Science Experiments for preschoolers/Kindergarteners?

[mathgirl]

My 4 -year-old is a very inquisitive child, and is very very interested in science. Today, I caught her in the bathroom mixing soap and water in the sink when she was supposed to be brushing her teeth (she was "doing science").

Do you know of any sites, books, etc. that not only have experiments but also an explanation as to why it happens? For example, I found one using raisins and carbonated water, but it has no explanation as to why they react the way they do. I know my DD will ask me a hundred questions, and I would like to be able to explain these things.

[ApachePunk]

I don't know of any sites or books, but one that I did with my son (4) was the answer to "why does it rain" - he knows the water cycle - puddles evaporate, or turn into little tiny bits of water and go up into the sky, and then they condensate, or stick together because it gets cold and they make clouds, then they precipitate, or the clouds get heavy and rain (or snow) comes down. The simple explaination was good, but the experiment made it stick, lol. You boil a pot of water on the stove. While the water is heating and getting to boil, you cover a cookie sheet with ice cubes. When the water is boiling, you hold the cookie sheet above the pot of water (use oven mits, and your arms might get tired as it takes a few minutes) and the water vapor from the boiling water (evaporation) will condensate on the bottom of the cookie sheet (condensation, it's cold, just like up in the sky), and once it collects enough the dropplets will get big enough (clouds get heavy) and start to "rain" over the stove. My son loved it.

[dougiesmom]

Our home school group used the book Pop Bottle Science for this year's science class. There were a lot of neat experiments in it. I didn't actually get the chance to look through the book, so I don't know if it gave explanations or not, but you could always use the internet to look up the reasons why it worked the way it did.

[LBSLOTT]

These are a few I've found through pinterest.com:

http://www.housingaforest.com/tag/kid-projects/page/3/

http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/science-notebooks/

http://littlemisshypothesis.blogspot.com/

http://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/science-lessons.html

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/science_of_the_week.html

http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/science/science_center_activities.htm

http://www.teachpreschoolscience.com/lessonplanindex.html

http://www.exploringnature.org/db/main_index.php

http://www.sciencebob.com/blog/

Pinterest is an awesome place to find ideas!  Hope these help!

[sweetredneck]

You can buy age appropraite materials/experiment kits/etc. here:

www.workshopplus.com

I've bought several preschool-3rd grade science experiment kits through them--everything from making fizzy wands to tricking your eyes to weather-related experiments.  All sorts of fun things there.  :)