science
Balloon powered cars
Self-propelled wooden boats
Working together with craftsman Ilias Karantoniou, kindergarten and summer camp kids created self-propelled wooden boats! After production was over, they used babies’ plastic swimming pool to test them!
What is in a TV?
Dorothy Snot kindergarten kids open a number of TV monitors to find out what’s in there!
How does it rain? Let’s experiment!
In school bus kids started a discussion about how does water gets included into the clouds and where does it come from?
First, we noted on paper our thoughts and thought about the continuous circular movement of water. We talked about the global water cycle and wrote down the phrase, in Greek.
Afterwards, we experimented over the phenomenon of condensation and found out that our breath is hot air. Blurring the windows of the school bus with our breaths, helped us realize how air changes into liquid.
Then we played by creating patterns on the windows. Some children recognized the same happens in their bathroom.
The experimentation thrilled children and their interest continued at home. So, Despina brought us a photo she took out of the experiment she made in home with a glass and ice cubes.
We also studied the opposite phenomenon, evaporation, in which water is converted into air. We all remembered, from our daily life, when mom spreads out wet clothes to dry. At the same time we threw water on our trousers to see what happens and how quickly it dries.
Back in class, school bus children continued to experiment on evaporation during cleaning the blackboard with a wet sponge. They wrote something on the board using the wet sponge and shortly after it was lost! Rest children of the class liked the experiment and asked to write with a wet sponge, too. As you can imagine, we ended having the cleanest blackboard in school!!
(by Eleni Triantafyllopoulou, bus school teacher in Athens)
Why not the whole universe
When we looked through our big plastic telescope, we noticed something very strange: everything had turned upside down!
So, we asked help from Yannis, an amateur astronomer!
He brought his professional telescope, let us see the sun through it and answered all our questions.
Children grabbed the opportunity to make constellations on the ground with sand and small stones.
But why not even form the whole universe!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)
An I-don’t-want-it-to-end game!
Something special happened in pre-K class!
Everyone brought his or her favorite doll or teddy and turned it into an astronaut!
The space suit was made from aluminum foil.
When all astronauts were ready, went to the roof top of the school and flewwwwwww!! (wearing parachutes for protection)
An I-don’t-want-it-to-end game!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class, in Athens)
Bus time is questions’ time!
Dimitris asked a question in school bus: “what happens when we mix red and blue color?” So, the experiment began!
We mixed red and blue color with water, separately, in two different cups.
Then, we made a “paper bridge” for each cup, which transported red and blue into a third cup!
Next day we observed the results of the experiment. Now we had blue, red and a third color!
Then we used all three colors to paint!
(by Eleni Triantafyllopoulou, teacher and bus escort in Athens school)
Exploring space in pre-K
During their “exploring space” project, children in pre-K class did a number of things…
Constructed their own telescopes to watch the stars…
Created their own planets, based on what they read about in books…
Also constructed the moon: used everyday materials to make the shape of a circle and then painted it white by using glue, shaving foam and glitter!
Their next mission: teddy bear visits the moon!
(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class)
Exploring space
When you are 4 y.o. you ask questions, all the time. Never ending, unlimited questions .
Questions like these lead us to look for answers about space.
Today, our children experiment space by creating paper planets. Tomorrow, they may go visit them!
There must be always a way!
After all, astronomy is a science – and we never say never to science!!!
(by Charitini Stavroulaki, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)