PreK & K Physics

Getting Started with Physics

Drop a ball, roll it down the driveway, bounce it to the ceiling... all of these are fascinating to a child in the Preschool years!

You don't need much in terms of equipment for doing real science with kids at this age. In fact, the most important thing you can do with your child is to get them to two important things:

First, teach them to get curious about the world around them and help them ask questions about what they observe. Kids that spend more time outside and with real materials (not watching a screen) are able to learn this skill much more easily.

Next, help them to discover new ways of answering their own questions. Ask them things like: "Did it go too fast? How can we slow it down?" will elicit their own ideas for solving their own problems.

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	Harmonicas Your voice is a vibration, and you can feel it when you place a hand on your throat when you speak. As long as there are molecules around, sound will be traveling though them by smacking into each other. That’s why if you put an alarm clock inside a glass jar and remove the air, … Continue reading "Harmonicas"
	Buzzing Hornets Sound is everywhere. It can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, but it does so at different speeds. It can rustle through trees at 770 MPH (miles per hour), echo through the ocean at 3,270 MPH, and resonate through solid rock at 8,600 MPH. Sound is made by things vibrating back and forth, whether it’s … Continue reading "Buzzing Hornets"
	Inclined Plane What’s an inclined plane? Jar lids, spiral staircases, light bulbs, and key rings. These are all examples of inclined planes that wind around themselves. Some inclined planes are used to lower and raise things (like a jack or ramp), but they can also used to hold objects together (like jar lids or light bulb threads). Here’s … Continue reading "Inclined Plane"
	Roller Coasters We’re going to build monster roller coasters in your house using just a couple of simple materials. You might have heard how energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred or transformed (if you haven’t that’s okay – you’ll pick it up while doing this activity). Roller coasters are a prime example … Continue reading "Roller Coasters"
	Catapults When you drop a ball, it falls 16 feet the first second you release it. If you throw the ball horizontally, it will also fall 16 feet in the first second, even though it is moving horizontally… it moves both away from you and down toward the ground. Think about a bullet shot horizontally. It … Continue reading "Catapults"
	Flying Contraptions Mathematically speaking, this particular flying object shouldn't be able to fly. What do you think about that? Why can this thing fly? It doesn’t even LOOK like a plane! When I teach at the university, this is the plane that mathematically isn’t supposed to be able to fly! There are endless variations to this project—you … Continue reading "Flying Contraptions"
	Simple Hovercraft Hovercraft transport people and their stuff across ice, grass, swamp, water, and land. Also known as the Air Cushioned Vehicle (ACV), these machines use air to greatly reduce the sliding friction between the bottom of the vehicle (the skirt) and the ground. This is a great example of how lubrication works – most people think … Continue reading "Simple Hovercraft"
	Making Clouds Indoor Rain Clouds Making indoor rain clouds demonstrates the idea of temperature, the measure of how hot or cold something is. Here's how to do it: Take two clear glasses that fit snugly together when stacked. (Cylindrical glasses with straight sides work well.) Fill one glass half-full with ice water and the other half-full with … Continue reading "Making Clouds"
	Sensing Temperature Temperature is a way of talking about, measuring, and comparing the thermal energy of objects.

Getting Started with Physics

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