Young children pick things up best when they get their hands involved. EYFS science activities give early years learners the chance to investigate the world around them and grow their critical thinking skills. These activities support the Understanding the World area in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Children aged 3 to 5 start building a foundation for later science learning here.
You really don’t need fancy equipment or hours of prep for science in the early years. Simple experiments with everyday stuff can spark all sorts of curiosity. Michelle Connolly, founder of LearningMole and a former primary teacher with over 15 years’ experience, says, “early childhood science education is vital for inspiring a lifelong love of learning, and you can never start too young.” LearningMole is a UK educational platform that supports teachers, parents, and homeschoolers with resources for children aged 4 to 11.
Maybe you’re trying out nursery rhyme science activities or heading outdoors for nature investigations. The main thing is to keep science accessible and fun. Your home or early years setting can become a place where children test ideas, make predictions, and learn through play.
Key Takeaways
Science in the early years builds curiosity and thinking skills through hands-on exploration. It connects directly to Understanding the World and helps children develop vocabulary, observation skills, and confidence as they explore their environment.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the framework for children from birth to five years in England. Science sits mainly in the Understanding the World area of learning, especially under ‘The Natural World’ early learning goal.
EYFS science activities focus on exploring and investigating instead of formal lessons. Children learn through play-based activities that encourage noticing, questioning, and testing ideas about their world.
You can help children explore materials, observe living things, and understand simple concepts about their surroundings. This often happens through water play, growing plants, or examining minibeasts outside.
Early years science blends exploration with play, which are both essential for learning. When children investigate how things work or what happens when they mix materials, they develop problem-solving skills and learn to think logically.
Science activities help children expand their language as they pick up words like ‘rough’, ‘smooth’, ‘float’, or ‘sink’. You can support this by talking about what children see and introducing new words during their investigations.
Key developmental areas supported by science:
Science also boosts confidence. When children test their own ideas and see what happens, they realise their questions matter. Mistakes just become part of learning.
Science encourages a lifelong love of learning by tapping into children’s natural curiosity. Young children act like little scientists, always asking ‘why’ and trying to figure out how things work.
Starting science early helps children develop critical thinking skills before they start formal schooling. They learn to observe, predict, and test ideas through simple experiments.
Science activities link up with all areas of the EYFS curriculum. One investigation might involve counting (maths), talking about findings (literacy), working with others (personal and social development), and physical exploration.
Children who get good science experiences in early years develop sharper observation skills and a stronger vocabulary. These skills prepare them for Key Stage 1 science in the National Curriculum, where learning becomes more structured.
Young children pick up science best through hands-on exploration and play. Materials, vocabulary, and cause-and-effect relationships form the basics of early years science activities.
Children naturally investigate materials by touching, looking, and moving things around. You can encourage this by offering objects like wood, plastic, fabric, metal, and paper for them to explore.
Start with simple properties. Ask if materials feel rough or smooth, hard or soft, heavy or light. Let children group objects based on these features without worrying about right or wrong answers.
Key properties to explore:
Water play gives children a chance to test materials. They can guess which items will sink or float, then try it out. This kind of simple science experiment helps children build observation skills.
You might set up a tuff tray with a range of materials and let children sort them in their own way. This supports self-directed learning and helps them understand properties of materials.
Use basic science words during play to help children describe what they notice. Words like melt, freeze, sink, float, hard, and soft work best when you use them in conversation instead of formal teaching.
If a child spots ice melting, you might say, “yes, the ice is melting because it’s getting warmer.” This ties the word to what they see. Repeat key terms in different situations so children hear them often.
Essential words for early years:
Children might find abstract words tricky at first. Stick to concrete examples. Instead of “transformation,” say “the water turned into ice.” Keep language clear and literal to match their stage.
Children need to see that actions lead to results. That’s the heart of scientific thinking. Simple activities like rolling balls down ramps or mixing colours show them how actions cause outcomes.
Set up cause-and-effect experiments with everyday things. Dropping objects into water makes splashes. Pushing toy cars with different strengths changes how far they go. These activities help build logical thinking.
EYFS science connects to Understanding the World. Children make predictions, test them, and observe results through repeated play.
Let children try things again and again. If they push a car softly once and hard next time, they’ll notice the difference. Repetition helps them understand that actions reliably lead to certain results.
Ask open questions like, “what happens if we add more water?” instead of yes/no ones. This gets children thinking about how their actions link to what they see.
If you want science to thrive in your early years setting, you’ll need materials matched to children’s abilities, spaces where curiosity can grow, and a focus on safety during hands-on activities.
Children aged 3 to 5 need materials they can handle safely and on their own. Natural items work well for EYFS science activities. Pine cones, leaves, pebbles, and twigs cost nothing and let children explore textures, sizes, and colours.
Kitchen items also make great science tools. Plastic cups, sieves, funnels, and spoons are perfect for water play and pouring. Magnifying glasses with chunky handles are easier for small hands.
Steer clear of materials with small parts that could be choking hazards. Use unbreakable containers instead of glass. Textured fabrics, foam shapes, and large buttons work well for sorting by property.
You can browse educational resources to help you choose equipment that suits young children. Ice cube trays, plastic pipettes, and measuring spoons let children try simple experiments and boost their fine motor skills.
Set up a space where children can explore science on their own terms. A low table with baskets keeps materials within reach. Use trays to contain messier activities like pouring or mixing.
Change materials each week to keep things fresh. One week you might focus on floating and sinking, another on magnets. Label baskets with pictures so children know where things go.
Keep tools like magnifying glasses, tweezers, and small pots at child height. A wipe-clean surface makes tidying up after sticky or wet experiments much easier.
Add clipboards and chunky crayons so children can record what they see. Display previous discoveries at eye level to remind children of what they’ve learned and prompt new questions.
You need to complete a risk assessment before practical activities. Check CLEAPSS or SSERC for up-to-date safety advice on early years science.
Supervise water play at all times. Use shallow trays and keep water levels low. Remind children to wash their hands after handling natural materials or messy substances.
Never use hot liquids or sharp tools with this age group. Check all materials for damage each session and remove anything cracked or broken.
Be aware of allergies if you’re planning food-based experiments. Skip nuts and check dietary needs before using ingredients. Keep cleaning products away from science resources.
These simple experiments use everyday materials to introduce young children to science concepts through colourful reactions and interactive play.
This activity makes swirling patterns when dish soap touches milk and food colouring. Pour whole milk into a shallow dish so it just covers the bottom. Add drops of different food colourings, spaced apart.
Dip a cotton bud into washing-up liquid and touch it to the milk near the food colouring. Instantly, the colours will swirl and dance across the milk.
What happens:
Children can try adding more soap or making new patterns. This activity fits nicely with STEM learning resources that explore reactions and materials.
This fizzy experiment mixes bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to make a colourful eruption. Fill a clear jar halfway with bicarbonate of soda. Drop in several splashes of food colouring, using as many colours as you fancy.
Slowly pour white vinegar into the jar and watch the rainbow foam erupt upwards. The reaction happens fast, so get the children to watch closely.
Materials needed:
You’ll find this among many EYFS science experiments that show chemical reactions in a safe, visual way. Children aged 3-5 can see cause and effect while exploring how different substances interact.
Make a bubble maker with a paper cup and a sock. Cut off the bottom of the paper cup, then pull a clean sock over the cut end. Fasten it with an elastic band.
Mix washing-up liquid with water in a shallow dish. Dip the sock-covered end in the bubble mix, then blow through the cup’s drinking end. You’ll get streams of tiny bubbles pouring out.
Tips for success:
Let children try different blowing speeds or dab a bit of food colouring onto the sock before dipping.
Water and materials offer endless chances for young children to observe, predict, and test ideas through hands-on play. These science experiments for early years help develop critical thinking while children play.
Set up a simple water tray with everyday objects like toy boats, pebbles, corks, and plastic toys. Children guess which items will float or sink, then test them in the water.
This floating and sinking investigation builds observation skills and introduces basic science. Offer materials like wood, metal, plastic, and foam so children can spot patterns. They might notice heavy objects usually sink and lighter ones float, but sometimes things surprise them.
Let children use simple recording sheets to draw or stick pictures of objects in columns marked ‘float’ and ‘sink’. This helps them organise their findings and practise early data collection.
You can ask children to build boats from junk materials like yoghurt pots, foil, and cardboard. They see how many small toys their boat can carry before it sinks, which introduces ideas about weight and capacity.
Set up stations for children to mix different substances with water. Sugar, salt, sand, flour, and food colouring all react differently.
Children see that some things dissolve while others stay visible. Salt and sugar vanish into the water, but sand settles at the bottom. Offer clear containers, spoons, and simple materials for stirring and watching.
These simple science experiments get children using words like ‘cloudy’, ‘clear’, ‘separated’, and ‘mixed’. Ask questions like ‘What do you think will happen if we add more?’ or ‘How has the water changed?’
Try coloured ice cubes and let children watch them melt in warm water. They’ll spot how the colour spreads and notice temperature changes. It links to everyday moments like ice lollies melting on sunny days.
Take science learning outdoors and give children real experiences with nature. Simple activities like exploring local habitats and looking for minibeasts help children build curiosity about their world and strengthen their observation skills.
A nature walk turns any outdoor space into a living classroom. Guide children to spot seasonal changes, collect leaves of different shapes, or listen for bird calls. These walks support the Understanding the World area of the EYFS framework and encourage communication as children describe what they see.
Plan walks with a simple goal, like finding things of certain colours or textures. Bring bags for collecting pinecones, twigs, and interesting stones. Back in the classroom, children sort their finds by size, shape, or colour, which builds early maths skills as well as observation.
Outdoor learning activities work even in small spaces. You might set up a sensory path for children to walk barefoot on different natural surfaces. Weather watching, such as observing clouds or feeling the wind, introduces early meteorology. LearningMole has free science videos that match outdoor discoveries, helping children make sense of weather or plant growth they’ve noticed.
Bug hunts get children exploring minibeasts in their natural habitats and teach respect for living things. Grab magnifying glasses, small clear containers with air holes, and picture cards showing common insects like ladybirds or beetles. Look under logs, near plants, and in damp soil where minibeasts hide.
Show children how to handle creatures gently and return them carefully after observing. Ask things like “How many legs does it have?” or “What colour is it?” to build counting and descriptive language. Investigating mini-beasts builds enquiry skills as children learn about different habitats and what creatures need to survive.
Make simple bug hotels with stacked logs, bamboo canes, and dry leaves. Children can see which insects visit over time. Record findings with drawings or tick charts, which supports early literacy and helps track scientific observations.
Children learn best when they see science in action. Light and shadow experiments help them understand how things work, while weather activities link classroom learning to daily life.
Shadow activities work well for EYFS science investigations because they mix fun with learning. Start indoors with a torch, letting children make hand shadows on the wall. This shows that shadows form when something blocks the light.
Outdoor learning makes shadow play even more exciting on sunny days. Children can trace their shadows with chalk at different times. They soon notice shadows are longer in the morning and shorter at midday.
Shadow puppet theatres are great for small groups. All you need is a light source, a white sheet, and some cut-out shapes. Children quickly see that moving closer to the light makes shadows bigger.
Try coloured transparent materials to make coloured shadows. This teaching approach for preschoolers introduces ideas about how light travels through different things. Some materials let all the light through, while others block it completely.
Weather experiments link to everyday experiences. Make rain clouds in jars using shaving foam and food colouring. The coloured water drips through the foam, showing how rain falls from clouds.
Create a wind sock from paper and ribbons so children can watch the wind change during the week. They can record what they see with simple pictures or marks, practising early data collection.
Show the water cycle in clear bags taped to sunny windows. Children watch water evaporate, form droplets, and fall again. It copies nature, but happens in just a few days.
Let children compare warm and cold by freezing coloured water in gloves to make ice hands, then watching them melt. You can also test which materials keep things warm or cold, a bit like how volcanic rocks hold heat after explosive natural events.
Young children pick things up best through hands-on play that lets them try ideas and solve problems. Simple stuff like building blocks and magnets can introduce STEM challenges and get children thinking.
Blocks give children a way to explore engineering through play. Offer different shapes and sizes so children learn about balance, stability, and space as they build and arrange.
Key learning areas include:
Ask questions like “What happens if you put the big block on top?” or “How could you make your tower stronger?” These help children think about their choices and try new ideas.
Teachers often notice block play works well in pairs or small groups. Children share ideas and learn from each other’s building tricks.
Magnets really fascinate young children. They create effects that feel almost magical. Start with simple activities like testing which classroom objects stick to magnets and which don’t.
A magnet maze is a fun way for children to move metal objects through a cardboard maze with a magnet underneath. This lets them see magnetism in action and practise hand-eye coordination.
Try sorting games where children group magnetic and non-magnetic objects. This helps them spot patterns and guess which materials will attract. Some children get curious about why some metals work and others don’t.
STEM activities with magnets link to other science topics. Exploring magnetism often leads to questions about gravity or how planets move. These early years science moments lay the groundwork for more science later on.
Children link science ideas to favourite stories and rhymes, making tricky concepts real through characters and tales they know. These themed science experiments turn beloved books into hands-on investigations.
You can turn classic nursery rhymes into EYFS science experiments that teach real scientific ideas. Building lolly stick catapults for The Cow Who Jumped Over The Moon brings forces and motion into play.
If you test different materials to make umbrellas for Incy Wincy Spider, children get to explore which fabrics are waterproof. They guess which ones will keep the spider dry, then pour water over their creations to check.
The Humpty Dumpty egg drop is a favourite for teaching about gravity and impact. Use boiled eggs and things like cotton wool, bubble wrap or tissue paper for cushioning. Children design their own protective wrapping and see if Humpty survives his fall without cracking.
Picture books make fantastic starting points for storybook-themed science experiments that blend stories with hands-on investigation. The Three Little Pigs turns into a materials test, where you build houses from different things and use a hairdryer as the wolf’s huff and puff.
If you build rafts for the Billy Goats Gruff, you can teach floating and sinking. Making bridges for The Gingerbread Man brings in structure and stability. These activities get children to predict, test and tweak their designs.
LearningMole has free videos that show how to set up story-based investigations, matching Understanding the World goals. Growing beanstalks for Jack and the Beanstalk links stories to plant life cycles. Children can watch and record changes over time.
Young children ask questions about everything, don’t they? Your job is to help them turn that curiosity into real scientific thinking.
You can do this by teaching them to observe closely and record what they discover in ways that make sense to them.
Encourage children to use all their senses when exploring EYFS science activities. When they look at a plant, ask them about its colour, texture and smell, not just what it looks like.
Teaching science vocabulary helps preschoolers describe what they see in more detail. It’s quite rewarding to hear them use new words.
Ask open-ended questions that get children thinking. Instead of “Is the water cold?”, try “How does the water feel?” or “What happens when we add ice?”
These questions support early years science by encouraging real enquiry, not just yes or no answers.
Let children ask their own questions too. If a child wonders why leaves change colour or how shadows form, write it down and help them find out.
Science in early childhood is all about exploring and testing ideas, not memorising facts.
EYFS children don’t need to fill out worksheets to record what they’ve learned. Let them draw pictures of what they observed and add your own notes about what they say.
This method links science learning to early mark-making skills. It’s a gentle way in.
Recording audio or video on tablets works really well for young children. They can explain what happened in their investigation while it’s still fresh.
You can save these recordings using QR codes and display them in your science area. Other children can listen and learn from their friends.
When children tested which materials floated, they drew their foil boats and practitioners wrote down their explanations. This method of recording learning made their thinking clearer and sparked conversations about what they found out.
Parents and teachers sometimes wonder how to introduce science ideas to young children in a way that feels playful and right for their age. The best activities use simple things from around the house and let children discover through hands-on play.
Science worksheets for early years work best when they use simple observation tasks and drawing. You could make sheets that ask children to draw what they see when ice melts or record which objects sink or float.
Sorting and matching worksheets help children learn to classify. Try sheets where children group pictures of living and non-living things or match animals to their habitats.
Pattern and sequencing worksheets are useful too. Children can order pictures of a seed growing into a plant or arrange weather symbols to show changes.
Start with water play. Fill a large bowl or water table and gather spoons, corks, stones and plastic toys for your child to test floating and sinking.
Kitchen science is always a winner. Mix bicarbonate of soda with vinegar in a tray for fizz, or freeze small toys in ice blocks and let your child figure out how to free them.
Early years science activities can use things you already have and don’t need much prep. Nature walks are fantastic for free science learning. Children can collect leaves, look for minibeasts and spot seasonal changes.
Set up a simple observation station on a windowsill. Your child can watch bird feeders or growing plants. Keep magnifying glasses, collection pots and a nature journal nearby for regular exploring.
Making rainbow milk is a colourful experiment that always amazes 4-year-olds. Pour milk into a shallow dish, add food colouring, then touch the surface with a cotton bud dipped in washing-up liquid and watch the colours swirl.
Build ramps from cardboard or books. Children can roll different balls and toys down and see which ones go fastest or change the ramp height to see what happens.
Grow cress heads on cotton wool inside egg shells. Children can draw faces on the shells and watch the cress grow like green hair in just a few days.
Ice experiments work really well. Freeze water with food colouring in different containers, then let children explore melting by adding salt, warm water or leaving them in the sun.
Sensory play is proper science for this age. Fill trays with sand, water, pasta or jelly and add scoops, funnels and containers for open-ended exploring.
Themed activities based on nursery rhymes make science feel familiar and fun. You can make umbrellas from different materials to test which keeps Incy Wincy Spider dry or build houses for the Three Little Pigs.
Bubble play is always a hit. Mix washing-up liquid with water and glycerine, then use different bubble wands or kitchen utensils to blow bubbles.
Colour mixing with paint or food colouring in water lets children see chemical changes. Give them primary colours and let them discover what happens when they mix them.
Make a volcano with bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Build a volcano shape from clay or playdough around a small container, add bicarbonate of soda and red food colouring, then pour in vinegar and watch it erupt.
Static electricity experiments with balloons are fun and easy. Children rub balloons on their hair or jumpers, then see how the balloon attracts small bits of paper or makes their hair stand up.
Shadow experiments work indoors or outdoors. Use torches to create shadows of different objects and see how shadow size changes when you move the light.
Try density experiments. Pour honey, washing-up liquid, water and oil into a clear container and watch as they settle into layers.
Seven-year-olds usually follow more detailed instructions than younger children. They often understand simple reasons behind what happens in an experiment.
Try growing bean plants in clear jars. Kids get to watch the roots grow under the soil, which is actually quite fascinating. They can measure the growth each day and jot down notes in a science journal. You could also let them test what happens when the plants get different amounts of water or light.
Building a simple circuit with batteries, wires and bulbs helps children learn about electricity. Let them test which materials conduct electricity by adding different objects to the circuit. LearningMole has free videos that explain circuits and electricity, and these pair nicely with hands-on activities.
Crystal growing is a classic. Dissolve sugar or salt in hot water, then let the solution sit until it evaporates. Over a few days, children can watch crystals slowly form on a stick or string.
Magnets are always popular. Let children test different materials to see which ones are magnetic. They can also make a simple compass by rubbing a needle with a magnet and then floating it in water.
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