Create a Preschool Science Area

The idea to create a preschool science area has been whizzing about in my head for weeks. I honestly tried not to go too mad, but inevitably I did just that!

Perusing Amazon, I came across this beautiful, colourful science equipment. I, of course, pressed buy before my brain had connected with my fingers…

And two days later the above arrived. I think I may have been more excited than my preschoolers.

Honestly, this is high quality, robust little people’s science equipment which (apart from its colour and size) looks just like adult versions!

How to Create a Preschool Science Area in your Home

I want to purposefully include science into my littles ones’ home schooling.  Yes, we do nature study together as a family, but I wanted something a bit more intentional and science-y!

The first thing to do is to find a table of some sort. We found the table below from a charity shop for practically nothing. We move it around our house creating playful nooks as and when the whim takes our fancy.

You can use a plank of wood on books or bricks or boxes… preschoolers are super unfussy when it comes to having fun!

The second thing is to find a place to put the table. We are blessed to have a very odd shaped house which lends itself well to having nooks and crannies for us to create little areas in. This time though we chose to do it in the dining room on account of the tiled floor. No concerns about messes!

Thirdly, make the area look inviting. This is where my fancy sign (!) and bright colourful science equipment comes in. I mean, what’s not to love?

I added some lab coats and science googles and we were set!

Using Older Siblings in your Preschool Science Area

I enlisted the help of the older children, more for their sake than mine.  I’d like them to experience science ‘just for fun’ rather than academically.  One hour will be pumped into preschool science, with each child having 20 minutes with the little ones for fun experimentation.  

Choosing a Weekly or Termly Theme

I knew I wanted a theme, because I work better in preparing lessons if I have a theme to narrow my research field (stops me getting overwhelmed).  I also wanted each session to be fun, messy and most importantly to show immediate results. 

Ideally, the result can be played with afterwards.  

My chosen theme for next few weeks is COLOUR.  Each activity will be loosely woven around this.

My goal here is to encourage the little ones to play fearlessly and inquisitively without any need for too many rules.

Setting up a Second Preschool Science Area in the Bathroom (yes, I did just say bathroom!)

Another way I will encourage scientific play will be by setting up a science station, just for 1/2 an hour a week in the bathroom.  I have bought some plastic measuring containers and other plastic scientific tools. 

I am hoping that adding these to unlimited supplies of coloured waters, salt, flour etc will instill a need to mix. 

Actually I know it will. 

Our bathroom, in our very quirky house, is a room off our kitchen which is where I will be with the older ones.  I’ll be within reach but this will, purposefully, be unsupervised play (deep breath!):

Introducing Your Little Ones to the Preschool Science Area

I introduced them to their ‘nook’ this week.  To say they loved it would be an understatement!  I told them that the only rule was that there were no rules. Their siblings would play along side them and they were there to help in any way they could.

They played for hours….

Best preschool science area…ever!

This was so worth the money, the time and the mess.  Clean up was easy peasy, with everything fitting in their science box ready for next Monday:

Resource kits from Amazon

So much fun!