Mixing it Up: Exploring Fizzical-Science through Play

Abstract

Young children have many opportunities to investigate physical science and chemistry concepts through play and exploration. While formal chemistry lessons are not within the scope of an early childhood classroom, there are ways to encourage children to engage in the processes of chemists.  This article presents a framework for how to structure science lessons in the classroom that build upon children’s theories and prior experiences. With a focus on mixing and how physical objects transform, we then present a variety of activities based on the framework, where children may deepen their knowledge of materials and interact through child-led explorations. We provide examples of how this can be done across many spaces (i.e. outdoors, the arts center) to honor the important work of play in early childhood classrooms and to highlight the many ways that children engage in science and theory-building throughout their day.