Properties

Young children observe the world and everything in it using all their senses. They investigate the colors, sizes, shapes, weights and textures of objects (like trees, rocks and toys) and materials (like water, sand, wood and plastic). Five-year-olds are increasingly aware of the properties of materials — wood and ice are hard and cotton is fluffy and soft — and what makes them useful for different purposes — wood is good for building because it is hard. They begin to distinguish between natural materials (sand and wood) and ones that are designed and/or made by people, like glass and plastic. Five-year-olds are interested in exploring cause-and-effect relationships and enjoy mixing different materials and helping with cooking activities. When you provide lots of different objects and materials for your five-year-old to investigate, you spark their investigations and support their critical thinking skills. Opportunities for building, creating and problem solving help them think like engineers. As you explore properties with your five-year-old, talk with them about their observations and ideas. Introduce and use words like rigid/flexible and wide/narrow, as well as action words like investigate, predict, design, create and classify. Keep drawing and writing materials on hand so they can record their observations and ideas on paper. Notice your five-year-old’s specific interests (in building with different types of materials, exploring color and design or exploring outdoors, for example), and follow their lead!