Spring is such a great time to study butterflies. There are so many great activities to go along with a butterfly unit. You know how much I love my read-aloud so today, I’m sharing with you The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds.

Butterflies are such a fun topic to learn about and explore. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds

The Amazing Life Cycle of Butterflies by Kay Barnham 

This is a fantastic book that takes the students along on the journey of the butterflies life cycle. The book shares many butterfly facts for little learners and has great illustrations.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This classic is always a favorite. It follows the caterpillar from eating through a bunch of foods to him turning into a beautiful butterfly.

We have a bunch of great activities to go along with this book too. From a printable caterpillar hat, to a fun snack idea to make and a free printable to go along with the book that you can find here.

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope

This book is about a caterpillar that all she knows is that she needs to go to Mexico! It follows her on her journey to Mexico to eventually become a beautiful Monarch butterfly.

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin

This counting book shows ten little caterpillars doing different things on their way to becoming a butterfly.

These Caterpillar Counting Mats would be a great companion to this book. You can check them out here.

A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Aston

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous. Some of the words are written in cursive and others are in print. Each page has a subject such as ” butterflies are creative” and then includes 2-4 fact sentences.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heilingman

This is a great book about a caterpillar that comes to a classroom. The students get to learn all about metamorphosis and watch the caterpillar change into a butterfly in their classroom.

Our butterfly life cycle hats would be a fun addition to this book along with many other. You can check it out here.

Señorita Mariposa by Ben Gundersheimer 

 This is a wonderful story about the amazing journey that monarch butterflies make from Canada to Mexico. It has vibrant colors and beautiful illustrations and a rhyming flow of both English and Spanish.

Butterflies Are Pretty….. Gross by Rosemary Mosco

This book is FABULOUS, filled with real-life facts about butterflies in a hilarious, gross-out, pun-filled story accompanied by beautifully illustrated pages. 

Pipsie Nature Detective – The Disappearing Caterpillar by Rick DeDonato

This is a fun detective book. It is educational in a fun, engaging way. It teaches children that nature science is interesting, gathering facts to come to conclusions is exciting, and learning new things is rewarding. It encourages intelligence, tenacity, and the importance of friendship and teamwork.

This is one of the books we use as part of our butterfly book study. Filled with butterfly activities and centers. You can learn more about that here.

Butterfly Yoga by Jodi Norton

This is a great book to use as a brain break during your butterfly unit. It takes students through a series of yoga poses corresponding to the life cycle of a butterfly.

The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach

The kids love this noisy, desperately impatient caterpillar and his over-excited voice, not knowing they were also really learning about the life cycle of butterflies.  This is a favorite for sure.

The Little Butterfly That Could by Ross Burach

The Little Butterfly That Could is a great companion to The Very Impatient Caterpillar. Just as funny as the first and the kids are sure to love it.

Goodnight, Butterfly by Ross Burach

There is a third book coming out this summer too! Make sure to pre-order this one.

A Butterfly’s Life by Ellen Lawrence

This is a great book that follows a boy on his journey to learn about monarch butterflies. This book is filled with great real photos of the life cycle.

This book would be a great addition to our Butterfly Activities which is filled with math, science, and literacy activities. You can check it out here.

Butterfly Park by Elly MacKay

In this book, a girl moves to a new town. She finds a place called butterfly park, but there are no butterflies. She’s determined to lure butterflies in and the girl inspires her whole town to help.

These catching butterflies counting mats would be a fun addition to this book too. You can grab the counting mats here.

Moth and Butterfly, Ta Da! by Dev Petty

This is a great book about a moth and a butterfly that introduces metamorphosis. It also celebrates the differences between moths and butterflies and shows how the best friendships adapt to even really big changes.

Save The Butterflies by Bethany Stahl

We love the book, Save The Bees and this one too doesn’t disappoint!  This is a story of Holly, a butterfly, Cho, and her dad, who work together to discover how people can help plant a butterfly garden as well as raise and release butterflies!

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison

This is another one of my butterfly favorites. Poor Velma—people can barely remember her name. But all that changes on a class trip to the magnificent Butterfly Conservatory—a place neither of her sisters has ever been. When a monarch roosts on Velma’s finger and won’t budge for days . . . well, no one will forget Velma ever again.

I have a fun literacy snack idea and a free printable to go along with this book too that you can find here.

Glasswings: A Butterfly’s Story by Elisa Kleven

This is a beautiful story that shares acts about glasswing butterflies and pollination.

Butterflies Belong Here by Deborah Hopkinson

This book is about the real change children can make in conservation and advocacy—in this case, focusing on beautiful monarch butterflies

Ten For Me by Barbara Mariconda

This is a great book to use to incorporate math into your butterfly unit. The book is a fun read-aloud where two friends take off on a butterfly hunt, only to find themselves tangled in a mathematics net! Rose, and her friend Ed race to see who can catch the most butterflies on this addition adventure. How many in all? Let s add them again! shout the butterfly hunters. Who will win? Ten for Me makes math fun, easy, and entertaining while adding a touch of the natural world into cross-curricular education.

I have a fun math creativity to go along with this book that you can grab for FREE here.

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert  

This is a quick read-aloud but has beautiful, colorful pictures. In the end, there are several pictures of different types of butterflies along with a diagram of the parts of a butterfly. They are a nice reference when teaching these things during your butterfly unit.

This butterfly craft with writing prompts is perfect to go along with any of these wonderful books that I’ve shared. You can grab the craft here.

And the last book I’m going to share with you today is not necessarily a “butterfly book” but it is about an entomologist. This book would be a great addition to any insect study you were doing. The book does touch on moths and butterflies though.

Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington 

Charles Henry Turner never stopped wondering and asking questions. This is a wonderful book about him always continuing to ask more questions which eventually lead him to being a biologist.

And if you’re looking for even more ideas for your butterfly unit, I share some more great ideas in this blog post here, Teaching About Butterflies In The Classroom.

Do you have any other favorite butterfly read alouds that you would add to our list?

See you next time!

jenette

The post The Best Butterfly Read-Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

Let’s go on a leaf hunt! Collect some leaves and then use this Free Printable Leaf Investigation to help your students learn about their leaves!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

There are so many great books about fall leaves to go along with this leaf investigation activity. Start off by reading one or a few of these books with your class. You can find out more about each book here.

Next, take your students outside to go on a leaf hunt. Have them help gather a bunch of leaves to bring to the classroom. They can each choose one for themself or pick from ones that have been gathered when back in the classroom.

Now it’s time to explore their leaves! Give each student one of the free printable leaf investigation pages, and have them investigate their leaf. They will get to draw their leaf, measure it using snap blocks, describe their leaf, and more.

Another fun activity to do after the leaf investigation is to make a class anchor chart graph to compare with the other student’s leaves. You could graph by color, size, texture, lots of different options.

Click the green box below to download the free printable leaf investigation.

If you’re looking for even more leaf fun, you’ll love these leaf crafts with writing prompts. They look adorable hanging in the classroom door in the hallway for fall. Click here to check them out now.

Do you have any other fun activities that you like to do with fall leaves? Share with us in the comments below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Leaf Investigation appeared first on Primary Playground.

Raise your hand if you love cookies! I sure do, they’re my favorite! Have you ever had a cookie-themed day with your students? Today I’m sharing some Cookie Taste Test Activities you can do to bring in the science and writing for the day.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Taste Testing and the 5 Senses – Science, Writing and Math

The first activity is we’re going to describe cookies. Grab a pack of chocolate chip cookies from the store and give one to each student. Depending on your class I made 2 different printables for this activity.

The first is they can draw and or write in the boxes to describe their cookie when tasting it. Or you can bring in the 5 senses on option 2 and have them describe their cookie using the 5 senses, writing in their answer in a sentence.

Cookie Taste Test

And our second cookie tasting activity also has 2 options.

Option 1

We’re bringing math into this one! The first option is to find out what type of cookie is the class’s favorite. This one is a great option if you can’t actually have food in the classroom.

The cookie options are chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, and oatmeal cookies. You’ll have each of the students ask their classmates which cookie is their favorite.

Depending on their answer they will fill in the matching box on the graph using the correct color. In the end, they can total up the columns and write in the numbers to determine which cookie is the class favorite!

Option 2

And the second option is to pick up 3 bags of cookies from the store. You’ll want to grab a sandwich cookie, an animal cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. Start by giving each student one of each of the cookies and decide which one they like the best.

Next, you’ll have each of the students ask their classmates which cookie is their favorite. Depending on their answer they will fill in the matching box on the graph using the correct color. In the end, they can total up the columns and write in the numbers to determine which cookie is the class favorite!

Lots of great learning going on in these activities with a yummy twist!

Click the green box below to download all of these fun activities altogether.

If you’re looking for some more great cookie ideas to make it a whole cookie-themed day, we have gathered a bunch of fun ideas here.

Do you have any other fun ideas you would add? I hope you have a fantastic time with your students learning, creating special memories, and eating cookies!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Cookie Taste Test Activities appeared first on Primary Playground.

Every year, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd. Books are such a fantastic way to teach and introduce little learners to new subjects. I’m sharing with you today, The Best Earth Day Read-Alouds.

Earth Day is such an important topic to learn about. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below. I’ve divided them up by books about the earth, recycling, trees, water, gardening – composting and beess.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

This article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Earth and Earth Day

Earth Day Every Day by Lisa Bullard

On Earth Day, we find ways to help the Earth. Trina plants trees with her class. She forms an Earth Day club with her friends. What can you do to make every day Earth Day? Do your part to be a planet protector!

Earth Day–Hooray!  by Stuart J. Murphy

Earth Day is on the way, and Ryan, Luke, and Carly have a plan. If they manage to collect and recycle 5,000 aluminum cans, they can make enough money to buy some beautiful flowers for nearby Gilroy Park. CAN they do it? Counting the cans gives Ryan, Luke, and Carly—along with readers—a lesson in place value. And facts about recycling throughout the story will help readers understand how important it is to take care of the earth.

Earth Day Birthday! by Maureen Wright

In this fun read-aloud, it’s April 22, and Lion and his friends want to plant trees, recycle bottles, and have fun on Earth Day. But not Monkey. He wants to celebrate his birthday. Can he convince the other animals that it really is his birthday?  Students with birthday’s on holidays will especially relate to Monkey in this story.

My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLachlan 

This is a beautiful book that has many die-cut pages that help celebrates everything Earth does for us, all the while reminding us to be a good friend in return.

Trash and Recycling

Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green

What if everybody threw away old bottles and newspapers, littering the world with glass and plastic and tin cans that should be recycled and made into new products? Mr. Jones is a teacher who sets a good example for kids by separating his trash for recycling. When he takes them on a class trip to a recycling plant they learn the value of recycling.

Recycling Is Fun by Charles Ghigna

Children learn that sorting recycling and giving new life to old things is not only good for the environment.  It is a whole lot of fun, too!

What Does It Mean to Be Green? by Rana DiOrio

In this book, a young boy and girl discover amazing facts (like how our food travels an average of 1,500 miles to be on our plate!) and explore all the different ways they―and we―can help protect the Earth’s most precious resources to save the planet and live “green” lifestyles.

One Little Bag: An Amazing Journey by Henry Cole

This is a wordless book. I always love these books because you can fill in the narrative. This is not an “Earth Day” book perse but is a great read to understand the concept of reusing.

From a tall tree growing in the forest–to the checkout counter at the grocery store–one little bag finds its way into the hands of a young boy. And so begins an incredible journey of one little bag that is used and reused and reused again.

What A Waste by Jess French

This book is not so much a read-aloud but I didn’t want to leave it out because it’s a great book. It is a lively kid’s educational book with fabulous illustrations and fun facts about the world broken into easy-to-digest bite-sized bits. Each page can be looked at in short bursts or longer reads for more detail when talking about specific topics.

Here’s a free Earth Day Word Search for your students to do to review a lot of the vocabulary they have learned throughout these books.

Trees

Curious George Plants a Tree by H. A. Rey

When George finds out that the science museum is planning a “Green Day” dedicated to recycling and planting trees, he is curious and wants to help out! But then George begins to recycle things around town that aren’t quite ready for the recycling bin, and he gets into a jam. Thankfully, George isn’t the only one who wants to help—the whole community can’t wait to lend a hand! 

Trees Make Perfect Pets by Paul Czajak

Abigail is determined to get the perfect pet.

So she chooses Fido. He keeps her cool from the sun, stays where she tells him, and even gives her air to breathe. That’s because Fido is a tree!

But not everyone thinks having a tree as a pet is a good idea, though, especially when Fido starts to grow. Will Abigail be able to keep her perfect pet?

Zonia’s Rain Forest  by Juana Martinez-Neal 

Zonia’s home is the Amazon rain forest, where it is always green and full of life. Every morning, the rain forest calls to Zonia, and every morning, she answers. She visits the sloth family, greets the giant anteater, and runs with the speedy jaguar. But one morning, the rain forest calls to her in a troubled voice. How will Zonia answer? How will we all answer?

The Magic and Mystery Of Trees by Jen Green

This book is not so much a read-aloud but I didn’t want to leave it out. In this book, kids will discover how trees communicate and warn each other of predators, how they nurture their networks, record the past, and anticipate the future to ensure their survival. There’s so much more to trees than meets the eye. 

There are some particularly good pages near the end of the book that would be great to share in regards to Earth Day. From the trees and the plant, the water cycle, trees that are at risk, and helping trees.

Water

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

This book is inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.

Rocket Says Clean Up! by Nathan Bryon

Rocket is off to the islands to visit her grandparents. Her family loves nothing better than to beach comb and surf together…but the beach is clogged with trash! When she finds a turtle tangled in a net, Rocket decides that something must be done! Like a mini Greta Thunberg, our young activist’s enthusiasm brings everyone together…to clean up the beach and prevent plastics from spoiling nature. 

The Mess That We Made by Michelle Lord

The Mess That We Made explores the environmental impact of trash and plastic on the ocean and marine life, and it inspires kids to do their part to combat pollution. The first half of the book portrays the growing magnitude of the issue, and the second half rallies children and adults to make the necessary changes to save our oceans. 

Gardening – Composting – Bees

Anywhere Garden by Phyllis Root 

You might think a farm means fields, tractors, and a barnyard full of animals. But you can plant a farm anywhere you like! A box or a bucket, a boot or a pan — almost anything can be turned into a home for green, growing things. Windows, balconies, and front steps all make wonderful spots to start. 

Compost Stew By Mary McKenna Siddals

This book is a fun A to Z recipe of all kinds of different items that can be put into a compost pile.

If Bees Disappeared by Lily Williams 

What would happen if bees disappeared? Though bees are small, their importance is BIG. Today there are over 250,000 species of bees but all of them are in danger. Because of disease, pesticide exposure, lack of foraging habitats, and poor nutrition, entire honey bee hives are dying. This book explains how they are being harmed and ways that we can help.

Give Bees A Chance by Bethany Barton 

Give Bees a Chance is for anyone who doesn’t quite appreciate how extra special and important bees are to the world, and even to humankind! Besides making yummy honey, they help plants grow fruits and vegetables. And most bees wouldn’t hurt a fly (unless it was in self-defense!). 

If you’re looking for a fun way to review Earth Day vocabulary after reading a bunch of these books, we have our Earth Day bingo. You can check it out here.

I hope your students enjoy some of The Best Earth Day Read-Alouds. Do you have any other’s that you would add to our list?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post The Best Earth Day Read-Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Learning about the weather is always fun! There are so many fun activities, hands-on activities, and experiments that can be done! Today, we have a Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud. We are reading, Miss Mingo Weathers The Storm by Jamie Harper.

In our read-aloud today, Miss Mingo takes her class on a field trip to the weather station. The class experiences all kinds of weather and crazy atmospheric changes throughout their trip!

This book is sprinkled with great weather and animal habitat facts too!

For our snack this week, we’ll be making rain clouds!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

supplies needed per student

• Approx 6 blueberries
• Approx 25 mini marshmallows (or about a handful)

to assemble

To make the rain cloud, have the students use their mini marshmallows to create a cloud. After they have made their cloud, they can use their blueberries as raindrops falling from the cloud.

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their rain cloud snack. They will get to draw and write about their favorite type of weather.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another fun activity to go along with the book is our Umbrella Craft With Writing Prompts. They look great hanging on the bulletin board or in the hallways all spring long! Click here to check it out now.

And we also have our Weather Bingo. It’s a great way to review weather vocabulary while having some fun! Click here to grab it now.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about the weather? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Weather Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Learning about plants and flowers is a favorite of mine for springtime. I’m a huge sucker for handprint crafts too! So today, I’m sharing with your a fun Parts Of A Plant Handprint Craft to go along with your plant unit. I also have a free printable part of a flower printable for you too!

I love using crafts to help kids learn. Hands-on activities help them retain what they are learning better and they are getting in some great fine motor skills work with tracing their hands and cutting everything out.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Here’s one of our favorite songs/videos from Harry Kindergarten that helps teach kids about the parts of a flower.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Supplies to make the Parts Of A Flower Handprint Craft

• 4 pieces of construction paper in total – brown, green, yellow and the color you’d like to use for the flower, I chose pink for mine.
• scissors
• pencil
• glue stick
• can of food or something similar in size to trace a circle for the middle of the flower

To Make the Craft

To make the parts of a flower handprint craft, you’ll want to start by having the students trace their hands 4 different times on the color paper that they chose for their flower.

Next, they will trace their hands 2 times on both the green and the brown paper. Also using the green paper, they will need to cut a strip approx an inch thick, which doesn’t have to be perfect, the length of the piece of construction paper to use as the stem. You’ll then have them trace around the can of food on the yellow paper to make a circle. Now, have them cut out their 8 handprints and the circle.

To make the flower, have them layout the 4 same-colored handprints in a circle so they are all touching just a bit. (Tip-have them place the side they traced-outlined on face down so you don’t see the pencil marks.) Next, have them use their glue stick on the circle and place it in the middle of the 4 hands.

For the next part, they will need the stem and the 2 green handprints, and 2 brown handprints. They will use the glue stick to attach the 2 green handprints to the stem as leaves and then the 2 brown handprints to the bottom of the stem as the roots. Last, have them put some glue on the top of the stem and attach the flower.

After the flower is all put together, we also then labeled the parts of the flower using a marker. These are so fun hanging up in the classroom for spring!

I also made a free parts of a flower printable to go along with the craft too. I made 2 options for it as well. The first option, the kids cut and glue the parts of a flower in the correct spot and let them color it. I also made a version that the kids can write in the answers, or you can even use it for a little quiz or review after going over them together as a group.

Click the green box below to download the free printable.

If you’re looking for even more fun hands-on flower activities, we have our How Does A Plant Grow Sequencing Activities. This is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills, and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

And if you’re looking for a great read-aloud to go with teaching about the parts of a flower, The Tiny Seed is our top pick. We share a snack idea and a free printable to go along with the book that you can find here.

Do you have any other fun hands-on activities that you like to do when teaching about flowers and plants?

Jenette

The post Parts Of A Flower Handprint Craft appeared first on Primary Playground.

With all of the fun we’ve been having with the scavenger hunts, I wanted to make a couple of special Picture Scavenger Hunts to share with our youngest friends so they can still play along.

These resources work well with this article.

I made these with our 2-3 year little learners in mind. There is one to play indoors and one to play outdoors during a walk. They are perfect to do alongside their siblings when they do their scavenger hunts. The pictures will easily let them visually see what they are searching for.

I’ve received a lot of great feedback on these picture scavenger hunts too from teachers and parents. They have been extremely helpful for little learners that cannot read yet, ESL kiddos, and have worked fantastic with autistic children as well! 

You can download the Scavenger Hunts for free by clicking the green box below.

I hope they enjoy the scavenger hunts!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Picture Scavenger Hunts appeared first on Primary Playground.

With everyone staying at home and e-learning happening everywhere, I thought it would be fun to make different scavenger hunts to share with you each day for the kiddos to do.

They are listed in the order that I am posting them on Facebook. So you can choose whichever one you’d like to do.

I’ve gotten sooo many requests to have them be printable as well, so I put them all together in this resource. It currently has over 122 scavenger hunts. As I continue to make more, I will be adding to this as well.

You can grab the printable scavenger hunts directly from Primary Playground here or from my TeachersPayTeachers store here.

St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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Backyard Scavenger Hunt

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5 Senses Scavenger Hunt

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Spring Scavenger Hunt

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Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

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Book Scavenger Hunt

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Math Scavenger Hunt

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Inventor Scavenger Hunt

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Indoor Scavenger Hunt

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Nature Scavenger Hunt

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Letters Scavenger Hunt

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Black and White Scavenger Hunt

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Shapes Scavenger Hunt

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Rhyming Scavenger Hunt

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Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

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Numbers Scavenger Hunt

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Easter Scavenger Hunt

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Rainy Day Scavenger Hunt

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Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

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Desert Scavenger Hunt

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Sight Word Scavenger Hunt

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Park Scavenger Hunt

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Earth Day Scavenger Hunt

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Community Scavenger Hunt

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Snow Day Scavenger Hunt

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Living and Non-Living Scavenger Hunt

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Urban Scavenger Hunt

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Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

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Autumn Scavenger Hunt

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Q & U Scavenger Hunt

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Apartment Scavenger Hunt

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Night Time Scavenger Hunt

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2D Shape Scavenger Hunt

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Mother’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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3D Shapes Scavenger Hunt

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Home Scavenger Hunt

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Colors Scavenger Hunt

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Garden Scavenger Hunt

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Sunshine Scavenger Hunt

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Transportation Scavenger Hunt

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Caribbean Scavenger Hunt

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Birthday Scavenger Hunt

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Bigger or Smaller Scavenger Hunt

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Digraphs Scavenger Hunt

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Blends Scavenger Hunt

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Patriotic Scavenger Hunt

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Father’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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Zoo Scavenger Hunt

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Double OO Scavenger Hunt

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Controlled R Scavenger Hunt

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Camping Scavenger Hunt

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Taller or Shorter Scavenger Hunt

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Animal Scavenger Hunt

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Fairy Tale Scavenger Hunt

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Lighter or Heavier Scavenger Hunt

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Beach Day Scavenger Hunt

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Canada Day Scavenger Hunt

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Nursery Rhyme Scavenger Hunt

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Farm Scavenger Hunt

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Insect Scavenger Hunt

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Back To School Scavenger Hunt

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Virtual Back To School Scavenger Hunt

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All About Me Scavenger Hunt

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The Night Before The First Day Of School Scavenger Hunt

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Computer Scavenger Hunt

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iPad Scavenger Hunt

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Chromebook Scavenger Hunt

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Google Classroom Scavenger Hunt

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Apple Orchard Scavenger Hunt

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Pirate Scavenger Hunt

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Fall Scavenger Hunt

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Pumpkin Patch Scavenger Hunt

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School Supply Scavenger Hunt

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Fire Safety Scavenger Hunt

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Halloween Decoration Scavenger Hunt

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Halloween Scavenger Hunt

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Creepy Scavenger Hunt

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Halloween Candy Scavenger Hunt

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Thankful Scavenger Hunt

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Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

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Thanksgiving Day Parade Scavenger Hunt

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Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

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Christmas Scavenger Hunt

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Christmas Lights #2 Scavenger Hunt

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Christmas Eve Scavenger Hunt

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Chanukah Scavenger Hunt

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Winter Scavenger Hunt

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CVC Short A Scavenger Hunt

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CVC Short E Scavenger Hunt

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CVC Short I Scavenger Hunt

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CVC Short O Scavenger Hunt

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CVC Short U Scavenger Hunt

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Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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Weather Scavenger Hunt

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Opposite Scavenger Hunt

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Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt

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Pet Store Scavenger Hunt

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Mardi Gras Scavenger Hunt

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Purim Scavenger Hunt

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Passover Scavenger Hunt

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Cinco de Mayo Scavenger Hunt

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OI and OY Scavenger Hunt

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Double EE Words Scavenger Hunt

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End Of The School Year Scavenger Hunt

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Long A Scavenger Hunt

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Long E Scavenger Hunt

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Long I Scavenger Hunt

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Do you have any other scavenger hunts that you’d like to see? Let me know and I’ll see about adding it!

Long O Scavenger Hunt

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Long U Scavenger Hunt

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Summer Scavenger Hunt

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Wild West Scavenger Hunt

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Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

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New Year’s Scavenger Hunt

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100th Day Scavenger Hunt

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2’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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Food Pairs Scavenger Hunt

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Lunar New Year Scavenger Hunt

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Around The School Scavenger Hunt

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Kwanzaa Scavenger Hunt

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Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post Scavenger Hunts appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Science fair season is upon us and I wanted to share a project that my son did a couple of years ago. It’s not something that I normally share considering the age range but I wanted to share the details because it really is such an awesome project and could be done as a class project for the younger grades.

My son did this project when he was in the fourth grade which was perfect since they had been learning about circuits in science class. He has always been obsessed with circuits since he was little. We got him his first snap circuits set when he was in kindergarten and finished the whole book in the first 2 days he had it.

We were inspired to do this project the summer before, we had visited Seattle over the summer and went to the science center while there. They had built a life-sized operation game and it was the coolest thing ever! We decided that he could recreate the same thing just on a smaller scale to take to school.

The teachers did not require a typical science fair background board but allowed the kids to create a google slide show and had them print it out to be displayed instead.

My son did place first in the science fair for his grade with this project. No promises, but the students and parents sure had a lot of fun seeing it at the science fair night. Here’s how to make one of your own Simple Circuit Science Project!

Supplies needed

A medium-sized cardboard box

Wrapping paper or bulletin board paper to cover the box

Small 2oz plastic cups – we used 4

A roll of aluminum foil

A pair of tweezers

Small toys to try and fill out of the holes – we used Legos

Hot glue gun and sticks of glue

Alarm sensor

Electrical tape

Print out a character you want to use. The size will depend on the size of the box you are using.

Scissors

Glue stick

Pencil

Razor knife

Packing tape

Wire strippers

The Details

Print out a picture of a character you’d like to use. My son chose a Lego mini-figure which we printed on a couple of pieces of paper. He then cut them out and pieced them together overlapping them so they fit the box fully. Lay the character on the box and determine where you want the holes to be that you’ll be placing the little toys into. DO NOT glue the character down at this point.

Next, take a plastic cup and trace the bottom of the cup onto your character in spots where you want to add the holes for the toys too. My son chose to do 4 holes. After you trace the hole, a parent needs to help carefully cut out the holes of the cardboard box using a razor knife. You’ll also need to cut out the holes in your cut-out character.

After the holes are cut in the box, cover the entire box in tin foil. Where the holes are, carefully poke a hole and fold the foil inward to the inside of the box. If there are any spots where you can see the box still in the hole, you’ll want to add some additional foil. This will make sure there will be a connection for the circuit. You can secure the foil on the inside of the box with packing tape as well.

With the cups that you used to trace the holes with, on the inside of the box, you’ll need to hot glue the cups to the box. The cups are made of plastic so they are non-conductive only triggering the circuit if they touch the edge where the foil is.

Now you need to apply your siren to your simple circuit. Mount the siren on the inside side of the box using hot glue. Looking at the alarm, there are 2 wires that go into a connector at the end, cut the connector off, you do not need this. Cut it right at the end, leaving as much wire as possible. Now pull the 2 wires apart.

Next, poke a small hole for the wires to fit through the outside of the box. Now the black wire can be cut shorter and then strip an inch of the shielding off exposing the bare wire. Hot glue or tape it to the aluminum foil, making sure the wire is touching the foil.

Next, wrap the cardboard box with the paper that you have chosen over top of the foil so it looks nice and clean. Carefully recut the same holes that have the foil inside. Using a glue stick, glue the character down onto the box. Make sure to poke your long wire through the paper and bring it to the front as well.

The final step is to attach the tweezer to the white and black wire. Strip back an inch of shielding and wrap the wire around the back end of the tweezers. Then tightly wrap electrical tape around the wire on the tweezer to make sure it’s secure.

Now you’re ready to test your simple circuit. Touch the tweezer to the foil in any one of the holes completing a circuit from the black and white wire to the black wire causing the siren alarm to go off. This is grounding the circuit. Add in the toys and you’re ready to play!

Let us know if you recreate this Simple Circuit Science Project! We’d love to see pictures so please share with us on our Facebook page or tag us in your photo!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Simple Circuit Science Project appeared first on Primary Playground.

Kids love learning about space! Today I’m sharing a Free Printable Solar System Hat that you can use along with your space unit!

There are just so many fun things to learn about during a space unit. There’s just something amazing about the wonder of the moons, the planets, and everything that comes along space. Hats are also a favorite for the kiddos so I thought it would be a perfect way to help reinforce the planets.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Getting ready

This Free Printable Solar System Hat project is super simple. You’ll need to download the Free Printable Solar System Hat at the bottom of the post for each child. I’ve included a front and back strip for the hat, but if your student’s heads are a bit too big, you can have them glue the hat onto a sentence strip to make it longer/bigger for them.

To Assemble

To make the color system hat, the students will color all of the planets along with the sun. They can then cut the planets and hat out. You can have them glue the planets on randomly, or help them place them in the order closest to the sun to the furthest.

last, help them staple the hat together so it fits their head and they’re ready to go! They are so proud to show them off and is a great conversation starter with other people around the school or to show their parents what they’ve been learning about!

You can download the Free Printable Solar System Hat below.

If you’re looking for more space-themed activities to go with your unit, we have a bunch of fun resources for you!

Space bingo is a fun game to play at the end of your unit and to review vocabulary words they have learned.

Space Color By Code CVC Words is a fun and engaging way to practice CVC words. They work great as morning work, small groups, individual work, centers, word work, and homework.

And these Space Counting Mats are a fun way to practice numbers. The students will help gather the correct number of stars. They can then practice writing the number.

These space ten frame task cards are great to help students with number recognition, basic addition, and counting on.

Space Resources

Learning about the moon landing too? This has another hat included for that and a fun easy reader!

Space Activities is jam-packed with a ton of resources to cover your whole space unit from math, literacy, and science activities there is a ton to choose from.

Crafts are always a favorite too! These rockets look adorable having in the hallway for everyone to see!

Add a fun space addition to your literacy centers with these spaceship real and nonsense word sort.

And these crack the code math pages are full of jokes all about space! You can download a free one here!

What are some of your favorite ways to teach your kiddos about space?

I hope you students enjoy making and wearing their hats!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Printable Solar System Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

Have you ever done class rotations instead of having a Halloween party? Where you have a mad scientist theme and in each classroom, you get to do or watch a different creepy science experiment. It makes for such a fun and engaging day, still having fun on the holiday but with a different, twist if you cannot actually celebrate Halloween. I’m sharing with you a bunch of Creepy Science Experiments For the Classroom.

Potions, brews, and eruptions

In these science lab experiments, your little scientists can make their own crazy chemical reactions. The best part is, the experiments are completely kid-safe while also providing tons of fun for kiddos of all ages.

See how Fun With Mama creates this awesome witches’ brew using baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap.

Have you seen a pumpkin erupt before? Little Bins Little Hands uses a jack-o-lantern and makes it erupt using baking soda and vinegar!

Here’s another fun experiment from Messy Little Monster making a magic potion that uses glitter!!

Brains, eyes, hearts oh my!

All of these experiments involve body parts! It makes for some very creepy fun that you’ll get a ton of ewww that’s gross comments!

Make a heart or brain out of gelatin and let the kids explore. Give them an eye dropper and some red-colored water to add in some blood. -Little Bins For Little Hands

Or see how Little Bins For Little Hands makes Frankenstein frozen brains and uses eye droppers and warm water to melt his brain away.

Pink Stripey Socks shows us how to dig for skeleton bones with this perfectly gross activity!

And watch monster eyes fly with this creepy experiment using water, oil, and antacid tablets from The Educators Spin On It.

Slime and Goo

My kids are still obsessed with slime and anything that gets their hands messy. Here are a bunch of ooey-gooey recipes. Make a batch with each class and use small containers to give each student some to take home with them.

This eyeball slime is my favorite! Little Bins for Little Hands combines slime and eyeballs making a perfect combination!

• You’ll get some ohhh and ahhhh’s making this glow-in-the-dark slime by Red Ted Art.

This awesome pumpkin slime from Little Bins for Little Hands is made with real pumpkin seeds and looks just like the insides of a pumpkin! So cool!

And we can’t leave out oobleck! Your kids will love making and playing with this oobleck filled with spiders and eyeballs!

Even more awesomely creepy science experiments

Mama Smiles shows us how to make ghosts’ balloons inflate by creating carbon dioxide.

Create pumpkin circuits to light up a pumpkin made from a pool noodle using insulating dough and conductive dough from Steam Powered Family.

Your kids will love watching the creepy wiggly worms wiggle around the jar in this fun experiment using vinegar and baking soda.

And lastly,, who doesn’t LOVE bubbles? Here’s a fun holiday twist on blowing bubbles with this Ghost Bubble Science from Little Bins Little Hands.

I hope you’re inspired to try to some Creepy Science Experiments in your classroom this month! Share with us if you have any other favorite activities you love doing with your class this month.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Creepy Science Experiments for the Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

We love doing science experiments! They are such fun and engaging activities for little learners. Since it’s October, we’re sharing a fun Creepy Wiggly Worms Science Experiment today.

This would be a fun, quick and easy experiment as part of a Fun Friday, or even as a station during your Halloween party.

Materials Needed

gummy worms – we used 3 each time we did the experiment

Sharp scissors or kitchen shears

3 tablespoons of baking soda

1 cup of warm water

spoon

fork

2 jars or clear drinking glasses

white vinegar

Instructions

• Using the sharp scissors, cut the gummy worms into 4 strips each. The skinnier the better they’ll work for this experiment. You’ll want to do this part for the kids and the sharper the scissors the better as it’s difficult to cut the worms otherwise.

• Mix the 3 tablespoons of baking soda with the warm water in one of the jars/glasses. Stir it well. Drop the skinny gummy worms into the baking soda solution and let them soak for 15 minutes.

• After 15 minutes, fill up the other glass jar with vinegar. Fish the gummy worms out of the baking soda solution using the fork and drop them into the vinegar. You gummy worms will start wiggling and coming alive!

• If your worms are not moving or when they stop, you can add a teaspoon of baking soda to the jar to make them come to life again. Just make sure your jar isn’t too full of vinegar, otherwise, it will spill over!

What is happening?

The gummy worms are wiggling and moving as the vinegar in the jar reacts with the baking soda. It forms carbon dioxide bubbles. which are less dense than the vinegar and will float to the surface taking he worms with them.

Do you have any other fun science experiments you like to do in October?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Creepy Wiggly Worms Science Experiment appeared first on Primary Playground.

It’s no secret that I LOVE books. Throw in some apples and fall fun and you have some of my favorite types of books. I’m sharing with you today The Best Apple Read Alouds.

Apples are such a fun topic to learn about. There are so many fun activities that can be done alongside all of the books below.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The Best Apple Read Alouds

How to Grow an Apple Pie by  Beth Charles

This is one of my new favorite apple books! In this book, Sophie and her parents care for six apple trees added to the orchard on the day Sophie was born. As Sophie approaches her sixth birthday, she knows that her trees should finally be ready to bear fruit–enough to yield some apple pies she can make herself! In that sixth season, Sophie learns how to prune the trees, watch the blossoms grow, let the bees do the work of pollination, help the beekeeper, and, finally, watch her apples grow! At last, she learns the proper way to harvest the fruit–and how to make her pies! 

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

In this book, two young sisters follow the progress of their apple tree through the seasons, from a bare tree in the winter, through the pink blossoms of the spring, to the apple picking in the autumn.

We share a literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with The Apple Pie Tree here.

How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro

This book is a great informative nonfiction book on how apples grow.

These life cycle hats from seed go perfectly with the above books as your little learners are learning all about how apples grow and their lifecycle.

Apples by Gail Gibbons

This is another great book for introducing nonfiction concepts. This book covers everything from pollination to picking and eating.

Applesauce Day by Lisa Amstutz

This is a wonderful story about family traditions of picking apples to cooking applesauce in a pot their family has used for generations. Check out the our literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with the book here.

We share how to make applesauce in the classroom here if you’d like to make some too!

Johnny Appleseed by Jodie Shepherd

This book tells all about how Johnny Appleseed grew from a young boy who loved the outdoors into the well-known man who planted apple trees all across the county. A great biography for little learners.

Here is a fun Johnny Appleseed craft with writing prompts to make to go along with the book too.

Apple Trouble by Ragnhild Scamell

This is just a super cute book. Hedgehog has just finished building a cozy nest ready for winter when a juicy red apple falls from a tree and sticks in her spines on her back. And now Hedgehog can’t fit into her nest. Her friends try to help her remove it but she keeps getting more items stuck. 

We share another fun literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with this book here.

The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara

In this book, the students learn a lot about apples and apple orchards—including how apples are harvested, how cider is made, and what the different varieties of apples are—while trying to solve a riddle. The book also celebrates how some children learn differently than others. 

This fill in the blank How Does An Apple Grow book is a fun quick and easy way to review how an apple grows after reading some of the above stories.

Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie by Herman Parish

The illustrations are so bright and colorful in this book. In true to Amelia Bedelia fashion, she’s still up to her typical antics, mistaking Granny Smith for a person and thinking that a farmer’s market is a place to buy farmers. 

We share a literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with this book here.

Ten Apple Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss

And last but definitely not least, we love Ten Apples Up On Top! Seuss’s apple-balancing characters will have your little learners reading, counting, and giggling!

We have to fun activities to go along with this book. We share our literacy snack idea and free printable to go along with the book here.

And a free printable apple counting activity to go along with the book here.

Do you have any other favorite apple read alouds that you would add?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post The Best Apple Read Alouds appeared first on Primary Playground.

Can you believe it’s been 50 years since we first landed on the moon? Such an exciting time in history! Today we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with our literacy snack idea.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week we are reading, One Giant Leap by Robert Burleigh.  It’s an engaging, beautifully painted illustrated book. The book is written in a way that you feel the emotions the astronauts must have felt – so different from any other space book we’ve read.

For our snack this week to go along with the book, to celebrate, we’re having the special edition Marshmellow Moon Oreos!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

Have you seen these awesome special edition Marshmellow Moon Oreos at the store?  On the cookies, they have either a picture of the moon, a space shuttle, or Neil Armstrong holding the American flag. Such a fun tribute to an important time in history.

If you are reading this book again next year and the Oreos are no longer available, Moon Pie’s would be an awesome snack substitute to go along with the book!

free printable

While your students are enjoying their moon snacks, I made a free printable for them to work on. They get to write and draw about if they landed on the moon.

You can download the free printable from my Teachers Pay Teachers store below.

If you’re looking for more ideas to go along with celebrating the moon landing, you may like these other activities. The kids had so much fun making these moon landing hats!

I hope your students love learning all about the first time we landed on the moon!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Moon Landing appeared first on Primary Playground.

November is a great time to learn about things long ago. You’re easily able to tie it into Thanksgiving and into how they did things long ago. Making butter in the classroom is one of our favorite activities to do this month. Perfect to fit right into your social studies and science time.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Supplies you’ll need

small baby food jars -ask friends or students parents that have babies to save them for you. I’ve even got them from a local swip-swap page before for free.

heavy whipping cream

bread to taste the butter with

making butter in the classroom

Label clean, small baby food jars with the student’s names.  I like to pair the students up for this activity as it gives them an opportunity to work together to make the butter. Fill the jars about half-way with cream and secure the lid on tightly.

Now comes the fun part. Have the students shake their jars vigorously. Having a partner allows each child to have plenty of time shaking the jar but also gives them a break. They will need to shake the jar for about 10 minutes until the butter has congealed into a little ball (there will also be a separated liquid called whey). Viola, you have butter!

While the students are taking turns shaking their jar, I made a free printable for them to work on.  It’s a fun page to go over the ingredients, how they made the butter and whether they like it or not when they tasted it. You can download the free printable at the bottom of the post.

Now comes the best part, tasting the butter! I just brought a loaf of french bread from the grocery store and had the students add their butter.

After we were all done making the butter and with our papers, we went around the room asking if they like the butter or not and we created an anchor chart to graph our findings. It was a majority yes in our class.

You can download the free printable by clicking the green box below.

I hope your students enjoy this fun hands-on activity.

We’ll see you next time!

Jenette

The post Making Butter In the Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

Making applesauce in the classroom is one of the easiest things to do! It fits perfectly into our apple unit and the kids get so excited about it! This is a super quick and easy recipe perfect for the classroom and only has 5 ingredients! Be prepared for the classroom to smell amazing!

We do this activity as part of our apple unit and our Cooking Class How To Make Applesauce. It is a fun way to incorporate many different learning standards. In this pack, the students are learning writing, sequencing, retelling, life skills and much more. It’s a great hands-on activity to get the students excited to learn.

Supplies you’ll need

a crockpot  or a slow cooker

wooden spoon

measuring spoons and cups

peeler

knife for slicing the apples

cutting board

paper bowls and plastic spoons for taste testing

Ingredients

This will make a good tasting amount for approx 15 students – double the recipe if you have a larger class

8 golden delicious apples (red apples will work too)

1 cup of water

1/3 cup of  granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Making applesauce in the classroom

To make this classroom friendly, I prepare all but one or two of the apples at home. I peel and slice them so they are ready to go. Bring the last couple of apples so the students can see the process too of peeling and slicing the apples. Depending on your class level, you may choose to pick a couple of students to help demonstrate it to the class.

To make the applesauce, peel, and core. Cut the apples into fourths and place them in the crockpot. Have students measure and add the sugar, water, lemon, and cinnamon. Have another student stir the apples to combine everything.

Put the lid on the crockpot and cook the apples on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or until apples are very soft.

Allow them to cool slightly and then mash them with a wooden spoon. This will leave them somewhat chunky, but if you want a more smooth applesauce you can put them into a blender or use an immersion blender.

When the applesauce is cool enough, it’s time to taste test!

I made the recipe into a printable so you can send it home with your students to share with their families in case they want to make some applesauce at home too!

Click the green box below to download the free recipe printable.

And if you need a great read-aloud to go with making applesauce with your class, you have to check out Applesauce Day.

This is a fantastic book about a families tradition of making applesauce together each year. It takes you along through their entire day from picking the apples to making the applesauce and then heading home excited to do it all again next year. You can find out more and grab the FREE printable to go along with the book here.

I hope your students have fun with this hands-on learning experience!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Making Applesauce In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

Teaching about butterflies in the classroom is such a fun experience for the students. Hands-on learning is the best! We learn all about their life cycle and even get to watch them go through their cycle and in the end, release the butterflies!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

To start us off, I’ve gathered all of my favorite butterfly books here. There are some great books about the life cycle, monarch butterflies, and some great life lessons in these books. You can see all of the books here.

In class, we make an anchor chart with all of the things we know about butterflies.  The students work on all kinds of engaging pages from my Butterfly Activities No Prep Pack.

We get our caterpillars, observe them and write in our journal as they get larger and then make their chrysalis.

Our beautiful butterflies emerge and the students are just so excited. We continue to observe them in our journal for a couple more days and then we release them.

This kit is a great one to use if you’re interested in having the butterflies in your classroom.

I love using songs in the classroom. They are so helpful in helping the students remember the life cycle stages and facts about butterflies. These are some of our favorite songs about caterpillars and butterflies.

A fun song about the life cycle of a butterfly by Harry Kindergarten.

A cute song about a hungry caterpillar becoming a butterfly by The Learning Station.

Life Cycle Of A Butterfly teaches children the 4 stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. The fun, catchy melody will really help your children learn and remember the stages in the metamorphosis process. Life Cycle of a Butterfly simply explains the important details of each stage so children can easily follow along and understand. The visual images of each stage of the butterfly’s metamorphosis are vividly real.  The life cycle of a Butterfly actually shows a time-lapse video of the caterpillar developing in the chrysalis and then emerging as a butterfly. This video is by Jack Hartmann.

The Butterfly Song is a science song that teaches the four stages of a butterfly. The butterfly song teaches kids about the life cycle of a butterfly, butterfly body parts, a butterfly’s diet, the predators of a butterfly, the life span of a butterfly, types of butterflies, and more. This video is by Have Fun Teaching.

We make butterfly life cycle hats to review what we’ve learned. We love singing all to our butterfly life cycle songs during our time making these.

We even incorporate our Literacy Snack into our butterfly unit. We make a very hungry caterpillar snack. You can get all the detail about that here along with a free printable!

And we have another fun butterfly read-aloud and a butterfly snack to go along with the book. You can get the details on the snack and grab the FREE printable to go along with this book here.

To end our unit, make a butterfly craft and write about how the students felt when they released the butterflies.

We even have been lucky enough to be able to visit the Butterfly Wonderland. It’s such a fun and exciting place that the students get a real feeling for these beautiful creatures!

Do you have any fun things you like to do when you are teaching about butterflies?

Jenette

The post Teaching About Butterflies In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

To make this rainbow in a jar, the students are exploring density by layering sugar water to make a rainbow.

The materials are all things you most likely already have on hand.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

• 
  Weather Activities No Prep Math, Literacy and Science Pack

  $6.00

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• 
  St. Patrick’s Day Bingo

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• 
  Weather Bingo

  $4.00

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Materials

Approx. 2 cups of warm tap water

1/2 cup measuring cup

1 Tablespoon measuring spoon

4 small jars of glasses

Approx. 1 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar

Red, blue, yellow, and green food coloring

Tall thin glass or test tube. I used an old Starbucks bottle

Straw

4 popsicle sticks

Microwave

Experiment steps

Step 1:

Measure a 1/2 cup of warm tap water into the 4 jars.

Step 2:

Add 2 drops of food coloring to each of the 4 jars.

Step 3:

To the jar of red water, add 2 tablespoons of sugar. To the jar of yellow, add 4 tablespoons of sugar. In the jar of green water, add 6 tablespoons of sugar. And to the jar of blue water, add 8 tablespoons of sugar.

Step 4:

Stir each of the jars to dissolve the sugar. If your water is not warm enough to dissolve the sugar, put the jar in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until the sugar is dissolved.

The students can already see at this point that by dissolving increasing amounts of sugar, you’re increasing the density of the sugar water solutions. They can easily see that the jars all started the same and now the blue looks a lot fuller than the red.

Step 5: 

Pour about an inch of the blue water into the bottom of your glass or test tube.

Step 6:

Use your straw to gently drip the green water on top of the blue layer. It works best to place the straw to the side of the glass just above the blue layer. You want to add the layers to the glass slowly and carefully, otherwise, they’ll mix together resulting in a muddled rainbow.

Step 7:

Add the yellow layer next using the same method and last the red layer. Stand back and admire your beautiful rainbow!

I hope your students love making the rainbow and learning about density in a fun way!

If you’re looking for another great science experiment that would be great for the science fair, you might like the simple circuit that we made. You can get all of the details for that project here.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Rainbow In A Jar Science Experiment appeared first on Primary Playground.