As competent, confident explorers, tamariki can discover science through many experiences and opportunities. This can look like:
- preparing and cooking kai | food
- caring for plants and animals
- playing with water and ice
- exploring the natural world
- racing toy cars down a ramp.
The possibilities for science learning are endless!
Tips for doing science at home#
Provide a stimulating and supportive environment where tamariki can take risks, make mistakes, and learn from their experiences.
Supply a variety of materials and resources that encourage observation, exploration, and investigation. Set up a low display table so tamariki can touch, feel, and smell the items.
Offer a range of opportunities to observe and test chemical reactions, for example melting ice or baking soda and vinegar.
Tip
Ideas for science
- Natural resources of the area such as rākau, harakeke, toetoe, pipi, tuangi, pāua shells, non-poisonous plants, flowers, and leaves.
- rocks, stones, shells, bones, fur, and feathers.
- balance scales and tape measures.
- books and other information about nature, animals, electricity, and other science topics.
- magnifying glasses, microscopes, and thermometers.
- magnets and magnetic wands.
Learning with science#
Science can help your child | tamaiti to:
- learn to observe, question, and investigate
- explore cause-and-effect
- investigate living things and learn about the natural world
- care for the wellbeing of others, including plants
- experiment and problem-solve with concepts like gravity, velocity, and water displacement
- design, tinker, and engineer.
Support your tamaiti#
You can support your tamaiti by:
- encouraging hands-on exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving
- exploring the natural resources of the local area
- modelling open-ended questions, for example, "what do you think might happen? Why do you think that happened? What do you see happening?"
- supporting them to use all their senses to explore the world around them
- learning about healthy kai choices, through growing kai in the garden, gathering kai from moana and orchards, how food is gathered, processed, and made available for eating
- inviting them to describe and draw what they see
- encouraging them to ask questions and come up with their own explanations
- introducing science language, for example new words like gravity, magnetism, energy, and life cycle
- investigating the life cycles of natural resources, for example to discuss when is it the best time to go diving for pāua, or collecting the kōrari from the harakeke | flax bushes.
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