As the author of Great Lakes Now’s Collection of Lesson Plans, educational consultant Gary Abud Jr. is now providing more support for parents, teachers and caregivers who want to incorporate Great Lakes learning into their time with children and students. His series of writings can be found HERE along with the lesson plans and a Virtual Field Trip.
Even if science wasn’t your favorite subject, it can be just plain fun to do science with younger students.
Why? Because they’re naturally curious about the world around them!
That’s why, at Great Lakes Now, we think the lakes provide a unique opportunity for learning about science, technology, engineering and math—even at a young age.
And while our Collection of Lesson Plans was originally designed for middle school students, many of our activities and lessons can be adapted for younger age groups.
In part one, we offered help with explaining watersheds and invasive species. If you missed it, click HERE.
Here’s part two of our lessons for preschoolers or K-3 children:
3. Go on a Virtual Field Trip
It can be hard to get out and go places these days. But with the power of video, you can be transported just about anywhere in moments.
API key not valid. Please pass a valid API key.Consider sending your kids, or taking the whole family, on a virtual field trip around the Great Lakes to learn more about:
- the importance of coastal wetlands
- the danger of toxic algae in the lake water
- how lake sturgeon survive, thrive and live in the waters,
As with any of our resources and lesson activities, preview the videos in our virtual field trip collection to see if it’s right for your children first.
4. Explore More Great Lakes Learning
There are 28 (and counting) lessons in our Great Lakes learning collection to help you survey the many aspects of the lakes. So when kids are ready to investigate more topics, you can peruse the full collection here or consider one of these other great activities to try at home:
- Teach your kids about groundwater and how pollution affects it
- Learn how to clean up a freshwater oil spill at the kitchen table
- Understand what should (and should not) get flushed down the pipes by growing a fatberg at home
- Turn your living room into an airplane and travel to a Great Lakes island for dinner
- Research the Great Lakes using our resources and then submit a question you’d like answered
- Watch the latest Great Lakes Now episode:
However you choose to explore the Great Lakes with your child, elementary and preschool age students will love the interactive digital tools to learn about the lakes and the hands-on activities that can be done right from home.
The Great Lakes are, after all, great—and we want the youngest learners to think so, too.
Catch up on other Great Lakes Learning tips and lessons:
Great Lakes Learning: Freshwater science for the youngest learners – Part 1
Great Lakes Learning: How to get your students chatting – productively – in online lessons
Great Lakes Learning: Introducing some resources for remote teaching
Featured image: A child in Minnesota getting an online Great Lakes Now lesson over Zoom.
