Cut out 5-by-4-inch square of thin cardboard with scissors. Cut out as many squares as you like, but make sure that you have an even number of squares. Divide the cards into two equal piles.
Draw pictures of animals on half of the cards using markers.
Using the remaining blank cards, draw features of those animals. For example, if you drew a bird on one card, draw some feathers or a beak on another card.
Play the card game by having your child match up the animal cards with the animal feature cards, focusing on the science learning path of verification and analysis and the scientific method concepts of questioning, analyzing and concluding.
Cut out numerous pictures of different types of animals from magazines.
Tack the pictures to a large bulletin board.
Play the "I Spy" game with your child sitting in front of the bulletin board. For example, say, "I spy a large gray animal" and have your child guess that you are talking about an elephant.
Discuss how the elephant got to be so large. For example, talk about its diet, focusing on cause and effect. Have your child think about other reasons why elephants are so large to hone his questioning, analyzing and concluding skills.
Collect photos of adult animals and the same types of animals as babies.
Spread the photos out on a table and have your child match the adult animal photos with the baby animal photos. If the game is too easy for your preschoolers, use a timer to track how fast he can accomplish the task.
Examine the photos with your child and discuss how the animals have changed over time, concentrating on the learning path of change and the scientific concepts of questioning, analyzing and concluding.