Here are 6 good books that should adequately point that young, budding scientist to the right direction: The Everything Kids Science Experiments Book; Hands-On Physics Experiments (Activity Book, Grades K-2); Einstein’s Science Parties: Easy Parties for Curious Kids; The Everything Kids Nature Book; Experiments in Science: How Does It Work?; and Literacy Centers for Science Skills.

Curiosity about science is something to develop and/or encourage in kids. As in a lot of things, an early start, specifically in kindergarten, is a great start, and science fairs are a great place to let loose the budding scientist. To get the young student on the right track, here are some books that should point him or her to a good direction and may serve as a teacher’s guide to science fair projects.

1. The Everything Kids Science Experiments Book (Tom Robinson)

This introduces your kindergartner to the scientific method, which they’ll use to conduct interesting experiments:

• role of the chlorophyll and the seasons in the life and color of leaves
• chemical reactions in cleaning pennies
• how the seesaw operates, factors that play in the colors of light
• acid rain, the seasons
• the five senses, action, and reaction

Paperback at Amazon or Adams Media Bookstore ($8.95). Also library binding ($16.95) and Kindle Edition ($8.36).

2. Hands-On Physics Experiments (Activity Book, Grades K-2, by Cherie Winner, illustrations by Gary Mohrman)

Aimed at teachers, but parents/mentors can use this to point a kindergartner to promising science fair projects. Experiments cover properties of objects and materials; position and motion of objects; and light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. The book’s a bit tricky to find, but it’s listed in teachersparadise.com ($10.77).

3. Einstein’s Science Parties: Easy Parties for Curious Kids (Shar Levine and Allison Grafton)

Fun activities that give budding scientists good foundation. Exploring fossils (three types) and dinosaurs (different kinds) and working with experiments that can be eaten should hold their interest. Not to mention make kids’ parties educational. Paperback at Amazon ($12.95), hard cover at Jossey-Bass (print on demand, 3-5 days).

4. The Everything Kids Nature Book (Kathiann M. Kowalski)

Create clouds, make waves, defy gravity. Activities to excite the outdoorsy kid. Add science to forest hikes and campouts by investigating, say, the details in coniferous forests or the moss on the forest floor; not all of science is inside a lab. Amazon carries this title ($7.95).

5. Experiments in Science: How Does It Work? (David Glover)

Boasts of experiments involving the simple circuit, wind and water forces, light and shade, and tracking sounds. After each experiment, there is useful information to help the young scientist understand the result/s. Amazon, $21.99.

6. Literacy Centers for Science Skills (Lesson Plan)

Full-color material for guiding kids in investigating organisms and their environments, properties of matter, scientific method, and water cycle. Available in book ($23.99) and e-book ($21.99), both you can get from Teacher Created Resources. Also view a sample lesson plan in BookRags.

While kindergarten-age kids should be encouraged to explore to feed their scientific curiosity, it’s important to keep in mind that their safety is ensured. Adult supervision is especially necessary when the experiments involve chemicals, sharp objects, and other materials that might cause injury. Guidance and encouragement should go a long way. A brilliant scientist might just be some years and science fair projects away.

Image courtesy of sleepzine.com

I was browsing through a list of writing prompts, when this one caught my eye:

Do you agree with this statement: Parents are the best teachers?

We say that a lot, and we all assume we know what we mean by it.

If we mean “best” in that they teach the best things, and can be trusted to provide the best guidance to their children, then I don’t think we can say yes unequivocally.  Even if parents should be trustworthy, many aren’t.

But if we mean “best” in the sense that their lessons stick longer and are more deeply ingrained than any others, then I would say yes.  For better or worse, the “teaching” parents do lasts a lifetime.

Parents teach on purpose of course–we show a toddler how to snap his pants, we show a kindergartner how to tie her shoes, we teach siblings to share and teenagers to follow through on their obligations.  But the most significant and life-forming teaching parents do happens simply by the way parents live their lives.

Simply by living and talking in the presence of their children, parents teach an immense amount–in most cases far more than they are aware of.  Without even trying, parents can teach their children honesty, honor, kindness, gratitude, self-control, spirituality, work ethic, optimism, respect, and affection.

Conversely, with no conscious thought on their part, parents can teach their children dishonesty, cheating, cruelty, entitlement, self-indulgence, materialism, laziness, cynicism, disrespect, and selfishness.

For better or worse, we aren’t even usually aware that these are the lessons our children are learning from us.  But they do learn them, and their lives are formed by them.  Studies show–and common sense indicates–that the values and choices of parents will be emulated by their children.  Of course, there are exceptions–thoughtful people have always chosen different paths than the ones laid out for them.  And most people go through a period of life when they consciously reject their parents’ values.  But for the most part, more often than not, people return to the values they grew up with when they become adults.

So, in that sense, parents are the  best teachers.  The lessons parents teach last a lifetime.  Very few classroom teachers can say the same thing.