Canada Science and Technology Museum presents:
Science for tots workshop
EVENT: Science and Kids (Universal Children Day)Date: November 20, 2011
This sensory table workshop serves as a science introduction to toddlers through visual examination, touch and smell.
Written by: Catherine Emond, October 11, 2011
Reviewd by Sandra Corbeil, Novmber 2011
OVERALL ACTIVITY OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
1. Visitors will discover the physical properties of materials through vision, touch and smell
2. Visitors will learn the concepts that explain physical properties, such as dry, wet, soft and hard
3. Visitors will develops their fine motor skills – through manipulation of materials
Outline (no maximum time at each table)
Each child and parents go from table to table.
Grown ups are encouraged to ask questions their kids about the properties of each material.
Audience:
§ Toddlers aged children and their parents or guardians
§ Members and their children
Safety Concern:
Children must wash their hand before and after the activity and after touching any sticky material
Allergy: A list of all material is to be taped well in sight at the entrance of the activity.
Swallowing of small objet
Room set-up:
The room has five little tables set-up around the room with materials.
INTRODUCTION:
What you say to child:
Hi, welcome to the Science and Tots workshop, today you will have the chance to see, touch and smell loads of different materials. Would you like to?
I need your help to keep this room clean. So if you make a spill, please clean it up with the help of your grown-up.
Also, before we start, I’ll ask you to clean your hand your hand with a wipe and lotion (Purell). And I suggest you do the same before leaving the room.
There are things that smell very nice in here, but remember, it’s not food, it’s only to touch, to smell and to look at, not to eat.
In this workshop, you will be a scientist and your goal as a scientist is to describe the materials in front on you. Scientists have loads of tools that help them, but sometime the best ones they have are their senses. Do you know the five senses?
(Leave a gap before saying a sense, so that the child can finish the sentence. When you ask the question, points to the body part to help them find the answer)
There is:
Your sense of… smell, and it comes from your… Nose.
Your sense of… taste, and it comes from your… Tongue.
Your sense… sight, and it comes from your…. Eyes.
Your sense of hearing… and it comes from your… Ears.
And your sense of touch… and it comes from your… hands, mostly, but you can sense with all your body.
So now, using your senses of touch, smell and sight (point to your hands, eyes and nose), you have to go to the tables and look at all the materials. Your grown-up and I, we’ll help find words that describe those materials.
There are also challenge tables. The first table, you will to guess the smell in the boxes. On the second table, you have to guess what is inside the boxes only by touching and smelling, but you can’t look.
So choose a table and I’ll be around to help you.
(This script is not linear, you don’t bring children from table to table: you let them experience the material of their choosing and you go to them sporadically and add to their experience by asking questions and insuring they learn the proper vocabulary
You have to move around from table to table, address a group of kid at a time if possible, and bend down to their level, so that they can see you eyes. Touch the materials when you ask questions and invite them to do the same. Help them create a dialogue with the adults about the materials and their properties.) / Max of 30 kids at the time in the classroom.
§ Place each material in an individual container.
§ Place one container or one bottle at each section
§ Place an Examination card with questions about physical properties to be asked to the child by its parents on each table.
§ Tape the material lists on walls around the classroom
For each container place a variety of tools such as :
§ Measuring cups and spoons
§ Spoons, tongs
§ Eye droppers
§ Strainers/colanders
§ Popsicle sticks
§ Funnels
* Through the workshop, keep an eye on the tools so that they don’t create a mess; remove them if it is too difficult to supervise usage.
TABLE 1: Exploring your sense of touch
Using your sense of touch, you will explore objects and describe them. You can describe their size, their shape, their color and their texture (what they feel like). Words that you might use to describe the objects are HARD or SOFT, HEAVY or LIGHT, SMALL or BIG, WARM or COLD or something in between, SMOOTH or ROUGH, and of course you can describe the colours.
Can you think of other words that describe objects? (point to the board) There are more words written on the board, ask your grown-up to read them to you.
Write on the board: thin, long, wide and short, Round/ Sharp, Flexible, Hairy, Puffy, Sticky, add parents suggestions throughout the day if they fit.
What do you think? Try comparing the rocks to the pasta, which one is heavier? Compare the foam peanuts to the leaves, which is lighter? / Display
§ One container with powder Sugar
§ One container with rocks
§ One container with packing foam peanuts
§ One container with dried pasta
§ One container with leaves
§ One container with bubble wrap
TABLE 2: Using your sense of smell
On this table, there are five boxes with smells inside. What you need to do is bring the box near to nose and take a good sniff. What does the smell remind you of? A Fruit? A cake? A flower?
Think about the smell. You can describe the smell as STRONG, FRUITY, SWEET, STINKY, FLORAL, SAVOURY, PERFUMED, FOUL. Can you think of other words that describe smell?
It’s okay not to guess exactly the smell. The goal of this game is to know what you associate the smell with. / 1 scent box spread out on the table. The box contain cotton ball soaked with a smell
§ 1 scent box with Vanilla
§ 1 scent box with Cinnamon
§ 1 scent box with Orange
§ 1 scent box with Lavender
§ 1 scent box with Coffee
CONCLUSION: Guessing game
There are 5 boxes on this table. The goal of this game is to put your hand in the box and to guess characteristics of the thing inside the box without looking or taking the object out of the box. You need to guess with your hands or nose, not your eyes.
Remember the words we used to describe the shape, the size and the texture. Use them here. Is there more than one thing in the box? What is it?
Now that you are a great scientist, when you are at home, try describing the objects around the house and your food using all of your senses.
Thank you for coming. / 5 guessing boxes spread out on the table. The boxes contain
§ 1 guessing box with a ball inside
§ 1 guessing box with a cube inside
§ 1 guessing box with a rope inside
§ 1 guessing box with cotton balls inside
§ 1 guessing box with playdough
VOCABULARY ADAPTED TO TOTS:
TRANSLATE TO FRENCH
Science for Tots, Science and Kids event, Last update, November 9, 2011 Page 5 of 6
Soft: Shape can change when you press on it
Hard: Shape will not change when you press on it
Dry: there is no water in the material, opposite of wet
Wet: The material is filled with water, opposite of dry
Heavy: has a great weight to it, might be difficult to lift or move. Opposite of light
Light: does not have a great weight, very easy to lift and to move. Opposite of heavy
Warm: has a high temperature because it contains heat, but not enough to burn but more than the human body, or the room temperature
Cold: has a low temperature, opposite of warm. Example: refrigerator keeps cold inside.
Solid: cannot be squished, molded or deformed. It is hard. Will not change shape even if we apply a lot of pressure to it.
Rough: not nice to touch, prickly.
Smooth: nice, smooth or gentle to the touch
Flexible: Will change shape if we apply pressure to it (or apply force to it), but it will not break, it is bendable.
Breakable: When you apply a force to it, it snaps and breaks into at least 2 pieces
MATERIAL NEEDED:
Science for Tots, Science and Kids event, Last update, November 9, 2011 Page 5 of 6
§ Baby wipes and paper towels
§ Purell
§ Containers
§ Measuring cups and spoons
§ Spoons, tongs
§ Eye droppers
§ Strainers/colanders
§ Popsicle sticks
§ Funnels
§ Bottle with layer liquids
§ Powder Sugar
§ Dried Pasta
§ Packing foam peanuts
§ Playdough
§ Bubble wrap
§ Dried leaves
§ Rocks
§ 5 sensory boxes
§ 5 smell boxes
Science for Tots, Science and Kids event, Last update, November 9, 2011 Page 5 of 6
RESOURCES:
A Handful of Fun: Why Sensory Play is Important for Preschoolers:
http://notjustcute.com/2010/03/24/a-handful-of-fun-why-sensory-play-is-important-for-preschoolers/
Sensory Experiences Can Be Messy Fun: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=227
Ideas of different types of sensory table: http://prekinders.com/sensory-table/
Science for Tots, Science and Kids event, Last update, November 9, 2011 Page 5 of 6