As a parent, whether or not you are good in science or if it just has been a really long time since you studied the topic, finding activities to help teach younger children might be difficult. Despite science not being your best subject, the level of difficulty for a girl or boy in the younger elementary school levels is reasonably low and easy for anyone to understand. Learning and doing cool science experiments together can also make it fun for both you and your child.
Some parents have difficulty helping their children with homework if they are not good in the subject, but it is still important to be there in the event that they ask for help. Make homework fun by going over what they learned in class and finding information in their schoolbooks so that you can learn along with them.
Being a parent, you can also help boys and girls realize that learning can be fun and exciting. Doing fun summer projects that are educational as well as recreational are perfect for those summer months when the kids are not in a classroom. Providing science experiments can also show kids that the subject is not hard, but rather interesting and useful in everyday life.
Spend time together with fun experiments like making “Gooey Ooze” for them to play with. Make the ooze by putting cornstarch in a bowl and slowly mixing in water until it becomes thick but manageable like putty. You can also add a few drops of food coloring to make it a bit more playful, and you can also show them how the addition of water can change different items. This is not only a chance for your kids to make a mess, which they love doing, but also to clean it up afterwards together with you. This way you can instill some other household values into the fun.
Take the children to a science center so that you can learn information with them. There are many exhibits and presentations that can help you show your children how things work and why. These exhibits can also help you understand ideas that may have been long forgotten. Children add creativity to almost everything, so going with them on field trips or partaking in science experiments can be even more entertaining.
Because children watch how you behave and react, it is important to encourage interest and curiosity in science. If you don’t seem interested in a subject, why should they? Encouraging them to think that all subjects in school are fun and interesting allows them to strive harder to understand. Try to organize experiments to the interests of the child, since girls might be more hesitant to participate in science activities. Using food or plants in experiments might suit girls better than examining bugs, unless you’re like me, who loved to play with bugs when I was a child. My parents thought it was gross but allowed me to explore my interests anyway.
Plan trips to the park, planetarium, zoo and other educational centers so that both you and your child can have fun while learning. Check out books on science or fun science experiments for children from the local library and set aside time to do these activities with the kids. No matter how young or how old, the idea is still the same: All subjects can be fun and interesting as long as parents encourage that attitude!
