Teaching Science can be a daunting task for those of us who are not inclined toward that academic area.  When I first began teaching, we team-taught and I was assigned the area of science. I ended up failing miserably at each and every experiment I undertook to demonstrate to my middle school students. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but I decided that when I taught my own children they would not find out that it was one of my least favorite subjects. I think I succeeded pretty well in keeping that opinion to myself for the most part. 🙂 How did I do that? I found simple science experiments that would accompany the topic we were studying. Sometimes I used a textbook, other times I concentrated on a topic that I thought we could do on our own through hands-on experiences and videos or field trips.  Here are a few ideas that I hope will inspire you.

Experiential is the one word that I say works best for students. You can talk about why the sky is blue or what causes beautiful hues in the evening, but if you can show that to your daughter through a hands-on experience, how much more that will make sense! Here is the information about seeing the color blue in the sky:  Why the Sky is Blue  and here is a video. Doing the experiment yourself afterward would be really fun for your son to enjoy.

You may be saying, “That’s great, Lisa, but I am short on time and I am not sure how to find experiments.”

Great point, but with a little planning and searching on the internet, you can have some amazing experiences, experiments, and explanations for your daughter. Am I saying you need to do an experiment for each topic? While that would be nice, it is not always practical or possible. Look through your science book or topics you are going to be studying and find some simple science experiments or activities to do.

Needing some science lessons for your daughter to do with you? Teacher.org not only has lesson plans for grades K-12, you can download and print them too!

If you do not have the time or inclination, then find a science video demonstrating the topic. Steve Spangler is a scientist who does a fabulous job of creating excitement for science and also doing some really crazy things. Here is his website:  Spangler Science

If you have a middle school or junior high student, here are some experiments to try as well as outcomes of the experiments so you know what to expect. 🙂 Hot Chalk is a great resource and if you need a visual index of experiments,Education.com has over 1000 from which to choose.