Kindergarten Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Kindergarten science in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Literacies and Communications: Communicative Practices. Examine how language learning is beneficial.
- Literacies and Communications: Multimodal Literacies. Refer to environmental print in multiple languages.
- Literacies and Communications: Literate Identities. Demonstrate being a reader, writer, and communicator in multiple languages.
- Well-Being: Emotional Health and Positive Identities. Explore activities that foster enjoyment and well-being.
- Well-Being: Belonging and Interconnectedness. Define and express needs, wants, and choices.
- Well-Being: Physical Health and Active Participation. Analyze personal safety and healthy practices.
- Play and Playfulness: Imagination and Creativity. Practise using flexible and fluid thinking in new and familiar situations.
- Play and Playfulness: Exploration and Problem Solving. Negotiate, compromise, and work together.
- Play and Playfulness: Play and Inquiry. Engage in activities that introduce elements of risk, novelty, and the unknown.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Inclusiveness and Equity. Honour differences and uniqueness.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Democratic Practices. Act as responsible and responsive community members.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Sustainable Futures. Recognize patterns in nature.
Easy ways to practise science at home
- Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles.
- Plant a bean seed and check it together each day.
- Ask “What do you notice?” before you explain anything.
- Talk about the weather each morning and what to wear for it.
What each unit covers
What Living Things Need
Telling living from non-living things, and what plants and animals need to live: food, water, air, shelter and sunlight.
Animal Features
Noticing body parts like fur, feathers, fins and shells, and how features help animals and plants live where they do.
Weather & Seasons
Dressing for the weather, the four seasons in order, day and night, and how plants and animals change with the seasons.
Materials
Describing everyday materials (soft or hard, rough or smooth, bendy or stiff), what sinks or floats, and naming what things are made of, like wood, metal, glass and cloth.
Push & Pull
Telling pushes from pulls, and seeing how a bigger push, an object's shape and its weight change how it moves.
Safe Scientists
Safety rules for exploring and playing, such as wearing a helmet, telling a grown-up after a bump to the head, and never tasting science materials.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Go on a nature walk and name what you see: leaves, bugs, clouds, puddles. Plant a bean seed and check it together each day. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Kindergarten science units include what living things need, animal features, weather & seasons, materials, push & pull, safe scientists.
Free printable Kindergarten science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.