Science experiments in the first age group in kindergarten

Preschool education in Slovenia is divided into first and second age groups. The first age group includes children from eleven months till three years, and the second age group is for children between three and six (in some cases seven) years. Science is one of the six areas of activity referred to in the Curriculum for Kindergartens (1999). It contains activities which include Chemistry, Physics and Biology, also for children aged between one and three years. The task of educators in the first age group in the kindergarten is to introduce Science topics to the children during their first year at the facility. They have to simplify everything and make it interesting taking into account the age and developmental stage of the children. Children’s activity in the sense of experimenting and researching is becoming more and more important. At the same time we must keep in mind the shorter motivation span of the children, and attractiveness of the experiments to encourage the interest of the children. The question arises whether it is possible to include Physics, Chemistry and Biology into the planned activities for the first age group in the kindergarten. Is it possible to perform Science experiments with one-year olds? Science deals with explaining the world and there is almost no phenomenon that does not include at least some part of Science, though some facts are easier to explain to children, while some are more difficult. By including children into Science activities where they are actively taking part, the traditional role of the kindergarten teacher changes a lot. Work in kindergarten is flexible, and so are Science activities which can be included into the first age group. By carefully planning the activities which take into account the developmental stage of the children the kindergarten teacher can prepare activities which will motivate the children to participate and cooperate. In these cases the teacher is not only teaching children, but including them into the process and they look for solutions together. The children are allowed to make mistakes and later, with experiments, they find out the actual result