This fall the pilot for the Preschool Curiosity Club program focused on our youngest scientists yet, and it was a sweeping success. The four-week program called Colours and Discovery, was tailored for children 2–3 years of age, in which, our early-learners focused on colour, painting, playdough and pumpkins.
Each session began with a circle-time song, flannel board story or rhymes. It then continued with an introduction to science with a main activity and some station exploration time. Each 45 minute session gave the parents and children time to explore together. Children were able to rotate through stations, exploring hands-on activities.
By integrating play with intention, our young scientists gained experiences with free-experiementation and observation of objects and elements. They were offered new questions and ideas to explore, and our hopes are that they'll take those observations a step further into deeper discovery.
The children especially enjoyed the last session about pumpkins. On one table the children tried to predict if a pumpkin would sink or float. This is a great way to introduce the idea of density. Then, they carved their very own small pumpkins to look for seeds and tried various lengths of string to see which would fit around their pumpkin. It was a perfect way to introduce the concept of circumference, even at a young age. The final activity was to hollow out the pumpkin and plant treated pumpkin seeds that would germinate quickly and produce some pretty exciting results at home!
