Fun Science

Our day on February 18 began with a nice surprise. The morning edition of Times of India, Mumbai had a packet of tomato seeds pasted on the front page. The seeds were part of the Kissan ketchup ad campaign, and an innovative one I must say. The ad provided a packet of tomato seeds and listed the steps to plant them, and grow a tomato plant. More information was provided on their website.

Needless to say, my to-do item for the weekend was to buy a nice pot and plant the seed, along with my daughter. We'll be taking milestone pictures of our plant project and then we'll create a picture sequence that shows the journey of a tomato - from seed to plant.

Science always lends itself to interesting projects that we can do at home with our kids, not necessarily as part of studies, but just as an activity. Experiments allow kids to observe and infer how things work. Very young kids (toddlers) may not understand the scientific reasoning behind things, but they do understand some bit of cause and effect, and their sharp minds remember things.

Experiments with older kids are more fun, because their inquisitive nature makes activities more challenging; they always want to know "why". And they don't need to visit a lab to quench their inquisitiveness, because science is all around us.
Here are some fun activities that you can do with kids, and have them conclude why or how things happened.

• Which toys float and which toys sink in the bath tub?
• Focus the flashlight on the wall and block it with your hand and observe shadows (older kids can conclude why shadows are formed)
• Race cars of different sizes (body and wheels) and find out which ones go fast
• What happens if we don't water plants?

And if you are a working parent, and can't find enough time to do activities with your kids, you need not feel guilty. Because, you can buy your kids story books that teach science.

Check out the Magic School Bus series. They have books for different reader levels, which take children on amazing science adventures!