Best Science Educational Activities for 3-5 Year Olds at Home: Hands-on Ideas For Kids + Guaranteed Fun
A few months ago a friend asked me for some environmental science project ideas for her daughter for her science fair. Weeks later, another friend asked me for environmental science project ideas for her homeschool pod. I knew it was time to create a blog post with some helpful hands-on environmental project ideas that are not only fun, but can also become passion projects! These environmental project ideas will help your students identify and understand a wide variety of environmental topics from environmental challenges to water conservation to renewable energy and green spaces.
Here are the best science educational activities for 3-5 year olds at home!
Recycle Sort Game
Even as adults, understanding which items go into which bin can be tricky! Depending on where you live, what is acceptable in your bin can vary. This game is a great way to teach kids the importance of placing the right item in the right bin! Before you start the game, have your students research what should go into the recycling bin versus the compost pile in your area. This will help them have a baseline for the recycle sort game! The game can then reinforce what they’ve learned about recycling in their local specific area.
If you don’t want to purchase the game you can always make your own! I love this game because it is already done for you and saves you time when you’re trying to reinforce a lesson.
Milk Cartons with Soil and Plants
Save all those milk cartons and make these educational activities for your 3-5 year olds at home. Instead of just tossing the milk carton into the trash (or recycling bin!), give it a new life as a plant container!
Directions:
- Turn the carton on the side and cut one side from the carton.
- Place tape around the edges of the carton to help the carton continue to maintain its shape.
- Poke holes in the bottom of the egg carton to allow water to drain from the carton
- Fill the carton with potting soil
- Place seeds or dig a shallow hole to place a plant into the potting soil
If you have milk jugs instead of cartons, use those jugs as a vase for flowers! Have your students decorate the carton and go on a nature walk to pick flowers to fill the jug!
Soil Layers Dirt Cup
This one is fun and messy!
Regardless of age, my students ALWAYS love an edible activity. If I can find a way to incorporate food, snacks, or treats into a lesson it is always good news! I love this dirt cup to talk about soil and worms. It is a great introduction to talking about composting with kids. We do this activity for Earth Day, but this is a great connection to soil erosion, bugs, and even the importance of dirt!
Read the full blog here for variations of this activity!
Related Posts: 5 Recipes For An Easy Edible Dirt Cup Activity To Teach Kids About The Environment
Glitter Jars
Glitter jars are educational activities for 3-5 year olds because they’re easy to do and kids can help make them! I got this idea from a Sesame Street episode.
For this activity
- You’ll need a jar with a lid or empty plastic bottle with a lid, water, clear glue, and glitter
- Fill the jar up about 3/4 of the way
- Add glitter the jar and stir
- Add about 1/2 cup of clear glue
- Add some gorilla glue or hot glue to the lid and SHAKE
Find a video tutorial from Elmo himself here:
Dancing Rice
How can we get rice to dance? It’s science! If you’re looking for Educational Activities for 3-5 Year Olds at Home with things you already have, this is a great one! This activity helps students get engaged and interested in science and can help with their observation skills. Ask them questions like “what do you think will happen when?” “What will happen if…?”.
For this activity
- You’ll need water, baking soda, vinegar, and rice.
- Add the water and one spoonful of baking soda together and stir
- Add about one spoonful of rice to your cup
- Add about one spoonful of vinegar
- Extension ideas: what else can you make dance? Popcorn kernels? Raisins? Have fun experimenting.
Create An Oil Spill In the Ocean
We’re bringing environmental issues to life with this one! These educational activities for 3-5 Year olds at home will help your students understand the impact of oil spills on our water quality.
Let’s clean up the oil!
For this activity
- Get a pan and fill it with water (your ocean)
- Optional: add food coloring to your ocean for maximum effect
- Add some items to your ocean. I love using these sea creatures and figurines.
- You can also add water beads
- Mix coca powder and oil
- Pour the mixture into the ocean to make a spill
- Talk about what happened and why
- Add dish soap to help with the cleanup. What happens to the oil
- Use items like cotton balls, cotton swabs, spoons, etc. to clean up the oil spill and rescue the animals.
Toilet Paper Binoculars + Nature Walk
Let’s make some homemade binoculars with toilet paper rolls. Decorate the toilet paper rolls however you’d like! Glue the binoculars together, poke a hole in the toilet paper rolls, and add a string to hang around the neck!
Pair this craft with this nature walk packet to help your students explore the natural world!
Lava Lamps
For this activity
- You’ll need vegetable oil, alka selzer tablets, food coloring, a jar
- Fill most of the jar with oil
- Add in food coloring
- Drop your alka selzer tablet
- Watch your DIY lava lamp!
- For extra fun, add an LED light to the bottom of your lava lamp
- This lava lamp lasts for about 2 minutes.
Jellyfish In A Bottle
Showcase marine life with your littles with this project. You can use it to discuss the difference between fresh water and salt water as well as to do research on jellyfish on the environment!
For this activity
- You’ll need scissors, food coloring, string or floss, a plastic bag, sharpie markers, a cup a plastic bottle, water, and sea creatures.
- Cut the plastic bag into a square.
- Place the plastic bag on top of the cup and pour in a very small amount of water. This needed to fit through the top of the plastic bottle, so keep it small!
- Next, use the dental floss to tie around the water and make the head of the jellyfish. You can leave the extra dental floss string because it makes adds to the tentacles look
- Use the scissors to cut slits in the plastic bags to make the tentacles
- Add the food coloring to the water
- Drop the jellyfish in the water and watch it flow!
Pair this activity with a few of these fun ideas:
- Here is a Jellyfish 101 video by National Geographic
- Learn about Jellyfish stings with this video
- Teach about invertebrates to kids with this video
Aquarium In A Jar
This is one of the educational Activities for 3-5 Year Olds that would pair perfectly with a trip to the aquarium. Let’s make an aquarium in a jar!
For this activity
- You’ll need: a mason jar, aquatic animals, colorful rocks, 2 sided tape, gel stickers, aquatic plastic plants, glycerine, and you can even add glitter or food coloring if you’d like! You can even add a tea light at the bottom to make it even prettier.
- Use the tape to stick the plants to the bottom of the jar
- Pour in the colored rocks
- Add the gel stickers inside the jar
- Add water
- Add a few drops of glycerine
- Add glitter or food coloring
- Top up the jar and shake
DIY Snowglobe
These educational activities for 3-5 Year Olds are fun and easy. I even love doing this as a fun Christmas craft or a birthday party make-and-take activity.
For this activity
- You’ll need: a snow globe ( I prefer plastic with my littles), you kids favorite figures, glycerine, glitter, water, hot glue or mod podge
- Glue the figure to the bottom of the snow globe
- Add glycerine (about 1 tablespoon),
- Add glitter (or food coloring)
- Add water
- Place the bottom of the snow globe back on the top of the globe
- Shake and enjoy!
Nespresso Pods + Planters
If you use Nespresso pods, there are a few ways to make them more sustainable. One of my favorite ways is to use them to make planters!
Empty out the coffee grounds and then add in dirt and seeds. Add a little water and watch them grow! Plants are great to help improve air quality.
Solar-powered oven
Your student will want to angle the solar oven to capture the most sunlight! They can use this solar oven to cook a small snack and understand the power of green energy.
For this activity:
- You’ll need a cardboard pizza box, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, black construction paper, thermometer, and food to cook
- Cut open the box to make a square. Leave the top of the square attached like a flap
- Glue the aluminum foil to the top of the flap
- Add aluminum foil to the inside of the box
- Place black construction paper on top of the aluminum foil
- Glue the plastic wrap over the open part of the box to create a tight window
- Glue the plastic wrap to the underside too!
- Add your food like milk chocolate or marshmallows – yes, SMORES! To the box.
- Place it in the sun
For an extension, have your students make multiple solar ovens trying different materials. Have your student place the ovens in different areas to see what cooks the fastest. Your student can also try to cook different items in the oven and record how long each of them takes.
Grow Your Own Butterflies
Use this kit to grow caterpillars into butterflies! This kit has everything you need. Your students will be amazing at the transformation and be able to visually see the butterfly cycle.
I hope you enjoyed this post about the best educational activities for 3-5 year olds at home!
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