing School
Rubber Band Sling Shot LEGO Car from Preschool Powol Packets
Construction Photo Build Challenge from Parenting Chaos

I may share at any of these parties!

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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

In activities, planning, science by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets // Wednesday, February 24, 2016 // Leave a Comment

Inspired-by-Dr. Seuss Preschool "Fish" Science Experiment

Read a book. Do a science project. Dr. Seuss and a science experiment are the perfect preschool learning combination!

This month (and the first two days of next month) we're celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with science activities that can be tied to some of his classic books. Today's project is so simple that you probably have the supplies in your cupboard, and yet still so engaging that your children will want to repeat it...over and over and over...

To set up this preschool science station, you need to prepare:

1- a clear cup, vase, or bowl with oil
2- another bowl (or 2) with colored water. We used blue and green food coloring.
3- a pipette and straw

One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss starts out with fish doing different silly things as they splash in the water. It is delightful, fun, and easy to read. For this preschool inspired-by-Dr. Seuss science activity, we are pretending to make fish float the "water." To make your fish, put a squirt of colored water into the oil-filled cup.

A small squirt (or fish!) will float on top of the water while a large squirt will sink to the bottom.

This is wonderful fine motor exercise!

Now for the really fun part! Use a straw to blow into the "ocean!" All the fish will get stirred up and "swim!" Because oil and water do not mix, when you stop blowing bubbles the fish will settle back down. This time, most of them will settle on the bottom of the cup since oil is less dense than water.

I'm working on a little video for you showing each of the steps above--hopefully I'll finish soon! In the meantime, your kiddos will probably want to squirt in more fish and send them for a swim...again, and again, and again...

Amazon Affiliate Link:

Do you love inspired-by-Dr. Seuss science projects and activities? We do! We've been celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday this year by doing science activities with some of the classic Dr. Seuss books! Some are geared more toward older kids (like tomorrow's) and some are geared more toward younger kids (like today's), though you will probably find all of your children loving all of the science and STEM projects! You can see the growing collection here!

And if you love science and STEM activities and projects you will definitely want to check out my collection of over 150 different science experiments and STEM activities and challenges! This list just keeps growing!

I may share at any of these parties!

Never miss another post again! Sign up for our weekly updates newsletter and get links to all our posts once a week in your inbox! Sign up here!!

Monday, February 22, 2016

In activities, science, STEM by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets // Monday, February 22, 2016 // Leave a Comment

Inspired-by-Dr. Seuss Turtle Science STEM Challenge!

Dr. Seuss's birthday is coming up, and to celebrate we are doing science experiments, activities, and STEM projects inspired by our favorite Dr. Seuss books!

Today's STEM Challenge started out as a science (physics) activity inspired by Dr. Seuss's Yertle the Turtle, but quickly morphed into a huge STEM exploration as the kids had ideas and wanted to try more things!

Amazon Affiliate Link:

In the story, Yertle, the turtle king, builds his throne higher and higher by forcing the other turtles to climb on top of each other. Turtles don't balance so well and eventually a little sneeze shakes the whole tower! Our science activity was going to emphasize how fragile tall towers are and teach the kiddos about balancing with a hands on "turtle tower" project of their own!

We pretended that a set of paving stones were turtles (they do look a bit like turtle shells)! They children were challenged to stack them up just like the turtles in the story (which they all loved)!

It quickly turned into a STEM investigation as the kids used experiment after experiment as trial and error to get a tower that used all the stones we had gathered. They were not happy when the first tower tipped so early, but they did like the idea of trying again! They also decided that forming a platform for the tower would give them a sturdier tower!

Science: physics: balance and gravity

Technology: taking pictures of their towers, speculating how cranes would do the project

Engineering: building a tower

Math: counting, adding

I loved hearing my 5-year old call out as they built, "More turtles! More turtles!!" (just like Yertle--he even mimicked my "Yertle voice")!

Finally, they finished!

They even found a little red "Yertle" to put on the top!

Their Dr. Seuss-inspired Turtle Tower was incredible! I was so pleased that this particular STEM challenge became a project everyone loved. It encouraged team work, used their large gross muscles and motor skills, and was a wonderful outdoor activity!

And, finally, the tower tipped over!

Of course, when we finished, we re-read Yertle the Turtle. It's always been a favorite Dr. Seuss book!

Do you love Dr. Seuss books? Be sure to check back for more fun Dr. Seuss-inspired science experiments, activities, and STEM challenges! I'll be sharing them for the rest of the month!!

I may share at any of these parties!

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Saturday, February 20, 2016

In activities, planning by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets // Saturday, February 20, 2016 // Leave a Comment

Top 10 Rainbow Preschool Songs

I am so excited to share these top 10 rainbow preschool songs!

My favorite part about learning a new song is watching my 3-year old sing it on her own while dancing in her princess dress-of-the-day. It is completely adorable!

We use these songs for "singing time," when we learn new songs that the kids can actually sing. They love this! It's also great for their little developing brains! We also like to listen to child-friendly music while we paint, draw, and clean up. These songs are perfect for singing along to or listening to while you make your own rainbow art!

Anyway, without any more introduction, here is my list of Top 10 Rainbow Preschool Songs:

Top 10 Rainbow Preschool Songs:

Colors Song:

I Can Sing a Rainbow:

The Rainbow Colors Song:

Rainbow, Rainbow:

Colors of the Rainbow:

De Colores:

The last four songs are simple singing time songs we love here at Preschool Powol Packets! I'm working on making little videos of them all, but in the meantime, here are the words and tunes:

I Can Make a Rainbow
(to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets

I can make a rainbow bright, rainbow bright, rainbow bright,
I can make a rainbow bright, with some rain and sunny light!

I Blow Bubbles to Make Rainbows
(to the tune of She'll be Coming Round the Mountain)
by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets

This song goes with our Bubble Rainbow Science Experiment!

I blow bubbles to make rainbows, yes I do.
I blow bubbles to make rainbows, yes I do.
They will bend and bounce and pop
When I blow them all non-stop.
I blow bubbles to make rainbows, yes I do.

Rainbow Color Chase
(to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets

During this active song, the kids run and touch something as they sing each color!

I can find something red, I can find something red,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something red!

I can find something orange, I can find something orange,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something orange!

I can find something yellow, I can find something yellow,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something yellow!

I can find something green, I can find something green,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something green!

I can find something blue, I can find something blue,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something blue!

I can find something purple, I can find something purple,
Hi, ho, the colors, oh, I can find something purple!

Rainbow Counting
(to the tune of 10 Little Indians)
by Carla at Preschool Powol Packets

This is a finger play song--use your fingers to count as you sing!

1 little, 2 little, 3 little rainbows,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little rainbows,
7 little, 8 little, 9 little rainbows,
10 little rainbows in the sky!

10 little, 9 little, 8 little rainbows,
7 little, 6 little, 5 little rainbows,
4 little, 3 little, 2 little rainbows,
1 little rainbow in the sky!

Do your kiddos love rainbows? Then you will probably love my collection of Top 10 Rainbow Science Activities, Sparkly Button Rainbow, Edible Rainbow Play Dough, Bubble Rainbow Science, Rainbow Volcano, Magic Rainbow Foam, Free Rainbow Breakfast Printable, Fizzing Rainbow, and Rainbow Cake!

Be sure to check out these other Top 10 Rainbow Collections from my blogging friends: