Science Lesson Plans

Science lesson plans that are inquiry based, meet Common Core State Standards and are easy for classroom teachers to use.

Science activities for kids cannot happen without scientific inquiry.

This is critical for learning diverse ways to explore ideas, theories and make meaningful discoveries, as well as developing 21st Century Skills.

There are five skills we should expect our students to develop through our lessons:

  • Evaluate
  • Engage
  • Explore
  • Explain
  • Extend

These 5 skills (5Es) are highly correlated to the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and encourage critical thinking in science.

So what is the best way to get our students to think about themselves as scientific learners and contributors?

Through science lesson plans based on inquiry.

Inquiry Science Lesson Plans

At the heart of an inquiry-based lesson is the belief that children need to see themselves as active learners in the scientific process.

The teacher is a guide to discovery, not a mere imparter of knowledge. We provide the tools and students use them to try their own ideas out and make discoveries.

However, this is not to say that teachers shouldn’t provide a “store” of knowledge for kids to draw from. That is certainly a part of teaching elementary science. We have to make sure they have accurate background knowledge to be able to draw conclusions from during their discoveries (very similar to reading: background knowledge faciliates deep comprehension of a text).

The NSTA (National Science Teachers’ Association) recommends that teachers assist their students in these 5 ways:

  • Learn how to identify and ask appropriate questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
  • Design and conduct investigations to collect the evidence needed to answer a variety of questions.
  • Use appropriate equipment and tools to interpret and analyze data.
  • Learn how to draw conclusions and think critically and logically to create explanations based on their evidence.
  • Communicate and defend their results to their peers and others


A Menu of Easy Science Activities for Kids

The Younger Crowd

  • Science Activities for Preschoolers – 3 easy inquiry based lessons with picture books that the ankle biter crowd will love

Life Science

  • Adaptations of Animals – a great introductory lesson with a song, powerpoint and mind maps!
  • Make a Blubber Mitt to show how some animals keep warm (be prepared for squeals and gross out moments)
  • Introduction to Plant Adaptations – Meat eating plants and ones that smell like rotting meat…what could be more intriguing to kids?

Earth Science

  • Geology for Kids – Fun-filled experiments and activities for budding Earth Scientists!
  • Rocks and Minerals for Kids – One of my favorite – yet very simple – inquiry based science activities.
  • Difference Between Rocks and Minerals – Discovering how to classify rocks and minerals leads to a sweet surprise!
  • Water Cycle for Kids – A song, a story and a fun art project help kids discover how the water they drink may have been walked in by a dinosaur!
  • Cloud Naming Lesson Plan – Puffy paint clouds that show if kids can identify where cloud different types of clouds are in the atmosphere
  • Core Sampling Cupcakes – Let your students become geologists with straws and a cupcake.

Holiday Science Activities

  • Halloween Science – Stir up some vampire blood and bewitch an egg for a spooky good time!
  • Ghost Rockets – make the little boos fly with this classic experiment.
  • Newton’s First Law of Motion – Boo Bombs!