Life Science

Children discover what makes a frog an amphibian as they investigate frogs’ life cycles and play a game to help them understand how frogs catch their prey.

Children learn about the characteristics of bats and the very important jobs of bats. The children build bat wrist wraps and play an echolocation game.

Children build models of the skeletal system and bones while they learn about how to keep their bones strong and healthy by making good food choices and exercising.

Children explore the three zones at the bottom of the world’s seas. They discover a few amazing deep-sea animals and learn how they cope in their extreme environments. The children make models of anglerfish and deep-sea zone viewers.

Children learn about bees and experiment to discover how they play a key role in our ecosystem through pollination.

Children explore the characteristics of fish as they construct fish-anatomy cards. They experiment with camouflage and discover why camouflage is an important adaptation.

Children learn about muscles as they build a model biceps and triceps muscle pair out of K’NEX® pieces and create a stress ball. [K’NEX is a registered trademark of K’NEX Limited Partnership Group. Used herein with permission.]

Children learn about the heart and how it works by: pretending to be blood cells traveling through a vein toward the bottom of a heart; creating their own stethoscopes; and discovering how to take their pulses.

Children discover what makes a crocodile a crocodile, and learn the difference between ectothermic and endothermic animals as they build and experiment with their own crocodile thermometers.

Children discover what makes a frog an amphibian as they investigate frog life cycles and play a game to help them understand how frogs catch their prey.

Children explore the structure and function of the lungs as they determine their own lung capacity and use their own “air power” to play Air Ball.

Children discover what makes mammals unique as they build mammal dioramas and play a card game called Mammal Memory.

Children learn about insects while on a mini-beast safari!

Children explore the characteristics of crocodilians as they build models of alligators and alligator habitats.

Children learn about owls and their habitats as they dissect synthetic owl pellets and explore the owl’s role in the food chain.

Children learn about animal classification as they explore the diversity of sharks and discover the characteristics that differentiate sharks from other types of fish.

Children explore the characteristics that differentiate snakes and other reptiles from other animals. They make models of snakes and learn about their features.

Children learn about nutrition and hydration as they explore the Food Pyramid and prepare their own sports drinks.

Children learn about earthworms as they build models of compost bins and create edible cups of dirt complete with yummy gummy worms.

Children learn about bioluminescence and explore the science of fireflies—beetles that create their own lights. The children also build K’nex® models of fireflies complete with glowing light sticks. [K’NEX is a registered trademark of K’NEX Limited Partnership Group. Used herein with permission.]

Children discover that spiders belong to the Arachnida class of animals. They learn about the anatomy of spiders as they build model spiders and experience what it might be like to become wrapped in silk by a spider.

Children learn about tide pools and the many invertebrate animals that live in tide pools while building their own mini tide-pool habitats.

Children learn about cephalopods and other common mollusks while building and decorating mollusk mobiles. The children also make octopus arms they can wear, complete with working suckers.

Children take on the roles of ornithologists and make their own binoculars that they take outdoors and use to identify local bird species.

Children learn about the structure of flowers and how they create new plants and grow food through the process of pollination. The children also dissect flowers, press their own flowers, and build small models of flowers.

Children explore insect anatomy as they learn about scarab beetles. They also make their own pop-up scarabs and create lucky scarabs from clay.

Children learn about the process that occurs inside their noses when they smell things and how the sense of smell varies in the animal kingdom. They also play a challenging game of matching scents.

Children learn about the Nile River, its ecosystems, and its importance to both ancient and modern-day Egyptians as they build small models of the Nile River.

Children explore the properties of reflection and refraction while investigating items in nature using a microscope.

Children learn about deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and genes while building two models of DNA—a single-strand model and an edible, double-helix model.