Whether you are planning a session of Vacation Bible School, starting up a summer camp, planning summer reading programs at a library, or looking for fun science themed activities for preschool or kindergarten age kids, you’ll love these hands-on activities! They’re all play-tested, easy and cheap for you to do, and will teach kids key science skills while they play. All work great for children ages 3 – 6 or so.

If you want a printable version of these lesson plans with lots of photos to illustrate the ideas, find a free PDF to download on Teachers Pay Teachers.

All of these are one-day themes. (Dinosaurs, Chemistry, Five Senses, Shadows and Rainbows, and Space Travel.) Choose any combination for as many days as you want. Each day includes:

• sensory bin, water table and play-dough activities
• crafts and art experiences
• large motor and pretend play
• songs, recommended books, and science demos for group time

The title of each theme is linked to my full post, which includes detailed tutorials on the activity ideas, recommended books, songs and videos, and more hands-on activities

Dinosaurs

• Sensory: Dino Dig – hide plastic dinos in a tub of shredded paper. OR Fossil Hunt – bury “bones” in sand – kids dig up and clean them with paintbrushes.
• Craft: Dinosaur Masks or Dinosaur Skeletons from Pasta.
• Challenge: Make an Animatronic Dinosaur Finger from cardboard.
• Snack: Dino shaped chicken nuggets or other food.
• Dino cookie cutters with the playdough and dino sponges to paint with
• Dino dress-up and small world play

Planets & Space Travel

• Sensory: Mars rovers or a lunar rover toys in sand
• Imaginary Play: Set up a “planetary surface”, a “rocket ship” and “mission control.” Add astronaut dress-up costumes. (You can make an astronaut helmet with a paper bag.)
• Craft: Constellation Viewers or Melted Crayon Planets
• Art: Salad Spinner Galaxies and Puffy Paint Earths
• Snack: Trader Joe’s sells rocket shaped cheddar crackers. Horizon makes a graham cracker that’s cows jumping over moons. There’s astronaut ice cream. Or you could do some kind of food in a tube or a packet like the astronauts eat. (like an applesauce pouch or yogurt tube)

Five Senses

• Sensory: Make a “touchy feely box” where the kids can reach in and feel something, but can’t see it. Put in several interesting textures. (Details here.) Or, make a board with several textures to explore.
• Musical instrument play. Craft: Make and decorate shakers. (Details here.)
• Craft: make a Thaumatrope optical illusion or Binoculars from toilet paper tubes.
• Do an obstacle course blindfolded. Explore lots of scents.
• Snack: Apple variety taste test, or popcorn – talk about taste, smell, texture. (See details here.)

Light and Shadows, Rainbows

• Shadow Play – hang a sheet in a doorway, or over a frame, (or on the wall if needed) Put a shop light so it shines on the sheet. Kids create shadows on the sheet with their hands, bodies, or shadow puppets
• Shadow puppets – Trace shapes on black paper, cut out and add a stick.
• Color store – a pretend play option where items are sorted by color
• Color mixing experiments: with paint, colored water and playdough
• Exploring translucent, transparent and opaque objects on a light table or overhead projector

Chemistry, Mixtures, Reactions

• Make and explore oobleck and slime
• Do ice excavations
• Explore reactions with fizzy powder – baking soda and colored vinegar (see photo)
• Pretend to be a scientist
• Do science demos where things go boom!

Find ideas for an Engineering themed summer camp here.

Or, I’ve got 30 other themed lesson plans to choose from!