How to Raise a Science Lover

Helping your child to learn to love science should be a fun and fulfilling educational journey.

Science is all around us. In cooking, gardening, art and medicine. It’s found in animal care, music and even dance. The natural environment provides many opportunities for fostering a love of science. This nursery in Hampshire believes that children who are encouraged to spend time outdoors will thrive.

A good way to begin your child’s journey of scientific discovery is to enter via something which your child already loves. Whatever your child enjoys, there will be a route into science which is tied up within the pastime or hobby. Let’s look at some of the opportunities presented by the most common passions found among children of all ages.

Art is a wonderful place to begin fostering a love of science. Most children, especially younger ones, enjoy art. There are many ways in which science is intertwined with art and a number of projects which you could instigate so that younger children begin to understand some of the scientific processes involved. Try experimenting with marbling paper for example, this will help your child learn about viscosity and how different liquids react to one another. 

Sound is another great place to begin looking at science. Teaching your child about vibration with the use of different objects is not only amusingly messy but also fun. Similarly, filling bottles with different amounts of liquid and showing your child how they will each produce a different note can be an absorbing and fun activity.

Cooking is a fun and rewarding activity which can easily be linked to science. Help your child learn all sorts of scientific facts via food. One fun example is making butter in a bottle. Simply half fill a plastic bottle with heavy cream and show your child how to shake it (with the lid screwed on tight!). The fats will separate and butter will form, teaching your child the rudiments of emulsification. Similarly, baking bread can begin to teach children about fermentation. 

Science infiltrates most of our lives – discuss the facts with your child and if they’re particularly interested in an aspect of it, foster that interest by providing books and other learning tools. When a child understands that science is only as complicated as you want it to be, they’ll always have an interest in it.