Summer really lends itself to science. It's a combination of the free outdoor play, the beautiful weather, and the lifeforms available to explore. It seems like a childhood rite of passage to catch frogs, pick dandelions, climb trees, and visit your local body of water. The eye of a home educating parent sees the learning in all of these activities! The ecosystem of the frog, the health benefits of dandelions, the different types of trees, and living creatures in that local body of water are just a few examples that come to mind. When you let a child free to explore outside, the learning is endless!
If you prefer to let that learning happen naturally, you need to read "What Walter the Frog Taught Me About Teaching Science" to see how this homeschool mom let her kids bring a frog inside for a few days. You'll also learn some other ways that learning science happens naturally in the summer. If you want to do little science projects at home this summer, check out "Easy Science Experiments at Home" and also "8 Science Activities to Do at Home This Summer" which will give you an activity per week of the summer! These activities can be great to pull out on rainy days. If you're looking to get out of the house and take a field trip, check out our list of science field trips available for each province and territory in "Science Field Trips in Your Area."
Be sure to scroll down to see all the helpful content on science time with kids and don't miss the More For You section that has additional resources to gain more insight on this theme.
If your kids are anything like mine, they live outside in the summer as much as possible. Due to this, I don’t worry too much through the school year about science. We do use a formal science curriculum that we do occasionally, but we aren’t consistent with it. The teacher in me never thought I would be so loosey-goosey with something like this, but as I have stepped away from teaching in the traditional school system, I have changed my mind and had my eyes opened to all the learning that happens around you. I know now my kids are going to learn more about science when they experience it in life, especially when they experience it during play in the great outdoors.
I remember our science curriculum in first grade—a small square book published locally that was a few hundred pages. I do not know if it is still in print. As a young girl, science was my favourite subject. It was easy to understand and interesting to learn—and I was good at it. But there was one thing lacking in our science classes—no experiments!!
While some homeschoolers take summers off, some prefer to keep learning. For those who still like to keep little minds learning, a more relaxed and fun approach is the usual choice. Science is one of those subjects that can easily be included in your summer plans, as many activities can be done outside. Make it a fun summer by adding these science activities to your summer to-do list and take advantage of the wonderful, warm weather!
More for You
Science—is it a subject your kids love or dread? Curriculum author Jeannie Fulbright shares four methods of teaching science to ensure a superior education plus a lifelong love for science.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com Member Pick
Find all things science on the science resources page at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. More than 50 options including courses, unit studies, mini-courses, and help articles.
Find all things science on the science resources page at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. More than 50 options including courses, unit studies, mini-courses, and help articles.
Experiments in the kitchen are a fun way to spark curiosity as well as answer questions they may have asked. Science can happen with just a few things you probably already have in your kitchen.
Railfence Books offers delightful children's books. Young and growing readers are captivated by the musicality of the English language. Author Carolyn J Morris enhances a child's curiosity for rural living and farm life. Artist Richard McNaughton's water illustrations perfectly capture the gentle themes.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).