To expand on hescollin I found these on someone's website, can't remember who now so I can't give credit I did most of them last year and my students loved them. I introduced one every few days until we'd tried them all.
DISCOVERY BOTTLE CENTER
Discovery bottles encourage the development of observation skills, predictability, scientific concepts, and thinking skills. Seal the lids on with glue gun or electrical tape.
1. Wave Bottle Fill half of the bottle with cooking oil, add water to fill the bottle ¾ of the way. Add blue food coloring, and seal the lid with glue As you turn the bottle on its side, the waves roll gently.
2. Desert Bottle Add small plastic desert animals such as lizards, snakes, etc. to an empty bottle. Fill 2/3 of bottle with sand. As students turn and shake the bottle, they can see animals that live on the desert. This is a great activity for visual discrimination
3. Magnetic Bottle #1 Fill a bottle with small items that can be picked up with a magnet, and objects that cannot be picked up by magnet. Seal the bottle Attach a magnet to the top of the bottle by tying one end of cord around the neck of the bottle and the end to a magnet. Students discovery which items are attracted to the magnetic and which are not.
4. Swirling Colors: Spray foam shaving cream into a bottle. Add warm water to fill the bottle. Shake, and watch the foam dissolve. Add more water if needed, till all the foam is dissolved. Add food coloring (one color per bottle). When finished, attach the lids and prepare to be mesmerized as the colors and the white swirl together.
5. Treasurer Hunt Jar: 1 clean peanut butter jar, with lid. Finch bird seed. Fill the jar half full bird seed. Add whatever small items you can find, jungle bell, bead, paper clip, button, penny, marble, (put 20 items in the jar) tape the following poem to the bottle. TREASURE HUNT BOTTLE. Some pirates got it all mixed up, and did things wrong way round. They put the treasure in a bottle, and buried the map in the ground! Their treasure was some silly stuff, like a button, penny, bead and more. That dear old Polly Parrot added all her extra seeds! So find the twenty items here, no two are quite the same. Don’t open up the bottle though, as that would break the game.
6. Magnetic Bottle #2. Add magnetic objects to a bottle, and fill the bottle with salt. Attach a magnetic wand to the outside of the bottle. Students run the magnetic along the side of the bottle, and are surprised to find what is hiding under the salt.
7. Dice Bottle Drop dice into the bottle. Do not fill the bottle with water. Students shake the bottle, and choose from any of these activities name the number on the dice, count out that many objects, name the number that comes before or after, write the number, predict what number will be next. Write multiplication facts and solve the problem.
8. Density Bottle #1 Fill an empty bottle with hair gel (lots of colors are available) Add a marble. Students discover the properties of density as they turn the bottle.
9. Density Bottle #2 Fill an empty bottle with shampoo. Add a marble.
10. Dirt Bottle Add dirt to a bottle, and fill half of the bottle with water. See what happens when you shake the bottle! 11. Glitter Bottle. Be sure and try this one. Fill a bottle half full with colored glitter, add water to the top of the bottle. Shake and see what happens, (very neat after the water has settled)
12. Relaxation Bottle. Add a small package of colored or holiday confetti to the bottom of the bottle. Fill the bottle with Karo Syrup. It is a very relaxing experience to watch the glitter float and glitter as you gently turn the bottle.
13. Potpourri Bottle. Cut a small hole into the side of the bottle; attach netting with clear plastic tape, over the hole. Fill the bottle with potpourri in flavors such as orange, vanilla, pine, gingerbread, roses, and etc. Students describe the scent, or what the scent reminds them of.
14. Bubble Bottle: Add 1 cup of water, a squirt of dish detergent, and 2 drops of food coloring to the bottle. Shake to make bubbles.
15. Glow in the Dark Bottle Add small glow in the dark items such as stars to a bottle. Do not add any water. Put the bottle under a box and look through a small hole.
16. Float or Sink Bottle Place a variety of objects in a bottle, some that will float, and some that will not. Fill the bottle with water. As students shake the bottle, they can observe what items float, and what items sink.
17. Estimation Bottle Fill the bottle with a variety of small objects such as beans, nuts, rocks, and etc. Students record their guestimations in their science folder.. At the end of the week, open the bottle and count! Discuss the predications. Send the bottle home with the winner, and have them empty the bottle, and fill with objects for next week’s bottle.
18. Serration Bottles: Take four or five bottles and add different amounts of rice, (You can dye the rice beforehand using 1 part rubbing alcohol to 1 part food coloring) in each one, from empty to full. Mix the bottles up, then let the children seriate them from empty to full.
19. Rain Bottle: Fill a dry empty bottle with a box of toothpicks. Add rice (uncooked) to the bottle leaving an empty space of about 1 ½ inches at the top. Seal the lid. As you gently turn the bottle, the rice falls through the toothpicks, sounding like rain.
20. Classification Bottles: In empty bottles add objects that belong together in a group. For example: toy animals in one, miniature plastic food in another Students have to classify the bottles by their characteristics.
*I got a water table this year and plan to use it in my science area for various activities like sink/float.
*Don't forget to include magnets. There are some magnet kits out there that aren't too much. The kids love exploring with these.
* Various things from nature... I put a pine cone in my science center a couple of years ago and was shocked when a child asked me what it was! I also have a bird nest (in a plastic baggie) and a few beautiful butterflies that I found on the ground perfectly intact (I keep these in those bug containers that you get at the Dollar Tree.) Also, an aquarium.
* You can also purchase those caplet sponge animals from the Dollar Tree. The students can draw a beginning, during, and after picture of how it changes (with captions if you prefer to make it a writing activity) after it is put in water.
* When I do my unit on the five senses I plan on having various things in my science center they can explore: textures, odors, etc.
I was concerned that I wasn't going to have enough things to keep my science center going all the time so for the sake of that and classroom space I decided to make it a "theme" center instead. That way I can include the science materials when I have them and supplement with other things that go along with whatever theme I'm doing. I plan on making a sign over the center that says, "Let's Learn About ______" and add whatever we are studying.
Last edited by URMySunshine; 07-25-2007 at 06:30 PM..
I have several magnet items, magnetic rocks, wands, remember the old put a beard on a guy with magnetic black things (I forget what they are called) I also bought some plastic bugs, as mentioned before discovery bottles, animal pictures that can use to compare/contrast/sort etc. I bought some things through Oriental Trading for my science center. I have some books too to look at.
In graduate school we watched a video from Bev Boss who is known for her knowledge and research in the field of early childhood education. In the video she showed how children enjoyed working and mixing colors in this clear dome shaped mold. They use syringes to squirt water color/food coloring into the mold. It was amazing and the kids loved what they were doing. I recently email Bev Boss and here is the recipe: LET ME KNOW WHO TRIES THIS AND THE OUTCOME. I am planning doing this for my unit on colors.
Here is the recipe that you requested for the Gelatin.
Original Recipe:
1 package of Knox gelatin
3/4 cup water
Sprinkle gelatin on water to soften. Mix ingredients and heat until
dissolved. Pour into small cup.
Chill until firm.
Bev's recipe:
1 box Knox gelatin (32 packages)
20 cups of water
Follow directions above and pour into large containers. Color can be
added to mixture while still liquid. However, it is much better to allow
the kids to add the color once the gelatin is firm. (Try adding color
with eye droppers or pipets and food color). Liquid water color works
well, too. Push the pipets down into the gelatin to release the color.
Once the hardened gelatin has been broken down into small pieces, it can
be reheated and remolded again in the containers.
07-25-2007, 05:15 PM
I found these on someone's website, can't remember who now so I can't give credit
I did most of them last year and my students loved them. I introduced one every few days until we'd tried them all.
Simple View
