Mixtures and Solutions
This STEAM lesson will have your pre-schoolers engaged in discovery with new materials, sensory play, and working on fine motor skills.
Lesson Created By: LauraWhitener
Grade(s):
- Kindergarten
Subject(s):
Recommended Technology:
Smart board
Other Instructional Materials or Notes:
Paint, soap, water, straws, long white sheet of bulletin board paper, markers
sensory bin: rice, cars, dinosaurs, shovels, tupperware containers, etc.
Lesson Progression
1. The teacher will begin this lesson by putting new vocabulary into terms the students can understand. The teacher can say, “When we put two things together like liquids such as paint and bubbles, we get a solution. Say it with me....clap it with me.... stomp it with me. You can NOT take apart a solution once you mix it.”
2. The teacher can put the provided PowerPoint on mixtures and solutions on the smart board for students to look at as the teacher demonstrates what a solution and mixture look like.
3. The teacher will mix soap and water to make a bubble solution, and then will add it to paint to create another solution. The teacher will model this for students, and then will talk about mixtures.
4. The teacher can say, “When you mix two things together like rice and blocks, can you take them apart? *The teacher will model mixing and taking the two apart* this is called a mixture! Say it with me…clap with me…stomp it with me.”
5. The teacher will then mix rice and miscellaneous items into a sensory bin to show students.
6. After that, the students will go to centers.
Center 1: Sensory Bin
- Allow students to participate in discovery play and sensory play by making a center a sensory bin. Not only is it great for fine motor skills and the listed types of play, but it is a great way to allow preschoolers to manipulate a mixture.
- Materials: Bin, rice, manipulatives
Center 2: Sensory Bin
- Allow students to participate in discovery play and sensory play by making a center a sensory bin. Not only is it great for fine motor skills and the listed types of play, but it is a great way to allow preschoolers to manipulate a mixture.
- Materials: Bin, rice, manipulatives
Center 3: Paint bubbles (Teacher Table)
- Create a solution in front of your small group, and show them how to make paint bubbles on white paper! This is a fun and creative way for your preschoolers to remember solutions.
- Materials: paint, bubble solution, white paper, markers (to sign names)
Center 4: Paint bubbles (Assistant Teacher Table)
- Create a solution in front of your small group, and show them how to make paint bubbles on white paper! This is a fun and creative way for your preschoolers to remember solutions.
Materials: paint, bubble solution, white paper, markers (to sign names)
Teacher Notes
To prepare for this lesson, the teacher will need to prepare materials for sensory bins.
Solution and mixtures PowerPoint
This will help your preschoolers recognize the new vocabulary using words and pictures!
View ResourceA Thing or 2 About Mixing | The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
You can have a ton of fun mixing! In this clip from the PBS KIDS show The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Thing 1 and Thing 2 show that mixing blue and red balls in a bowl does not make purple balls, but mixing red paint and blue paint does make purple paint.
View ResourceStandards
- Science and Engineering Practices
- K.S.1 The student will use the science and engineering practices, including the processes and skills of scientific inquiry, to develop understandings of science content.