During the last few weeks, the main topic in kindergarten was water. The teachers started by explaining the water circulation to the children in an easy way. To start this topic the teachers first asked everyone where the rain and the clouds come from. The children could soon agree that rain is falling from the clouds, but nobody could answer how clouds develop. To make the children understand the teacher boiled water in a small experiment to show how it evaporates at high temperatures and becomes water again if it gets colder. For a better understanding the children played a little game, where they could be the raindrops and go through every step of the water circulation. Afterwards every child created their own little book about the water circulation to take home.
During the next days we concentrated a bit more on what exactly water is. In small experiments the children found out that water has no taste, no color, and no smell. Furthermore, they could learn how different substances react if they are mixed with water. Everyone was surprised how sugar and salt would dissolve in a way that you could not see or smell but still taste them. But the most fascinating was probably to experience that oil would always float on top of the water surface no mater how much you would mix it. Afterwards we tried out which materials would swim on the water surface and which ones would sink to the ground. We ended the lessons by learning how water becomes ice if the temperatures are under zero degree Celsius. It was interesting for the children to see that ice is not as transparent as water anymore. In the end every child decorated a paper raindrop.
All in all, I was surprised how the teachers explained such a complex subject to children of such a young age in an easy and comprehensible way. It was nice to experience the children’s curiosity and excitement during the different experiments.
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