Simple Science

There are so many inventive hands-on ideas out there to use when creating a solar system unit. It was almost as much planning this homeschool unit study as it was to teach it!

I used a variety of teaching materials for this unit including the CKE Earth and Space curriculum and the online course Experiencing Astronomy.We also borrowed several books from the library and also used a few that we own. Here are some that we used for this unit:

The New Astronomy Guide: Stargazing in a Digital Age

The Night Sky Pocket Guide

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System

Space and the Solar System: God’s Amazing Creation

National Geographic Planets

Moonwalk: The First Walk on the Moon

Phases of the Moon

I try to incorporate sensory elements into all of our unit studies. For our solar system unit, I created a glow-in-the-dark solar system sensory bin and a weighted Space sensory bottle.

Using a free printable that I found on 123Homeschool4Me, we brought a case of Oreo cookies to our homeschool coop and made the phases of the moon out of Oreos. The kids enjoyed this activity so much that they also did it at home a few days later. They said it was so that they could study the moon phases but I suspect it may have had more to do with the Oreos than the learning!

The kids completed phases of the moon flip books. We found the printables for those on Teachers Pay Teachers (free). I especially liked that they came in two types, one for older kids and one for younger kids. This worked really well for me with the various ages of my kids.

I used an mnemonic that I learned when I was a girl to help them memorize the order of the planets from the Sun. I know that there is controversy about whether or not Pluto is really a planet, but I had done some research and it seems that it is still considered a planet (sometimes called a dwarf planet) by those at NASA, so I told this to the kids but I included it in my mnemonic (you can click on that link or the photo below if you would like to print it off for yourself).

My Very Eyes May Just See U Now Pluto

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

My kids were the most interested by what they learned in Experiencing Astronomy. It’s an online course that Einstein has been taking this year and learning so much but during the course of our solar system unit, I had all of the kids listen to the Experiencing Astronomy videos. They were intrigued and it led to many interesting discussions and learning.

At the beginning of our unit study on the Solar System, I took the kids to the Space and Science Center in the city closest to us and when we finished the unit, my mom took them there again. There is a large area there devoted to the solar system with many hands-on learning opportunities. It was a great way to reinforce their learning.

We decided to segment our solar system unit study and do a specific study on Earth. In the course of that study, these are some of the science experiments that we did:

Layers of the Earth

How Fold Mountains are Made

Making Groundwater

Earthquake Experiment

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Learning About the Earth Science Experiments

By Sharla Kostelyk

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I have to say that I have found it much more interesting to teach science as a homeschooler than I did to learn science as a student. I want my kids to love learning and so in my quest to make science engaging, I look for hands-on activities that will help my kids to retain what they learn. When we were learning about the Earth, we found some awesome science experiments!

Doing these hands-on activities made learning about the Earth interesting and helped the kids to understand the concepts much better than if all of our unit had been reading out of a textbook. Their favourite ones seemed to be the ones about natural disasters such as earthquakes, tornados and hurricanes. Personally, I found the groundwater one to be the most interesting as it was something I didn’t know before.

These science experiments make learning about the Earth interesting and fun. Layers of the Earth from here on The Chaos and The Clutter (pictured)

How to Make a Volcano with Kids from Happy Brown House (pictured)

Making Groundwater from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Why is the Sky Blue? from Rookie Parenting (pictured)

How Fold Mountains are Made from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Graham Cracker Plate Tectonics from Playdough to Plato (pictured)

Landform Activities from Gift of Curiosity

Earthquake Experiment from here on The Chaos and The Clutter

Tornado made with Soda Bottles

Make a Hurricane from Inspiration Laboratories (pictured)

Hurricane in a Jar from One Time Through (pictured)

Water Cycle in a Bag from Playdough to Plato (pictured)

Make a Rock from Fantastic Fun and Learning (pictured)

These science experiments make learning about the Earth interesting and fun. If you are looking for more fun science ideas, be sure to check out my Simple Science board on Pinterest where you will find tons of hands-on experiments and learning activities.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Simple Science on Pinterest.

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How Do Folded Mountains Form: Science For Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

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Folded mountains are the most common type of mountain, representing the world’s largest mountain ranges. Some of the more famous ranges include the Rockies, Andes, Himalayas, and the Alps. This simple science experiment helps demonstrate how they are formed.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed. Fold mountains occur near convergent or compressional plate boundaries. Plate movement creates fold mountains as the plates move towards each other. This movement causes layers of sedimentary rock on the ocean floor to become wrinkled and folded. These mountains are found between two continental plates.

I love that this science experiment didn’t cost any money and was a great visual for explaining how fold mountains are formed.

Materials needed:

towels
two boxes

Lay down a stack of towels, each one folded in half. The folds will be more obvious if you use towels of various colours, but monochromatic will work if that’s all that you have.
Put a box on either side of the towels.
The boxes represent the continental plates while the towels represent the buildup of sediment on the sea bottom.
Push the boxes (continental plates) towards each other and observe the “mountains” being formed.
Ask your kids to make observations about the folds and the shape.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed. When we did this science experiment, I told the kids that the boxes represented the continental plates and that the towels represented the sedimentary rock layers, but I didn’t tell them what the outcome of the experiment would be. As the towels began to rise and take shape, I asked them what they thought was happening. Most of them were able to guess that it was becoming a mountain.

They took turn moving the boxes towards each other and saw that the outcome was always the same, though sometimes a slightly different shape was formed.

This is a great hands-on science experiment to explain how fold mountains are formed. Our kids have seen the Rockies as we drive through them nearly every year, so they were able to easily picture what those mountains look like. If your children (or students) are not as familiar with fold mountains, I would suggest showing them some images of what fold mountains look like.

Vocabulary words that may be helpful for this lesson:

sedimentary, plates, continent

If you are looking for other ways to make science come alive for kids, you will want to check out our Simple Science board on Pinterest or check out some of our other science experiments.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board Simple Science on Pinterest.

Layers of the Earth Science Experiment

Earthquake Experiment

Making Groundwater

Make Your Own Windsock

Jello Science Experiments

Gravity Defying Beads

Melting Ice Experiment

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Snowflake Sensory Bottle and Science Lesson

By Sharla Kostelyk

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Making this snowflake sensory bottle also offers the opportunity for a simple science lesson. The results are so pretty.

Materials needed:

empty water bottle (I used a Voss water bottle because I like the look of the lid)
blue food colouring
silver glitter
snowflake confetti

Fill the empty water bottle with water, almost to the very top. Add glitter and snowflake confetti.

This is where the science lesson comes in: Water is a polar liquid so it dissolves other liquids which are also polar or somewhat polar. Once you explain this to the kids, ask them if they think that food colouring is polar or non-polar, or in simpler terms, ask them if they think that food colouring will dissolve in water.

Then have one of the kids squeeze some drops of blue food colouring into the sensory bottle and observe what happens.

The kids will observe that the food colouring does dissolve in the water which means that it is also a polar liquid.

Put the lid on the bottle. If you are going to be using this snowflake sensory bottle with younger kids, you may want to secure the lid in place using a hot glue gun.

Of the sensory bottle we’ve made, for some reason, our daughter Dancing Queen found this one the most fascinating.

She was mesmerized by the movement and spent a lot of time playing with it. Our other kids enjoyed it too but she was the most thrilled by it.

If you are looking for other sensory ideas, sign up for the 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get our free Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

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Simple Science: Making “Groundwater”

By Sharla Kostelyk

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This year, we have been using the science curriculum CKE Earth & Space. We have studied the Earth’s layers (see our Layers of the Earth model here), tectonic plates, volcanoes, earthquakes (see our easy earthquake experiment here), rock types, oceans, and the water table. This was one of the book’s hands-on activities for demonstrating the concept of groundwater.

Simple Science for Kids: Making Groundwater

Materials needed:

2 large clear glasses or vases
sand
gravel (we used aquarium gravel that we had left over from our History Sensory Bin)
pitcher of water

In each of the glass containers, layer sand and gravel alternating between the two until they are about 3/4 of the way full. This will create an aquifer. An aquifer is the layers of rock, soil and sand that contain water.

Slowly pour water into one of the containers, having your kids observe how the water is making its way through the small openings as it goes down.

In the first container, continue pouring until it is full (above the aquifer).

Science Groundwater Experiment

Next, slowly pour water into the second container, stopping about an inch BELOW the top of the aquifer. The level of the water in the second container is the water table. Below that, the aquifer is saturated. The glass of the container in this demonstration acts as impermeable rock.

Create what would happen if it were to rain by very slowly adding a bit more water to the second container. Have your kids observe and write down their observations. This demonstrates the recharging of the groundwater.

We kept our containers for a few weeks so that the kids could see that in the first one, there was never any room for more water, but in the second, as the ground soaked up more of the water and as time passed, we were able to add in a bit more water at a time as long as we never filled it above the top of the aquifer.

Vocabulary words that may be helpful in learning for this lesson:

groundwater, water table, aquifer, saturated, impermeable

If you are looking for other hands-on Science activities for learning about the Earth, you may be interested in following my CKE Earth & Space Pinterest board.

Follow Sharla Kostelyk’s board CKE Earth & Space on Pinterest.

Layers of the Earth Hands-On Science Activity

Gravity Defying Beads

10 Jello Science Experiments

Melting Ice Experiment

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