When you want fun science for preschoolers to do at home, our list of kindergarten science experiments will amaze your child. Science offers children an understanding of the world around them. When they participate in science activities, it nurtures their curiosity.

Introducing children to science at a young age assists in their brain development. Even toddlers can do science experiments. By using materials that children like to play with, it helps them to grow big ideas and understand fundamental concepts.

Our preschool science activities do more than offer up facts. STEM for preschoolers encourages children to develop skills and learn from the evidence. It also values the role of wonder and error to make sense and to find out things about the world.

While some concepts may be too complex for children to grasp just yet, science for preschoolers encourages them to grow their knowledge from one experiment to the next. It helps them to recognise patterns and keeps your child’s curiosity alive.

In this article, we explain 5 Kindergarten science experiments that you can easily do at home with your child to:

  • Explore developmentally appropriate concepts through multiple perspectives.
  • Engage directly with their environment.
  • Grow fundamental science concepts.
  • Discover a love for science and learning.

Young boy sits at a desk looking at paper activity introducing science for preschoolers.

5 Easy-to-do Kindergarten science experiments

1. Push and pull preschool science activity with bubbles

This preschool science activity involves bubbles. Challenge your child to keep the bubbles floating in the air as long as possible, so they can observe the effect of force as it pushes and pulls on an object.

Preschool children intuitively begin to blow air at the bubbles or wave their hands to keep them floating. Sometimes it won’t work, but other times, when the hands move above the bubble, it will hover in the air.

There are different ways to observe the effects of force with other materials you have at home. You can use a hair dryer to keep a ping-pong ball afloat or see the impact of force when holding a piece of paper in both hands and blowing hard between them.

Questions to ask include:

  1. What do you notice when the bubble is close to your hand?
  2. Does waving always pull the bubble towards your hands?
  3. Does waving fast or slow matter?
  4. What else could we use to keep the bubbles floating?

Boy with ball plays with floating bubble, a push and pull preschool science activity.

2. Preschool science experiments with water: Sinking and floating

Water is another natural material that you can use when doing preschool science experiments at home. Explore the ideas of sinking and floating with fruit. Fill a couple of containers with water. They need to be deep enough to allow the whole fruit to sink or float.

You can try this experiment with grapes, apples and oranges, peeled, unpeeled and cut. Different fruits have different densities, and peeled fruit also changes the way fruit acts in the water.

With your preschooler, experiment and observe the way the fruit acts in both plain, salted and sweet water. Try to float a grape under the water in the middle of the container by adding salt to freshwater.

Questions to ask include:

  1. What happens when we use unpeeled, peeled or cut fruit?
  2. When we add salt to the water, what does it do to the fruit?
  3. What happens when we separate the orange peel from the white stuff (pith)?
  4. Does adding sugar to water change the way fruit floats or sinks?

Children sit around preschool Educator holding an orange for a preschool science experiment.

3. STEM for preschoolers: exploring shadows at home

Shadows are another easy-to-do and fun preschool STEM project. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths and forms part of our learning program. To make shadows, you need light, an object and a place for the shadow to fall, like a wall or the ground.

Try this science experiment for preschoolers outdoors during the daytime. Use the sun as the light source and your child as the object. Ask them to observe how their shadow falls on the ground at different times of the day. Draw chalk around their shadow. Then, see what happens when they hide behind a tree out of the sun.

When children experiment with shadows, they observe how the distance between the light, object and the place changes the result. It can help them to understand fundamental concepts of how the world works. Grab a torch to continue this experiment as an evening activity.

Questions to ask include:

  1. What makes the shadow?
  2. What happens to your shadow in the sun at different times of the day?
  3. What happens when you move the torch closer or further away from the object?
  4. What happens when you move the object closer or further away from the light?

Educator and children observe solar system model and light in STEM for preschoolers.

4. The string telephone as a Kindergarten science experiment

Sound waves are the heart of the science in this preschoolers experiment. You can use paper cups and a decent length of string. Make string telephones with the cups by creating a small hole in the bottom of each cup and threading the string through the holes to connect each cup.

Before you begin, ask your child to touch their throat while they are talking. What do they feel? This first step in this fun learning activity introduces your child to the feel of sound waves (the vibrations) travelling through the air or an object.

Then using the string telephones sit as far apart as possible from your child. Take turns speaking through the cups and listening to each other. Sound travelling through string astonishes children. Place a book on the string and see if it makes any difference.

You can also use different types of string (nylon or twine) to see if it changes the result.

Questions to ask include:

  1. What do you feel when you touched your throat?
  2. What do you hear when you put the paper cup your ear?
  3. What happens when you place a book on the string?
  4. Does using different types of string change the sound?

Musical shakers in the outdoor environment are ideal materials for Kindergarten science experiments about sound.

5. The gassy balloon science experiment for preschoolers

Our final science experiment for preschoolers takes place over several days. Once again, it uses natural elements and loose parts that children enjoy interacting with in everyday activities. Amaze your child by expanding a balloon with rotting fruit.

This STEM project involves placing a mashed up banana in a bottle (plastic or glass) with a small rim. Place a balloon over the bottle’s lip and leave the banana to rot. Come back every few days to observe what happens.

As the banana rots, bacteria breaks it down and creates a gas. We can’t see the bacteria because they’re too small, but we can observe the gas (although not a lot of it) as it makes the balloon expand.

Once your child has observed the banana enough, try other types of mashed fruit and record the length of time each one takes to rot.

Questions to ask include:

  1. What happens to the banana in the bottle?
  2. What is causing the balloon to expand?
  3. How long does it take to inflate?
  4. What fruit decays the fastest?

Children fill bottles with water for a science experiment for preschoolers

Give your child a sense of wonder with Petit Early Learning Journey

At Petit ELJ, we believe the environment is a place of learning filled with promise and opportunities, including science for preschoolers. We deliberately plan our environments to evoke your child’s ideas and imagination with the use of natural materials and loose parts.

Our preschool studios are designed to enable children to lead their learning with more structured activities then younger children while still providing a space for indoor and outdoor play-based learning. Discover the possibilities of our learning spaces.

Book a tour now.