Science: 3-5 Years

Other Michigan Early Childhood Standards of Quality sets

• Approaches to Play and Learning: 3-5 Years
• Communication, Language, and Early Literacy Development: 3-5 Years
• Creative and Expressive Arts: 3-5 Years
• Engineering and Technology: 3-5 Years
• Mathematics: 3-5 Years
• Physical Development and Health: 3-5 Years
• Social and Emotional Development: 3-5 Years
• Social Studies: 3-5 Years

Build ramps for toy cars and experiment to see which car goes faster down the ramp. 3.2a.1

Build a marble run and make predictions about what pieces they can add to make the marble move faster or slower. 4.2a.1

Drop a feather and a baseball from the same height and notice that the feather falls slower. 5.2a.1

Explore using a small pulley system to raise and lower toy cars. 5.2a.2

Notice that snow is melting into water, while playing with snow outdoors or in the sensory table. 3.2b.1

Paint with ice cubes that have been made with drops of food coloring.  3.2b.2

Use their hands to melt ice cubes in the sensory table. 3.2b.3

Breathe onto a cold window so they can write their name in the condensation.  4.2b.1

Participate in group discussions to identify items that fit into the categories of solids, liquids, and gasses. 4.2b.2

Explain that when ice and snow melt, they both turn into water.  4.2b.3

Work with a group to shake a jar of heavy cream until it turns to butter. 5.2b.1

With adult support, sort and classify items such as a block, a cup of water, and the air as solids, liquids, or gasses. 5.2b.2

Notice that when rain freezes in cold weather, it turns into ice.  5.2b.3

Use the light switch to turn lights on and off. 3.2c.1

Build with translucent colored blocks on the light table.  3.2c.2

Play with toy drums or egg shakers. 3.2c.3

Play with a child-size piano or keyboard. 4.2c.1

Use a variety of objects as drums.  4.2c.2

Ask for sunglasses to shield their eyes from the sunlight. 4.2c.3

Layer red and blue translucent panels over each other on the light table to make purple. 4.2c.4

Tap different things around the room using rhythm sticks to see how the sound varies.  5.2c.1

Use a desk lamp to make shadow puppets. 5.2c.2

Play an electronic Simon Says game and match the light patterns, sometimes. 5.2c.3

Match color swatches with the different colors of soil and rocks they find on the playground.  3.3a.1

Participate in a group activity to identify differences between a collection of rocks. 3.3a.2

Sort rocks by size, color, shape, or texture. 3.3a.3

Use a magnifying glass to look closely at the dirt to see and identify grains of soil, as well as tiny twigs, rocks, and sometimes insects. 4.3a.1

Match color swatches with the different colors of soil and rocks they find on the playground.  4.3a.2

Shake several different kinds of rock in a container until the rocks begin to grind together and produce new sand and soil, then discuss what happened.  5.3a.1

Experiment with using soil, water, and other natural materials such as straw and broken leaves to create mud bricks in an ice cube tray, then build with them once they dry.  5.3a.2

Ask for sunglasses when it is sunny out.  3.3b.1

Laugh and dance in the rain. 3.3b.2

Express disappointment when rain means they won’t be able to play on the playground. 3.3b.3

Participate in a group activity to make a snowman. 3.3b.4

Identify appropriate clothes for different kinds of weather (shorts for sunny days, rain jacket for rainy days, heavy coat for cold winter days, etc.). 4.3b.1

Participate in a group routine to identify and record the daily weather. 4.3b.2

Describe the weather using more detail, such as “It’s only raining a little bit,” or “It’s sunny now, but my momma says it’s going to snow later.” 5.3b.1

Use a weathervane or windsock to figure out which way the wind is blowing.5.3b.2

Participate in a group routine to chart how many days each type of weather has happened. 5.3b.3

Notice snow on the ground and say, “It’s cold!”3.3c.1

Point out the leaves falling in autumn and new buds and sprouts in spring. 3.3c.2

Notice leaves falling from the trees and say that soon it will be time to go to the apple orchard or pumpkin patch. 4.3c.1

Point out that the leaves change color before they fall off the tree. 4.3c.2

Participate in a group routine to chart the changing temperatures. 5.3c.1

Categorize types of weather by the seasons they typically happen in.  5.3c.2

Point at a bird on the playground and announce, “Birds eat worms!”3.4a.1

After an adult explains that a tree’s roots help it drink water, pour a cup of water at the bottom of a tree to “help it drink.” 3.4a.2

With guidance and support, use their fingers to poke holes in soil for planting seeds. 3.4a.3

Identify more characteristics of animals and plants, such as the color of the leaves and flowers of a particular plant, a dog’s ear shape, etc. 3.4a.4

Show interest in caring for the environment, such as asking to care for plants or animals in the learning environment. 3.4a.5

Tell a familiar adult, “The tree’s leaves are red, but they were green before,” and ask why.  4.4a.1

When drawing a picture of themselves at Halloween, draw trees with orange and brown leaves.  4.4a.2

Ask about different kinds of flowers, and compare different characteristics of their seeds (size, color, shape, etc.). 4.4a.3

Begin to recognize and discuss the life cycles of different kinds of animals, such as recognizing that a bird hatches from an egg, but cats give birth to kittens. 4.4a.4

Describe a caterpillar they saw outside and ask what kind of butterfly it will turn into. 5.4a.1

Describe or identify more details around the characteristics of plants and animals, such as the breed of a familiar type of dog, the shape of a flower petal or leaf, more detail around the colors in a butterfly’s wings, etc. 5.4a.2

Watch a deer run through a field and notice that it gallops like a horse. 5.4a.3

Compare and describe features of the environment, such as identifying one lake as bigger than another. 3.4b.1

Explain that the park they like best is the one where they go to watch the big fish in the pond. 3.4b.2

Identify the basic needs of animals (food, water, air, and shelter).  3.4b.3

Tell about the frogs they saw during their visit to the lake.4.4b.1

Participate in a group discussion about where they have seen deer in their community.  4.4b.2

Identify the basic needs of plants (water, air, sunlight, and nutrients). 4.4b.3

Point out a bush on the playground that is the same kind as one in their aunt’s backyard. 5.4b.1

Participate in a group project to draw pictures of animals that live in their community, to paste where they have been seen on a map of their community.  5.4b.2

Watch for animal tracks during an outdoor walk. 5.4b.3

Participate in a group activity to categorize things as “alive” and “not alive.”3.4c.1

Sort rocks or leaves by size, color, shape, or texture. 3.4c.2

Categorize things as “alive” and “not alive,” sometimes. For example, recognizing that a dog is a living thing, and a toy car is not. 3.4c.3

Mis-identify a dead plant as a “non-living” thing. 3.4c.4

Sort pictures of plants, animals, and other objects into “living” and “nonliving” categories. 4.4c.1

Mis-identify seeds or coral as “non-living” things. 4.4c.2

Ask a familiar adult if a caterpillar’s chrysalis is a living or non-living thing. 5.4c.1

Explain that plants and animals need food and water, but non-living things like rocks and toy cars do not. 5.4c.2