Helping Your Child to Enjoy Science

Children are naturally curious. They explore, question, and wonder about what happens around them. To encourage their natural love for learning, check out these suggestions!  

Exploring Science with Your Children

Science is all around us and children are constantly observing their surroundings. Help your children make sense of the world around them by showing them science phenomena that occur in everyday activities. Be it outdoors or indoors, draw their attention to objects or things happening around them to trigger their curiosity and encourage them to explore.

Experiments, videos and fun activities are great ways to engage children too! Check out some of these online educational resources which you can try out together with your children: 

• https://www.scientificamerican.com/section.cfm?id=bring-science-home
  Look through this online repository for activities that explain simple science concepts.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/z2pfb9q
  Watch video clips illustrating science concepts. 

• https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/
  Find interesting facts, videos, games and quizzes.

Learning Science through Questioning

As they explore, children tend to generate many thoughts and ideas. Engage your children by inviting them to ask questions or by asking them questions. They learn best this way! For example, as you explore the environment with your children, lead them to observe the diversity of living and non-living things around through the questions you ask.

Examples of living things around us	Examples of questions
Observing living things: An example of a living thing – Fish	How would you describe this animal? Which animal group does it belong to? What do fishes have in common?
Comparing living things: Examples of different types of plants	How are the plants similar? How are the plants different from each other?

Sometimes, we may encounter challenging questions that you do not have an answer to. Don’t be worried or afraid, We don’t have to be a walking encyclopaedia to guide our children. Invite them to learn together. For example, you could say, “That’s an interesting question. Let’s find out together!” Acknowledge your children’s efforts in asking questions and guide them as they look for an answer.

Exploring Science with your children through daily activities can spark their interest and encourage them to learn, especially when they ask questions. The best way for our children to learn is when they are having fun!