Elementary Science
Young children learn science best by living and exploring the world around them. Come and get some great resources, tips, and ideas for teaching elementary-aged children science and discovery.
Elementary Science Teaching Tips & Ideas
How I Teach a Large Family in a Relaxed, Classical Way: Science
Family style learning is a great way to tackle lots of different subjects, including science.
Things to See & Do in New York
Prospect Park Zoo
At the Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, naturalistic habitat exhibits feature many different animal species. Three major exhibit areas were designed to engage children: The World of Animals, Animal Lifestyles, and Animals in Our Lives. In the World of Animals, youngsters can meet prairie dogs nose-to-nose, and walk among wallabies. The Animal Lifestyles building's centerpiece is a spectacular habitat for hamadryas baboons. Animals in Our Lives exhibits encourage children to observe and draw wildlife; outside, visitors can interact with friendly, touchable species in an inviting barnyard.
Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center
The Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center is Long Island's air and space museum. It offers galleries, a planetarium, IMAX movies, and more.
Trevor Zoo
The Trevor Zoo is located on Millbrook School Road, six miles east of the village of Millbrook and four miles west of the village of Amenia. It accommodates more than 120 exotic and indigenous animals on six acres.
Utica Zoo
Located in Roscoe-Conkling Park, the Utica Zoo is part of a recreational complex featuring over 200 animals. Of the 80 acres of land set aside for the zoo's use, 35 are presently developed. Also offers educational programs.
Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River
As a part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River stretches 73.4 miles (118.3 km) along the New York-Pennsylvania border. The longest free-flowing river in the Northeast, it includes riffles and Class I and II rapids between placid pools and eddies. Public fishing and boating accesses are provided, although most land along the river is privately owned. Wintering bald eagles are among the wildlife that may be seen here. This unit of the National Park Service is also home to John Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct and the Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, PA.
The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier
The mission of The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier is to develop the intellectual, physical and emotional well-being of the children of the Southern Tier through participatory exhibits and programs. These exhibits engage the senses, challenge the mind and offer a diverse framework for discovery in the arts, sciences and humanities.
Buffalo Zoological Gardens
The Buffalo Zoological Gardens is the nation’s third oldest zoo. Located in 23.5 acres of beautiful Delaware Park, the Buffalo Zoo exhibits a diverse collection of wild and exotic animals, and more than 320 different species of plants. Animals on exhibit include the lowland gorilla troop, rhinoceros, hyenas, polar bears, and many more.
MOST Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology
The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology is a hands-on science and technology museum for people of all ages and includes the Silverman Planetarium and the only domed IMAX® theater in New York State. Discover, learn & play!
Fire Island National Seashore
Pristine ocean shores, an ancient maritime forest, legacies of lighthouse keepers, and the historic estate of William Floyd are just a few of the recreational, natural, and cultural resources of Fire Island National Seashore. Located only one hour east of New York City, this park offers visitors many types of relaxation and educational opportunities. Fire Island National Seashore was established "for the purpose of conserving and preserving for the use of future generations certain relatively unspoiled and undeveloped beaches, dunes, and other natural features ... which possess high values to the Nation as examples of unspoiled areas of great natural beauty in close proximity to large concentrations of urban population."
Maritime Explorium at Port Jeff Harbor
The Maritime Explorium encourages visitors to explore and play together in our hands-on interactive maker space rich with nautically themed science based exhibits and activities. While our focus is children ages 2-12 and their caregivers, we welcome visitors of all ages. Families exploring the fun and interactive hands-on exhibits at the Maritime Explorium at Port Jeff Harbor will enjoy the excitement of scientific discovery, develop a broadened cultural awareness and experience a sense of artistry while learning about Long Island’s rich and varied maritime heritage.
Staten Island Zoo
The Staten Island Zoo exhibits animals in a variety of settings, including the African Savannah at Twilight exhibit, a Tropical Forest, the Aquarium, the Serpentarium, the Children's Center, and various outdoor exhibits. Also offers special exhibits and an educational program.
Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is the flagship of the largest network of metropolitan zoos in the country, with exhibits featuring over 4,000 animals. View Western lowland gorillas in the Congo Gorilla Forest , snow leopards in the Himalayan Highlands Habitat, and almost an acre of an indoor Asian rain forest. Offers educational programs and special exhibits.
Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is located in Syracuse. Central New York's embraceable Zoo boasts youngsters that are endearing to kids of all ages; elephants youngsters who love to play in their pool, two year old lion cubs who hone their instinctive hunting skills through their play and the young siamang whose athletic antics are favorites in the social animal world. The Zoo is open year round and offers educational programs as well.
Staten Island Children's Museum
The mission of the Staten Island Children’s Museum is to nurture the creativity and curiosity natural to all children, to recognize and celebrate different learning styles, and to demonstrate vividly that learning can be exciting and fun. The Museum is committed to achieving these goals through programming that emphasizes direct and authentic hands-on experiences conducted in a welcoming and pleasing environment. The Museum encourages participation by visitors of all abilities and endeavors to reach beyond its walls to serve as an educational resource for the members of our diverse community, especially families and schools. Founded in 1974 and located in a historical setting on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Gardens, the Staten Island Children’s Museum offers 40,000 square feet of interactive exhibits as well as a 4-acre East Meadow, and a picnic and performance pavilion.
Seneca Park Zoo
Located in Rochester, the Seneca Park Zoo offers animal exhibits, educational programs, and special exhibits. Highlights include the Genesse Trail and Discovery Center and the Rocky Coasts exhibit.
National Parks of New York Harbor
The National Parks of New York Harbor represents a collaboration, or organizational network, of these parks: Gateway National Recreation Area, Governors Island, Manhattan Sites and Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island, as well as one affiliated site, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. These remarkable places include Jamaica Bay, the largest continuous piece of open space in all of New York City and icons such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, recognized the world over. The parks also include the cradle of our nation at Federal Hall on Wall Street, places in Manhattan where Presidents have lived and breathed and been interred and memorialized, and Governors Island, the newest national park on New York Harbor.
Central Park Zoo
From a steamy rain forest to an icy Antarctic penguin habitat, the zoo leads visitors through tropic, temperate and polar regions to encounter fascinating animals - from tiny leafcutter ants to tremendous polar bears. The Tisch Children's Zoo lets little animal lovers meet gentle creatures up close. Year-round education classes and innovative public programs - including the zoo's "Wildlife Theater" -- encourage all ages to learn more about our natural world, and become involved in its protection.
New York Aquarium
Located in Brooklyn, the New York Aquarium offers exhibits featuring over 8,000 animals. Learn about animals living as far away as the Southwest coast of Africa and the Arctic to those found locally in our own Hudson River. Hightlights include the Alien Stingers exhibit, Sea Cliffs exhibit, and Aquatheater presentations, featuring California sea lions.
New York State Living Museum
Located in Watertown, the New York State Living Museum is committed to zoological excellence and passion for New York's wild things and wild places while instilling new depths of curiosity and knowledge for visitors and the community.
Utica Children's Museum
The Utica Children's Museum offers an environment that supports every child's natural curiosity to learn through hands-on, play-based exploration.
The Children's Museum at Saratoga
The Children’s Museum at Saratoga is dedicated to creating an interactive community that inspires curiosity, sparks imagination and nurtures discovery. The Museum is also committed to fostering active parent involvement in children’s learning, to serving as a resource for school districts in the area, and to ensuring that its programs and services are accessible to all children.
Gateway National Recreation Area
Gateway NRA is a 26,000 acre recreation area located in the heart of the New York metropolitan area. The park extends through three New York City boroughs and into northern New Jersey. Park sites offer a variety of recreation opportunities, along with a chance to explore many significant cultural and natural resources.
Niagara Falls State Park
America’s oldest state park, Niagara Falls State Park stands today as an American icon and enduring legacy of the visionaries who worked to save it for generations to come. Today, the park’s signature attraction, majestic Niagara Falls, is the dramatic apex of the free-flowing waters of the Niagara River Gorge. Visitors from around the world are entranced by the thundering wonder of Niagara Falls, a gradn tribute to the men and women who fought to preserve it for all.
Ross Park Zoo
Ross Park Zoo sits tucked into the northern face of Binghamton's South Mountain. Highlights include Cat Country Complex, the Spectacled Bear exhibit, and Our Changing World and Penguin Exhibit.
Explore & More Children's Museum
Over two decades ago, Explore & More opened in a 500-square foot room in a school basement. The idea of having high-quality play-based learning for children from all over Western New York had been cultivated in the minds of a small group of dedicated parents, educators and toy designers. The museum with its all-volunteer staff saw 1,000 visitors that first year. Flash forward 21 years later, to Explore & More today, currently housed in a space 14 times that size, serving over 60,000 children and their family members each year. Several national and international studies since have continued to confirm the idea on which the Museum began—that play is essential to healthy brain development in children. With nationally recognized and award-winning programs and exhibits, the most generous free admission policy in the area, and a mission to provide critically important informal learning experiences for all, Explore & More has become an important asset to the well-being of children and families in Western New York.
Queens Zoo
The Queens Zoo features exhibits of wild habitats, from the Great Plains to the rocky California coast to a Northeast forest. At home in these naturalistic settings are American species of American bison, mountain lions, California sea lions, American bald eagles, Roosevelt elk, and more. South America is represented as well and the Queens Zoo is also the only New York home to spectacled bears, endangered natives of the Andes Mountains. The aviary is a geodesic dome, designed by Buckminster Fuller and used in the 1964 World's Fair in Queens. And the zoo's animal residents include "Otis," the famous coyote rescued in Manhattan's Central Park in 1999.
Mid-Hudson Children's Museum
MHCM is the ONLY children’s museum in the Hudson River Valley between the larger New York City and Albany markets. In February 2016 MHCM opened The Science Center @ MHCM to advance early STEM education. The museum is located in the heart of the historic waterfront in Poughkeepsie, just steps away from the Poughkeepsie Metro-North train station, the Walkway Over the Hudson’s Elevator, fabulous restaurants, and a new city park. MHCM has three areas of programmatic focus that direct its work in exhibits and educational programs: school readiness, health and wellness, and community-building. The museum is dedicated to engaging and serving a diverse audience of families from all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds and of all abilities and needs through special admission and membership programs.
Children's Museum of Science and Technology
SUNY Poly CMOST strives to engage the community to help co-create the museum experience, while also providing unique STE(a)M learning experiences. The operation of the museum as part of the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly) supports CMOST's mission to "instill a sense of wonder and discovery in young minds, inspiring a lifelong exploration of science and technology," and is complementary to SUNY Poly's mission to provide pioneering nanotechnology education and prepare New York's future workforce with a comprehensive education of the highest quality.
Elementary Science Activities & Experiments
Arbor Day National Poster Contest
Join over 74,000 fifth grade classrooms and home schools across America in the Arbor Day National Poster Contest. The theme chosen will increase your students’ knowledge of how trees produce and conserve energy. The free Activity Guide includes activities to use with fifth grade students to teach the importance of trees in producing and conserving energy. These activities correlate with National Science and Social Study Standards. The Guide also includes all of the information you need for poster contest participation.
ExploraVision
ExploraVision is a competition for all students in grades K-12 attending a school in the U.S., Canada, U.S. Territory or a Department of Defense school. Homeschooled students are eligible to enter. It is designed to encourage students to combine their imagination with their knowledge of science and technology to explore visions of the future. Teams of students select a technology, research how it works and why it was invented, and then project how that technology may change in the future. They must then identify what breakthroughs are required for their vision to become a reality and describe the positive and negative consequences of their technology on society. Winning ideas have focused on things as simple as ballpoint pens and as complex as satellite communications. The student teams write a paper and draw a series of Web page graphics to describe their idea. Regional winners make a Web site and a prototype of their future vision.
Elementary Science Curriculum
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry
These user-friendly, unabashedly Christian, one-year science curriculums for elementary students include teaching lessons, coloring pages, hands-on time, memorization lists, review sheets, creative writing assignments, and a supplemental book list. The Chemistry text is intended for grades 4-8, and includes such hands-on activities as making model atoms, breaking covalent bonds, and making gas expand. It also lists chemistry terms, notations, and rules. The conversational style gives students the basic information they need, making this an ideal first course in life science, especially useful for those following a classical approach.
Featured Resources

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