[TeacherTiff]

Does anyone have any great ideas for a science center topic for kindergarten or first grade students?

[Kerri M]

I'm not sure if these are the sort of ideas you are looking for but in my science center I have had:

- a 5 senses. Included smell canisters where students guessed the smell and matched it with a picture card, sound easter eggs where they had to match the two that had the same sound and guess what was inside, a feely box where they put their hand in and have to use only their sense of touch to figure out what it is etc.

- Magnets. All different kinds of magnets and items to test (nail, wood, rock, plastic, paperclip etc.). A maze where the playing piece has a magnet, you hold another strong magnet underneath the board and have to move your piece through the maze using the magnet.

- Magnifying glasses. A variety of items of different colors and textures to look at with the magnifying glasses, such as shells.

- A balance and items to work with. We have been using plastic animals and the students have to use the balance to find things that weigh the same, find things which are heavier than a given object, and find things which are lighter than a given object.

- Sand for sifting. As part of my science center we have our sand table which has regular sand with different size beans mixed in. We have a variety of sifters with different sized holes for students to sift with.

[TeacherTiff]

Thank you so much! Those are great ideas and they definitely help me very much!

[JSue]

I also do the magnets and balances. A few other things I put in my science center are:

Sink/float: I have a tub of water and the students try different objects to see if they sink or float.

In the spring the students plant grass. They then observe the grass and record what they see.

Also in the spring we research birds and make bird nests (the student need help with this one).

My neighbor teacher has stamps of animal prints that she has in her science center.

[barngirl]

check out kellyskindergarten.com and look under science you can actually google science and kellyskindergarten. It has some great things I have used in 1st grade

[Keeks44]

kellyskindergarten.com is a GREAT website! Wow-wow-wow! Thanks so much for sharing it. I know I'll be using it a lot next year. Thanks again!!