Discover the science behind exploring and understanding water with young children.

Drip—Drop—Splash! Water is essential to all forms of life. Explore Water! 25 Great Projects, Activities, Experiments, captures a child’s imagination with an intriguing look at the world of water. Combining hands-on activities with history and science, kids will have fun learning about the water cycle, water resources, drinking water and sanitation, water pollution and conservation, water use, water folklore and festivals, and the latest in water technology. Entertaining illustrations and fascinating sidebars illuminate the topic and bring it to life, while Words to Know highlighted and defined within the text reinforce new vocabulary. Projects include a nilometer, a rain harvester made out of plastic containers, a transpiration experiment, and a mini water wheel. Auxiliary materials include a glossary, and a list of current reference works, websites, museums, and science centers.

The trainer’s guide serves as an indispensable handbook for trainers and administrators interested in introducing staff to the Exploring Water with Young Children curriculum—from planning to implementation. From exploring sinking and floating to using books to extend science learning, seven basic and eight advanced workshops develop staff members’ understanding of science and inquiry teaching skills. The guide also includes strategies for supporting teachers over time through mentoring and guided discussions, as well as an extensive resource list.

SAND AND WATER PLAY: SIMPLE, CREATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.

"The articles in this collection emphasize the importance of play--from infancy through the primary grades, how to support and scaffold children's play, and how to connect play to learning. Also included is a professional development guide with questions and activities"---Publisher's Web site.

From zippers to the Pyramids, rolling pins to catapults, we are surrounded by simple machines. This book will amaze kids with the ingenuity they already possess and inspire them to look differently at the objects they use everyday. Explore Simple Machines! With 25 Great Projects introduces kids to the concept of “mechanical advantage,” and harnesses kid-power by inviting them to build machines of their own design. It opens their eyes to the diversity of machines in their lives, and sparks the imagination with challenge, humor, and achievable projects. Explore Simple Machines! dedicates a chapter to each of the six simple machines that were identified centuries ago: levers, inclined planes, pulleys, screws, wedges, and wheels & axles. Kids will develop analytical skills as they figure out where force is applied and what kind of work it generates.

Looking at science in a new way, Exploring Water with Young Children focuses children's explorations to help deepen their understanding of water and its properties-including concepts related to water's flow, appearance and effect on objects. The third unit in the Young Scientist Series, this field-tested curriculum supports the early development of important science inquiry skills such as questioning, investigating, discussing and formulating ideas and theories. Karen Worth is a graduate-level instructor in the early childhood education department at Wheelock College. Ingrid Chalufour has designed and conducted training programs for a variety of early childhood staff for more than 35 years. Both authors live in Newton, Massachusetts.

Expand the role science has traditionally played in the early childhood classroom with this inquiry-based curriculum

BIG activities engage little learners with this complete curriculum for science, math, literacy and language. BIG is powerful. Children want to be BIG. They want to do BIG. They love enormous numbers like a hundred million billion and long words like "tyrannosaurus rex." They love to spread their arms wide and run as fast as they can. Thinking BIG, Learning BIG is filled with BIG activities to engage the imaginations of young children. Children learn best by seeing, feeling, and doing. Making things on a grand scale enhances their understanding. When children build a giant spider with eight legs and eight eyes, and a giant fly with six legs and two eyes and two wings, children can experience the difference between spiders and flies, that they are not just "bugs." BIG creations are more fun, more memorable, and therefore, more educational. The chapters are organized by topic, with activities that build science, math, literacy and language skills, which form a solid foundation for future learning. The information and activities align with the standards set by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. The BIG Connections section presents ways to integrate the topic throughout the curriculum--in sensory experiences, art, music, dramatic play, and gross motor skills.