Colorful Celery
celery stalk, jar or glass, water, food coloring

Cut a few slits in the bottom of the celery stalk.   Fill the jar or glass about 1/2 full of water and add food coloring (darker colors work best - red, blue).  Place the celery stalk in the colored water and watch for changes.  Record the changes daily.   Try using a celery stalk with leaves or white carnations!!

Will it Sink or Float?
dish pan, baby tub, or wadding pool
several objects (light and heavy)

Fill container with enough water to test objects.  Ask the kids to guess what items will float/sink.  Let them hold the items in their hands while they guess!  Then ask them to place the item in the water.  Did it sink or float??

Water Microscope
4L plastic ice cream buckets (one per child is best!)
clear plastic wrap
elastic band
1/4 cup water

Items to examine:  stones, shells, flowers, inanimate objects (keys, cars, lego, plastic bugs), blades of grass, a hand - have the children each gather a few items to examine! 

Cut a hole in the side of each bucket large enough to place the objects.  Cover the top of the buckets with clear plastic wrap and secure tightly with an elastic band.  Add enough water to cover the plastic wrap without leaking over the edge.  Place objects, one at a time, inside the bucket.  Have the children look through the water microscope to examine the object.

Melting Colors
Make red, yellow and blue ice cubes using food coloring and water. Place one red and yellow; one red and blue; and one yellow and blue, and one of each color in separate ziploc bags. Place them in the science area and as the colored ice cubes melt they will create new colors.  Put colorful tags on each bag for the kids to identify what colors were originally placed in the bags - discuss what colors were made!

Shadow Play
Stand outside on a sunny day and let the children make a shadow!  Ask questions such as:  "Can we make our shadow bigger? Can we make them smaller?  Can we make our shadow run? Can we make our shadow hop? Let's see if we can catch our shadow!"

Shadow Prints
You will need: 

one piece of dark blue construction paper for each child

a collection of objects from around the daycare or home that have at least one flat side.  For example: keys, blocks, scissors, combs, jar lids (at least 5 items per child)

Give a piece of construction paper to each child.  Let each child chose five objects, and have him arrange them on the paper with the flat side down.  Leave these in the direct sun for several hours, until the sun has bleached the exposed areas of the paper.  Then let the children take their objects off the paper, noting the patterns produced by the sun. 

Fun in the Sun
You will need: 

one piece of dark blue construction paper for each child

a collection of objects from around the daycare or home that have at least one flat side.  For example: keys, blocks, scissors, combs, jar lids (at least 5 items per child)

Give a piece of construction paper to each child.  Let each child chose five objects, and have him arrange them on the paper with the flat side down.  Leave these in the direct sun for several hours, until the sun has bleached the exposed areas of the paper.  Then let the children take their objects off the paper, noting the patterns produced by the sun.