What can science be like?

Foundation Stage science involves thinking about:

• What materials are like, how we can use them and how they change
• How things move and why
• What animals, including humans, and plants are like and how they grow
• What the sun, soil, rocks, air, water and other aspects of the environment are like.

We also need to help children behave like scientists to:

• Observe and sort things carefully using all their senses
• Find similarities and differences between things
• Ask questions
• Predict what might happen next
• Test things to see what happens.
  

Foundation science topics can include:

• What humans can do, how they grow, move, feed and take care of themselves
• How plants and trees grow and change and the conditions needed for growth
• How to take care of the environment
• What things are made of and what they can do
• How heat and cold affect things
• How things move - roll, slide, bounce, slither etc
• What causes movement - pushes and pulls
• Different types of sounds
• Mirrors and simple reflection
• Making shadows
• Magnetic games
• Torches and simple light sources.

Activities should be very practical, in familiar environments, using familiar things.