How to Raise a Science-Minded Child

Are you wondering how to raise a science minded child? Here’s a hint – when you’re teaching middle school science at home, fun activities are involved.

There is an old adage “you reap what you sow”. What this essentially means, as it relates to science, is that if you want your children to harness their inner scientist, you have to create a home-sized lab. Foster a healthy passion for learning and understanding our world at home.

Believe it or not, it isn’t overly time-consuming or incredibly expensive to raise a science-minded child.

Here are a few things you could do:

Science Games for Kids 

Now, you might tell me your that your child is addicted to your tablet/mobile or that gaming console you may or may not have regretted buying. Taking the gadgets away will only make them more rebellious. Cue science games such as “School of Dragons” – a lot of gaming companies have geared their games to not only be interesting but also highly educational. In fact, using games as a learning tool has been adopted by quite a few schools. Download some of them on your devices and watch your child learn and ask for more. Next step, real life science experiments!

Convert your Kitchen to a Science Hub 

It is in a child’s nature to ask questions, their chosen MO if you wish. Instead of shrugging off these questions, you could just use the opportunity to subtly insert a “Why don’t we find out?” rebuttal. When your son or daughter is encouraged to perform their own Q&A sessions, the learning will be immense. There is nothing as thrilling to a child as the word “experiment”. All you have to do is google science experiments and using simple kitchen ingredients, you can turn this corner of the house to a haven of science. Get started here –

• Easy Science Activities for the Kitchen
• The Mad Scientist – Spectacular Science Projects
• Grow a herb garden with your kids

 Fun Science Programs 

I always say it’s worth investing in channels like National Geographic and Discovery Kids, but if you are a homeschooler like me and have to keep her finances in check, you might want to explore the vast world of YouTube. My personal favorites are –

• Fun Science – A lovely series explaining concepts like sound and light.
• Minute Physics – They had me at their tag line – “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Sci-Fi Movies for Kids 

 Nothing beats the sheer joy of watching a movie and if it can push your child to want to build cars and spaceships (I still remember the first spaceship I built of Lego and popsicle sticks after watching ET!), you’re in for a win-win situation. Common Sense Media has a great list of movies for kids you should take a look at as soon as you can.

There are many other ways to bring science into your child’s life – nature walks, trips to the zoo, mechano sets, coke and mentos – the world is your science oyster. Nurturing their natural sense of discovery and curiosity is the best way to raise a science-minded child.

Guest Author Bio:

Catherine Ross is a full-time stay-at-home-mum who believes learning should be enjoyable for young minds. An erstwhile elementary school teacher, Catherine loves coming up with creative ways through which kids can grasp the seemingly difficult concepts of learning easily. She believes that a ‘fun factor’ can go a long way in enhancing kids’ understanding and blogs at Learning is Fun