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12 Science Activities for Toddlers to Bond With Them

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It is never too early to introduce your toddlers to the world of science. These 12 science activities for toddlers will allow you to bond with your toddler while teaching them all about science.

What are toddler science activities?

Toddler science activities are all about teaching them to explore and observe. They will do this in nature on an outdoor scavenger hunt while looking at the changing seasons or even while baking cookies with mom or dad. 

Toddlers might not understand the full scope of the science activity, but it is building fundamentals for future growth when it comes to science. 

These 12 science activities for toddlers will have them exploring and learning in no time, all while having fun together. 

Painting with Ice

science activities for toddlers

Ice painting is one of those simple science activities your toddler will ask to do time and time again. You will want to freeze colored ice cubes (water with a little bit of liquid watercolor)  in the freezer until frozen. Once frozen, grab some thick paper, I recommend putting it on a cookie sheet to contain the mess, and then let your toddler take the ice and paint the paper as desired. They will create a beautiful picture with the melted colored ice cubes.

Mixing colors

Mixing colors

Anytime you teach a toddler that when you mix blue and yellow and get green they are absolutely amazed. That is why I love mixing color science activities for toddlers. 

Colored ice cubes

To do this fix science project you will want to get a bunch of ice cube trays and fill them with water. Once they are filled with water you will want to use the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. Be sure to make a bunch of ice cubes of these colors. Be sure you don’t mix the colors at this stage. Just make all yellow ice, all blue ice, all red ice, etc.

You will then want to freeze these in the freezer. This is best done the night before if possible. Once frozen pull them out of the freezer and let the experiment begin. 

Grab some cups that you can see through or even some plastic beakers and fill them with a little bit of water. Then let your toddler add 2-3 ice cubes to each cup. Let them watch to see how the water changes. They will be amazed as they watch the primary color ice cubes then make secondary colors. 

Creating new colors

If your toddler and you want a last minute color mixing science experiment, then try this easy on as they create new colors. 

Grab some clear jars or plastic beakers and fill them with water. 

Once filled let your child choose what color food coloring they want to add to the water. 

As you add the color, let them gently stir the water to see what color the water turns. 

Once it turns one color allow them to add a few drops of another color if desired to watch the water change again. 

Mixing colors together allows you to talk with your kids about primary colors and secondary colors and helps them understand the world of science in a way they can understand right before their eyes. 

Snow Science Activities

Snow Science Activities

If you have observed these 25 ways to predict snow and think that snow is on its way, then you will want to introduce your toddler to some of these snow science projects.  

Painting with snow

Painting with snow is fun for kids of all ages and helps them understand of melting snow. The great thing about this activity is that no special tools are required or needed and it is totally mess-free. 

Melting Snow

Melting snow is another fun science activity for toddlers because it does not take a lot of prep, is mess-free, and will be something they can observe throughout the day. 

First, you will want to grab some snow and place it in a big measuring pitcher. 

Then, have your toddler measure with a ruler how tall it is. They then can watch it throughout the day as it melts. 

Once it is all melted they can measure how tall it is again and see if it is still the same height or if it changes during the melting process. 

Is it Magnetic?

science activities for toddlers

Learning about magnets is fascinating for toddlers. To do this project, let them gather all different materials and objects from around the house. Then, give them a powerful magnet to see if there is a magnetic pull with the object. 

If it has a magnetic pull allow them to place the objects in one pile. If it doesn’t have them place them in another pile. 

Once they have sorted through all the objects they have collected talk about similarities and differences among the objects. 

Bubble colors

Bubble colors

Bubble colors is one of my toddler’s favorite science activities. You will want to grab some muffin tins and place them in a big plastic container. This helps contain the mess. 

Once in the container, add baking soda to each of the muffin cups. Add a few drops of different color food coloring as well. (This is not a must, but adds lots of fun colors to the experiment). Then, fill a water bottle with a squirt lid with vinegar. 

Let your toddler squirt the vinegar onto the muffin tins. As they do this they will see the reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda. They will be talking about this science activity all day long. 

Fizzy Rainbows

science activities for toddlers

Fizzy Rainbows is another project your toddler will love. Grab a metal tin and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of it. Then sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of the pan. 

Pour Vinegar into 3 bowls. Add green food coloring to one bowl, red to another, and blue to the last one. (Of course, you can use different colors as well)

Then, with an eyedropper let your toddler suck up some of the colors and squirt it into the pan. 

Your child will create fizzy rainbows and have an absolute blast doing it. 

Nature Collage

Nature Collage
Source: countryfile.com

Kids love nature and it teaches your toddler so much about everything science. With this science activity for toddlers, go explore in nature, and let them collect pieces of nature. Let them pick up leaves off the ground and fallen flowers. Let them collect some dirt. 

Talk to them about the importance of never pulling flowers off the plants as well as not pulling leaves off the trees. 

Talk to them about the cycle of the life of a plant as you see plants in different stages of growth.

Then, once they have collected all kinds of fun parts of nature take them inside and let them create their very own nature collage. Your child will love seeing nature every time they look at it. 

Outdoor scavenger hunt

Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

An outdoor scavenger hunt is an activity you can do with your kids wherever you are. Doing this together will help your child really look at nature in a whole new way that they will love. It opens up so many opportunities to talk to them about how science works in nature. 

Bake cookies

science activities for toddlers

What toddler doesn’t love baking with mom in the kitchen? Take science to the kitchen and help them find ingredients measure and then mix. Let them watch the cookies bake with the oven light on. They will see just how powerful science is without even knowing it. Who says science projects can’t taste delicious too?

Skittles Rainbow

science activities for toddlers

If you want one last science activity for your toddler try this Skittles rainbow. Grab a white plate and then have your toddler arrange Skittles in a circle around the outside of the plate. Once they have placed their Skittles where they want them, then get some warm water and have them pour them into the center of the plate. Pour just enough water to have it pass through the Skittles. You will quickly begin to see a rainbow pulling towards the center of the plate. This experiment will have your toddler in awe of the magic of science. 

Science experiments and activities don’t have to be hard and they are all around us! What activities do your toddlers like to do that promote a love of learning about science? Share in the comments!  

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