hands-on activities

How to Make an Easy Nature Paint Brush With Kids

August 22, 2020 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Creating your own diy nature paint brushes from items on your next nature walk is a fun way to bring science outdoors.

Turn all sorts of leaves and flowers into beautiful rustic paintings.

If you are digging deep into a nature-based unit study or you just want a unique nature-based unit study add-on to do with your child, look no further.

Creating your own diy nature brushes from items on your next nature walk is a fun way to bring science outdoors. Turn all sorts of leaves and flowers into beautiful rustic paintings. Look how to make easy nature paint brushes with kids. CLICK HERE!
#diynaturebrushes #homeschoolnature #natureforkids #nature #scienceforkids #handsonnature #handsonart

These fun and simple diy nature brushes are an inexpensive and creative way to get your kids into the great outdoors exploring, creating, and coming up with unique new ways to use natural objects.

DIY NATURE PAINT BRUSH FOR KIDS

Toddlers on up to middle schoolers will enjoy gathering their own materials on their next nature walk or from your own backyard, creating paintbrushes, and then painting their unique masterpiece with their DIY tools.

This activity is perfect to go along a general nature study, a tree unit study, or an art unit study.

Look how to make easy nature paint brushes with kids.

You will need:

Craft sticks (or sturdy sticks)
Small rubber bands
Collected leaves, flowers, ferns, grasses, etc…

Begin by taking your little nature explorer outdoors to collect leaves, long grasses, flowers and their stems, ferns, and any other material you think will make good “brushes”.

It’s fun to experiment with the different textures and shapes so be sure you gather a large variety of different items.

Next bring them in and straighten them up into little bundles, varying the size here and there.

Place one end of the bundle on the end of your craft stick and wrap a small rubber band around the end until it is tight and secure.

The easiest way to do this is to wrap it around the opposite end and then roll it upwards over your brush.

DIY NATURAL PAINT BRUSH ACTIVITY

Use scissors to trim the ends of your leaves and grasses shorter. They are more like actual paintbrush bristles. Also, this makes a great fine motor activity for preschoolers. Of course, don’t use the same scissors we used. Just saying’.

Next, challenge your child to paint a nature picture on a canvas or large piece of paper.

We practiced on a scrap piece of paper to see what texture and coverage each brush gave.

Encourage them to experiment with different size brushes and see what types of textures you can make from the various brushes you have made, solid strokes, wispy strokes, tapping the canvas, etc..

We went with a simple tree this time, but are eager to try more advanced art with them soon.

You can use acrylic craft paint or try watercolors for a lighter look.

Wash out your brushes when done or toss them into the compost bin and make more.

HANDS-ON NATURE STUDY

Why should you do nature studies with your child?

6 Reasons Why You Should Do Nature Studies With Your Kids

Nature studies are the base for all science studies and creates a personal connection which helps your child later with more advanced studies;
Spending time outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine is calming and relaxing for you and your child. It is also a great way to get exercise and get the wiggles out;
Nature study encourages your child to develop the skill of investigation;
It is a great activity for the entire family and even the youngest member can appreciate and enjoy what nature has to offer;
It gives your child a respect for the earth and their place in it; and
Kids develop a greater understanding of the impact we all have on the earth.

Nature brushes are a great way to use natural materials to make art supplies and make science fun, but there are ways to expand this hands-on craft.

5 Ways to Expand On Nature Anatomy

Before making the paint brushes you can

use the items you have collected to identify which plant it comes from;
press flowers and leaves with this diy flower press;
make rubbings using the flat side of crayons;
sketch your findings in your nature journal; and
check out this list of nature inspired novels to use as read alouds.

In addition, use the app Inaturalist to help you identify what you find.

LIVING NATURE BOOKS

Don’t stop here, investigate further with some great nature books to turn this activity into a full unit study.

Use Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman.

Exploring Nature Activity Book for Kids by Kim Andrews.

Exploring Nature Journal for Kids Observe and Record the Outdoors by Kim Andrews.

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons.

Exploring nature with your kids can cover so many subjects when you use a unit study approach.

Teaching about the outdoors is a natural way to learn which kids love. Not only can you include many different subjects, but adding a hands-on craft or two, makes learning stick.

You’ll love all the fanstastic ideas I have here for you to round out making these diy nature paint brushes with your kids.

Look at this list below:

What nature craft activities do you like doing with your kids?

Hugs and love ya,

How to Easily Make a Simple and Fun Kids DIY Flower Press

August 15, 2020 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

A fun kids diy flower press can turn a simple wildflower (or garden flower) unit study into a fun and memorable unit by adding in some simple hands-on activities.

Just a few dollars and a little time are all you need to create an easy perfectly portable flower press that you and your child can use again and again.

Turn everything from black-eyed susans to hydrangeas into a dried keepsake.

Too, make dried pressed flowers for crafts, homemade potpourri, or to put into a scrapbook.

Kids DIY Flower Press

Besides, this flower press is great for on the go and can be toted around in your backpack to bring your floral treasures home.

Lastly because it’s such a frugal project, everyone can have their own.

We spent $2.00 on wood at Dollar Tree; we had paint and twine already on hand making it a frugal and fun activity with a purpose.

You will need :

2 thin unfinished wood pieces
twine
hot glue gun/sticks
card stock
paint
foam brush

Directions:

I found these two unfinished wood pieces at Dollar Tree (my favorite place to find inexpensive supplies for homeschool projects) in the craft section.

If you don’t find them there you can get any two precut wood pieces from the craft store. Just be sure they are ¼” thick or less.

Paint one side of each of the wooden pieces and allow to dry completely.

Trace around your shape onto cardstock to create layers for your flower press.

Moreover you don’t need more than two layers.

And you can cut extra as you will want to replace them after every few uses due to the moisture it will collect.

Steps for DIY Kids Flower Press

First, cut 2 pieces of twine into two foot lengths.

Then, hot glue one of the pieces of twine to the corner of the painted side of the wood. Secure it well.

On the other piece of wood glue the second length of twine to the opposite corner of the first.

If you prefer to give it a more finished look you can cover it up by glueing on silk flower or greenery like we did here.

To use your flower press lay flowers between sheets of cardstock on the bottom wooden piece, lay the other on top and wrap twine as tightly as you can around the sides, tying it off into a bow.

Next, allow your flowers to sit in the press for 2 or 3 days until flat and fully dry.

Hands-on Ideas for Kids DIY Flower Press

Try some of these additional hands on activities to expand on your flower explorations!

Head outside and gather up flowers from locals fields or your own backyard and try them out on your new flower press. Again, once you have them home search through field guides or use an app try to identify each.
Find out your state flower and try to locate one.
Use a real flower to label each of the parts.
Plant your own wildflowers after making these Wildflower Seed Bombs.
Take apart a flower and identify the parts- petal, pistel, stem, stigma, filament, etc…
Use watercolor paint to recreate your flower finds on paper.
Dig deep into this Wildflower Unit Study & Lapbook.
Futhermore, try to identify at least 10 different types of flowers.
Create a flower sensory bin for young children with fresh flowers, leaves, and stems.
In addition, young children can also count the petals on the flowers.
Use different types of flowers on long stems as natural paint brushes.
Plant a flower garden or even a small container of flowers together.

In addition, here are some great resources to help you identify your flower finds in the field or at home.

If you’re wanting to add a few more activities to this activity, I know you’ll love these ideas below.

Trees, Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds

Audubon Field Guide to Flowers

Pocket Guide to Wildflowers

Fandex Wildflowers

Finally, whether you have a budding botanist or love being outdoors, you’ll love making this fun DIY flower press.

Labeling Parts of a Honey Bee LEGO Fun Activity For Kids

June 30, 2020 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Your kids will love labeling the parts of a honey bee lego activity. Also, look at my Fascinating and Fun Honey Bees Unit Study and Lapbook for Kids.

Bees are fascinating little creatures from how they create their honeycombs to maximize space, to how they know to fan the hive to keep it cool.

Bees are used in so many ways than just the delicious honey they produce.

Labeling Parts of a Honey Bee LEGO Fun Activity For Kids

We use beeswax in cosmetics, candles, as a coating, and bee venom is used as a holistic treatment.

Because they are so very important to our world as pollinators I think it is important to educate our children about them from the beginning.

Labeling the Parts of a Honey Bee

If you’ve been homeschooling awhile you know that hands-on activities really drive home information in a fun way that really makes it stick, often better than any worksheet could.

Since most kids love LEGO, I thought that an activity using them would be a hit with the kids and turn an ordinary and possibly boring homeschool lesson into something unique and fun.

Turns out I was right- The kids loved doing this project and I hope you and yours will too!

Grab a big bucket of LEGOS and a handful of bee books and let’s get started.

A LEGO baseplate.

LEGO Classic Green Baseplate 2304 Supplement for Building, Playing, and Displaying LEGO Creations, 10cm x 10cm, Large Building Base Accessory for Kids and Adults (1 Piece)

Assorted LEGO bricks

LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696 Building Toys for Creative Play; Kids Creative Kit (484 Pieces)

Cardstock paper
A book or printout of parts of a bee
Pen or marker

Books for Bee Unit Studies

8 Honey Bees Unit Study Resources & Books

Add some of these fun resources to your bees unit study or spring unit study.

Bees: A Honeyed History

One part science, one part cultural history, and countless parts fascination, Bees: A Honeyed History celebrates the important role that these intriguing insects have played in our ecosystem throughout the ages, and today.

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

Part history book, part handbook, and part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from how to manage hives safely to harvesting one’s own honey, and ideas for how to use honey and beeswax. Detailed instructions for making candles, furniture polish, beauty products, and nearly 100 honey-themed recipes are included. Honeybees, which are critical in the pollination of popular US produce such as almonds, apples, and blueberries, are actually not native to the Americas. The honeybee that you see dancing from flower to flower in farms and gardens originated in Europe. The introduction of the honeybee began with European colonization of the Americas; before that, wild native bees, other insects, and some birds and mammals pollinated the native flowers of the continent. The honeybee’s ability to pollinate crops, produce honey, and be easily domesticated precipitated the growth in beekeeping all over America.

Flight of the Honey Bee: Read and Wonder

Follow the flight of a honey bee as she searches for nectar to sustain her hive and, along the way, pollinates flowers to produce seeds and fruits. Nature lovers and scientists-to-be are invited to explore the fascinating life of a honey bee.

Life Cycle of a Honey Bee

Honey Bees are fascinating creatures which have been kept by humans for centuries. Now you can explore the life cycle of the honey bee without being stung. Watch as it grows from an egg, to a larva, and to a pupa before finally emerging as a mature adult.

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World

Always a favorite when doing any kind of nature study, there are a few pages that cover different types of bees, common nectar sources, and bee anatomy. If you don't have this set already I cannot recommend it enough for nature studies.

Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

One of the companion books to Nature Anatomy, the farm version covers all parts of farming, machinery, and crops but it also caught my eye because it even covers Beekeeping for aspiring beekeepers. It goes over bee terminology, parts of a bee, the parts of a hive, types of bees, flower parts, and beekeeper essentials. These books really put a lot of info into compact parts.

The Life and Times of the Honeybee

Why do beekeepers use smoke machines when collecting honey? Can a bee really sting only once? Why do bees "dance"? In concise, detailed text and abundant illustrations that range from the humorous to the scientific, Charles Micucci offers a wide-ranging and spirited introduction to the life cycle, social organization, and history of one of the world's most useful insects.

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive

When the Magic School Bus turns into a beehive, Ms. Frizzle's class learns firsthand about how workers, drones, and the queen bees live together. Readers will be abuzz with knowledge as they discover how honeybees find food; make a comb, honey, and beeswax; and care for their young, all from the bee's perspective.

Hands-on Activity for Honey Bee

You can make this as simple or as involved a LEGO build as you like depending on the age and ability of the child.

Using the larger Duplo blocks to create a simple bee and let your child point out the various parts of a bee as you call them out is another idea.

Provide your child with a book or printout on the parts of a bee to use as a model and a variety of LEGO to build their bee model.

Give them a large variety of LEGO bricks to build with, I love this starter box for kids just beginning a LEGO collection.

I keep a box for each kid separate from all the other LEGO in the house just for school projects like this.

LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696 Building Toys for Creative Play; Kids Creative Kit (484 Pieces)

Have them start with creating a head, thorax, and abdomen using yellow and black bricks.

Add wings using white bricks.

For older children you can differentiate forewing and hindwing if you like.

Use long single row black bricks to create 3 sets of legs.

Finally add eyes and antennae.

Hands-on Science: Labeling the Parts of a Bee

Cut small strips of cardstock and add the names of whichever bee parts you would like your child to identify.

Give them the strips and let them locate each part on their LEGO bee, with so much interaction while building and then labeling they are sure to retain much of the information they get from this build.

Here are some additional bee activities to try

Create a honey bee lapbook.
Create the life cycle of a bee using LEGO again.
Pick up some local honey and try it right out of the jar as well as in a recipe or two.
Make a honeycomb by cutting down toilet paper tubes and bending each ring into a hexagon, glue each together to create any size you like.
Paint a watercolor bee or beehive.
Thumb through one of the books listed below and learn some more bee information-make flashcards.
Plant flowers in your yard to help support the bees, very important pollinators.
Make a mason bee house to put up outdoors.
Preschoolers can work on fine motor skills by transferring “pollen” (yellow pom poms) from one flower (colorful bowl) to another with tongs.
Research all the products we get from bees.
Give your child a bee themed writing prompt for handwriting, creative writing, and grammar practice such as “ What if there were no bees?” or “ The day I turned into a bee…”.

Dynamic Honey Bee Lapbook for Multiple Ages
$4.00 Add to cart

You’ll love these other hands-on science activities.

Fascinating and Fun Honey Bees Unit Study and Lapbook for Kids

June 27, 2020 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Your kids will love this honey bees unit study and lapbook. Also, grab more unit studies on my page Best Homeschool Unit Studies,

Whether you want to learn about how honey bees are fascinating master pollinators, learn about the interesting social activities in the hive, learn about beeswax, or know what is honey, these honey bee activities and resources will be helpful.

Next, look at these honey bee resources:

Bees, wasps, and ants are part of one of the large group of insects, the order Hymenoptera mean “membrane-winged.”

It comes from the Greek words hymen (membrane) and pteron (wing.)

BOOKS FOR KIDS ABOUT BEES

Equally important when doing a unit study is to add living books and books to use as the main spine of your study.

8 Honey Bees Unit Study Resources & Books

Add some of these fun resources to your bees unit study or spring unit study.

Bees: A Honeyed History

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

Flight of the Honey Bee: Read and Wonder

Life Cycle of a Honey Bee

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World

Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

The Life and Times of the Honeybee

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive

First, dive into learning about the life cycle of the honey bee.

Honey Bees Unit Study

After mating, the queen’s ovaries expand. She is fed nutrient-rich food from the worker bees. Within three or four days she begins laying eggs.

By day 3 or 4 eggs hatch. Workers begin feeding larvae. By day 8/9 workers seal cell with wax.

And then the larvae transforms into pupa and from days 16 to 24 queen, workers and drone emerges.

Honey Bee Life Cycles

The life cycle of a honey bee worksheet.
Diary of an Insect’s Metamorphosis
Life Cycle of the Honey Bee
Honey Bee Life Cycle

YouTube Honey Bees Life Cycle.
YouTube The Life Cycle of a Honey Bee | The First 21 Days of Honey Bee’s Life

Honey Bees Anatomy

Next, learn about honey bees anatomy.

Although each bee in the hive is formed a bit differently because of their occupation, the worker bee has one of the most fascinating jobs.

Honey bee Anatomy and Identification
Honey bee anatomy ask a biologist. Great visuals explaining the different parts of a honey bee.
Honey: Different Flowers, Different Flavors

Anatomy of the honey bee
How to Identify the Basic Body Parts of Honey Bees
The Role of the Worker Bee
Grab this free Bees poster.
The honey bee body.
Honey Bee Anatomy

Chemistry and Science of Honey

In addition, learning about the chemistry and science of honey is a fascinating topic. Sure, it’s been said honey is bee puke so you’re kids will love knowing that.

Also, honey bees collect the sweet nectar from various flowers with their straw like tongues. Then the nectar mixes with enzymes in their stomach and is taken back to the beehive.

The bees fan the cells full of nectar which draws the moisture out and thickening the nectar to make honey.

And there are many different types of honey. The color and flavor is determined by the nectar.

How Do Bees Make Honey Video
Give Me Some Sugar, Honey lesson plan
Why Doesn’t Honey Spoil
The best flowers for honeybees

More Honey Bees Unit Study Ideas

Honey Bees Pollination

However, the true worth of honey bees is their contribution to the environment through pollination.

Plants don’t just rely on bees, but need other pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds, bats, and moths.

Moreover, for fertilization to occur, the pollen must get from the anther to the stigma.

Once on the stigma, the pollen grain sends a pollen tube down the style and to the ovary where the pollen’s genetic material combines with the egg’s genetic material.

Bees: The Invaluable Master Pollinators lesson plan
Pollination power lesson plan
Pollination in flowering plants
Pollinator Friendly MEAL IDEAS
Pollinator Activity Book

Pollinator’s Journey 5th to 8th grade.
Plant and Animals Partners in Pollen lesson plan
Plants and Pollination
Nature’s Partners: A Comprehensive Pollinator Curriculum for Grades 3-6
Bee Identification Guides

What Happens Inside a Hive

Why do bees boogie?
Life In a Hive
Busy as a bee: A look inside a honey bee hive

A cloud of bees forming a swarm is spectacular sight. Swarming is the natural means for how new colonies are formed. Beekeepers try to control swarming since it disrupts the hive. When the colony gets to a certain size, the current queen leaves with thousands of workers and creates a new nest elsewhere.

Language Art Ideas for Studying Honey Bees

Too, some of our sayings or idioms comes from bees. How fun. Your student can write some of them down and learn their meaning.

Look at a few expressions or idioms we get from bees.

queen bee – Queen bee refers to a dominant female.
busy as a bee – Busy as a bee means we’re working hard.
bees knees – The bees knees means something or someone who is admired or great and all things are sweet and good.
bee in your bonnet – You wouldn’t want a bee trapped in your hat. So bee in your bonnet would mean something or someone that is aggravating you.
the birds and the bees – This is a gracious way of saying you’re going to be talking about how babies are made or sex.
spelling or quilting bee – We use it today to mean children who come together to compete in spelling, but it’s been thought that it derived from the social interaction in a beehive. Hence, folks gather for social bees of different kinds whether it’s sewing or quilting.

Honey Bee Language Arts and Literature for 7 or 8th grade.
Teachers’ Guide to the Bee Book

Writing prompts.

Vocabulary words for a honey bee unit study.

Additionally, look at these vocabulary words.

pollen – powder-like material produced by the anthers of flowering plants
apiarist – Beekeeper.
apiary – A bee yard.
hive – The structure in which bees live and are kept.
honeycomb – A sheet of hexagonal wax cells made by honey bees to store honey, pollen, and brood.
drone – The male honey bee.
swarming – The natural process of how new colonies are formed.
worker bee – A female bee. The majority of the honey bees are worker bees. They do all the work in the colony except for laying fertile eggs.

pollinator – an animal that moves pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant
colony – The colony is the living unit of tens of thousands of workers, drones, and a queen.
brood – Eggs, larvae, and pupae.
cell – the hexagonal comb built by honeybees.
royal jelly – It is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae, as well as adult queens.
virgin queen – A queen bee who has not mated.
scout bees – Bees who look for new nesting areas in preparation for a swarm and are normally familiar with the area.

Free Books
Hear a Librivox recording of The Children’s Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck.
The Behavior of the Honey Bee in Pollen Collection by Dana Brackenridge Casteel

Honey Bee Teachers Guides & Activity Guides

Finally, you’ll love a roundup of some fantastic honey bee teaching guides.

Honey Bees Identification, Biology, and Life cycle
Busy as a Bee Activity Guide
Understanding the Honey Bee
A Bee’s Life

BEES! Classroom Activity Pack
Bees and Forests

Honey Bee Lapbook

You can purchase my honey bee lapbook below, but look at how I created it.

Too, the resource I used is The Beekeeper’s Bible.

I used this because it’s the book I had. It was very thorough in explaining about honey bees. This lapbook is focused on honey bees, and not so much beekeeping.

Awesome features of my honey bees lapbook:

You are paying for the printables, the lapbook.
My lapbooks are created for multiple ages and geared toward older children unless I specifically state that it’ is’ for a certain age.
Most of the minibooks have facts which accompany the minibook and a lot of the minibook are offered two ways. One way where your child uses the facts provided and another way where your child can add his own research and not use the inside pages.
You do not need to use The Beekeeper’s Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses. It’s the book I had and the one we liked.
You can use any reference materials, books, or online resources to complete the lapbook.
I don’t provide links in the lapbooks for filling out the information. This keeps my prices low for my products, but I do try to provide free links on my site as I can.

Dynamic Honey Bee Lapbook for Multiple Ages
$4.00 Add to cart

Because I do use a combination of cursive or script and print, I aim my lapbooks toward upper elementary up to high school.

Another way which I aim my lapbooks toward older children is that I avoid using baby-ish or goofy looking clip art. I spend many hours culling through images and purchasing ones that are correct and highest quality.

Because I have been a working homeschool mom for more of my journey than not, I need flexibility for using lapbooks. Proving a few facts from the main resource I use is one way I have of saving you time and giving you flexibility in how to use the minibooks.

Too, some of your kids may be older and you want them to do more research and some of your kids may be reluctant writers so you may want to mix and match pre-filled minibooks with blank minibooks. Flexibility is the key to my lapbooks.

Other nature unit studies you’ll love.

How to Dissolve a Seashell – Beach Hands-on Fun Activity

May 21, 2019 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This is a fun how to dissolve a seashell activity. Also, look at my Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook for more ideas.

With summer quickly approaching I thought a fun beach themed activity would be just the thing to keep kids interested and learning even with the end of the year burnout that we often face.

I put together a fun activity – how to dissolve a seashell.

I remember doing it myself years ago; I like it because it’s low cost, easy to assemble, and the kids can do most of it on their own.

How to Dissolve a Seashell - Beach Hands-on Fun Activity. Whether you're doing an Ocean or Beach theme, your kids will love this EZ activity. Click here!

Seashell Acid Base Experiment

It gives them a visual of what might be going on beneath the ocean’s surface and truly can give them a glimpse of what acid can do in general in a safe manner.

This simple lesson covers chemistry as well as including some conservation awareness.

What is a seashell anyway?

Seashells are mostly made up of a substance called calcium carbonate which is easily dissolved when left in vinegar even for a few days.

A seashell is the exoskeleton of mollusks. This could be an oyster or a sea snail for example.

Vinegar is great for a quick wash and disinfection of the seashells you bring home from the beach, but if you leave them in for too long they begin to eat away at your seashells.

Let’s see what happens.

How to Dissolve a Seashell Activity Ingredients

You will need:

white vinegar
seashells
a glass jar

Ocean Acidification Activity

Directions:

You can either use seashells from your collection that you’ve brought home from your own beach visit or you can purchase a bag.

Save the extra for a fun art project or you can place them in a pretty jar for summer decor.

Place a seashell or two in your container of vinegar.

Be sure to cover them completely and watch as bubbles immediately begin to form, this is carbon dioxide.

1 How to Dissolve a Seashell - Beach Hands-on Fun Activity immediate bubbling

It is a product of the reaction between the acetic acid in the vinegar and the calcium carbonate of the seashell creating a gas. Science is cool, right?

Add in a few fun workbooks like this Ocean Habitats activity book by Evan Moor and it’s easy to sneak in learning too.

Check out what’s happening.

In just 12 hours or less you should be able to see the edges of the shell eroding and maybe some holes in the center of the shell in the weaker areas.

2 How to Dissolve a Seashell - Beach Hands-on Fun Activity 12 hour results

Encourage the kids to check the progress of the shells and vinegar every few hours.

This photo is after 24 hours of soaking in vinegar, after about 12-15 hours the acid left in the vinegar will no longer be effective at dissolving the shell so you can dump it out and add fresh vinegar.

3 How to Dissolve a Seashell - Beach Hands-on Fun Activity 24 hours

We changed ours out three times during the experiment and it took about three days for the to seashells to dissolve completely.

Ocean Unit Study Activity

After 2 ½ days, all we have left is just a few remnants of the seashell.

It is amazing how quickly this common acid begins to change the seashells, thin shells will go even quicker.

This is a great lesson to talk about the impact that pollutants have on our oceans.

Chemicals which are dumped intentionally or even accidental runoff of chemicals can affect the delicate organisms that live there and eventually larger animals.

Ask your child what they can do to change things in the future or what impact, positive or negative, that they can have on the oceans and other nature.

We also choose a few books to learn about shells more in-depth.

For anywhere from preschool to Upper Elementary the Let’s read and find out science books or one of our favorites for delivering information in a more fun and engaging way than a textbook might.

For example, look at What Lives in a Shell.

Shell guides are a great item to take to the beach with you, you can quickly and easily identify the shells that you find while you’re there and because they’re laminated there reusable we take them to the beach every time we go.

Ocean Seashell Chemistry Activity

You can take this experiment a step further by choosing 2 or 3 other liquids to soak your seashells in.

Try placing tap water in one jar, vinegar in another, soda, lemon juice or even salt water in others. Label each container with the contents so that you know what is in each.

See how long it takes for the seashells to erode, does the water or saltwater do anything to the shell? How quickly did you start seeing changes to your shells?

Be sure to have your child record their hypotheses, observation, and of course the results in their science journal.

This project would make a great science fair project.

How to Dissolve a Seashell EZ beach themed or ocean themed hands-on fun activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Your child can share it just with the family, as an end-of-the-year project, or if your Co-op has a science fair it would be a wonderfully simple demonstration to share with a group.

You’ll love these other ocean themed activities: