Kindergarten and 1st Grade Life Science Activities

Make your own greenhouse - out of a balloon! Your child will learn how greenhouses work as they plant radish seeds and watch them grow.

Create a three-dimensional X-ray of your child's hand in this simple modeling activity. All you need to get started are black paper and drinking straws

Roasting pumpkin seeds makes for a great Halloween activity, and a healthy snack!

Create a habitat for a butterfly right in your own backyard, and build your first grader's science knowledge while you're at it.

In this science fair project, young children will become aware of and have the opportunity to experience the four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.

Here's a simple craft activity that can help your youngster better visualize the life cycle of a frog as a circle.

Make scented sensory cloud dough. Add it to a sensory table, activity station, or put it in a baggie for extra at-the-park entertainment!

Use simple items to create a kindergarten "grow box" that lets a kid see just how salad plants send down their roots and grow underground.

In this design thinking activity, your child will choose an animal to research, learn about the animal’s habitat, and then replicate the animal's habitat using household items.

Teach your child about healthy foods and how to make a meal that is good for them with this fun activity that you both can do together.

This recipe makes bubbles that not only blow up nice and big, but do tricks and experiments! How do you do it? It's not a secret, it's science!

Children use their design thinking skills and powers of observation to create and construct a bird nest.

Check out this silly game that will put your kid's animal habitat knowledge (and acting skills) to the test.

Use popcorn in this tasty experiment to explore the five senses at home with your kindergartener!

Let your kid experiment with textures among fabric and other materials that are smooth, rough, soft, or slippery—and then they'll make a texture book!

Make some easy homemade yogurt with your young scientist, and see what a few 'live' bacteria can do in the right conditions!

Magnets may hold up papers on the fridge, but is it the paper that attracts them? Find out more with this kindergarten science investigation.

In this activity, your kid has your permission to get his socks nice and filthy. In fact, it's a necessity, because those socks are going to make a garden.

Here's a fun math and science activity: help your child explore four different kinds of measurement, using their hand and a few simple household tools.

Do this activity to help your kids see how seeds contain "baby" versions of big plant stems, roots, and leaves.

In this hands-on activity, kids learn what it takes to foster seedlings into full-grown plants, all in a regular old soda bottle!

Learning about how plants grow is a building block in the early grades science curriculum. Put a fun twist on this life science concept with these cup monster friends!

Invite your kindergarten marine biologist to practice in scientific identification and categorization while creating a lovely treasure box.

Children are imaginative story-builders. Create a shoebox habitat with your child to put those budding creative instincts to good use.

Satisfy your kindergartener's fascination of different sounds with this easy science project, where they'll use their ears instead of their eyes to identify sounds!

Alive or not? This yeast experiment you can conduct with your little scientist explores the answer to this timeless question.

Learn how to grow an avocado plant indoors with your 1st grader in this hands-on gardening activity.

Study science with your first grader in this arts and crafts activity that models the reason why fall leaves change color with some paint and crayons.

Here's a first grade ladybug game that explores how air can move solid objects, and adds some measurement practice, too. Play, learn, and enjoy!

Help children understand the power of germs and the importance of hand washing with this visual activity that introduces the concept of scientific inquiry.