Thursday, April 1, 2010

Easter egg science: loud and quiet

Science for two-year-olds? Well, sort of! :)


You will need:
  • Plastic Easter eggs
  • Various objects to hide inside
  • A container to hold them in

The objects you choose don't necessarily matter, but you're looking for things that will product a variety of sounds. As you see from the labels in the picture, we did:
  • Quarters
  • Pom-poms (which my daughter calls "puffies")
  • Dried beans
  • Play food (a strawberry)
  • Buttons
  • Yarn
  • Jelly beans
  • Bouncy ball
  • Kleenex
Some other ideas might include:
  • Marshmallows
  • M&M's or other small candies
  • Small rocks
  • Cotton balls
  • Q-tips
  • Leaves or blades of grass
  • Paper
  • Paper clips
  • A small votive candle or tea light (not in glass)
  • Raisins or other dried fruit
  • Sequins
  • Magnets
If you're working with a young child (as I am), it's of course always important to remember that small items are choking hazards. DO NOT leave your child unattended with this activity for any length of time.


Close all the eggs up and allow your child to inspect them.


Shake each one and discuss if it is "loud" or "quiet." Older children can use more descriptive words, such as "more quiet than," "louder than," "softer than," etc. They can also pick out eggs that have similar sounds to compare and contrast them.


Again, depending on the age of your child, see if they can guess what's inside!


At two, we didn't so much "guess" as much as we just opened them to check them all out! :)

She loved this activity! It's one that can take as much or as little time as they want it to take, and when they're done, they're done. :) If they don't get to all the eggs, who cares?

And how fun would this activity be if it were done with all foods?! What loud and quiet SNACKS can you put together? Baby carrots, bunny crackers, and lettuce leaves would all make a fun springy snack and produce different sounds. :)

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