Science Investigations

Date: 9th Jan 2025 @ 11:31am

In Reception, children are introduced to a world full of new discoveries through their Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW) lessons. These lessons are designed to spark curiosity, build scientific thinking, and encourage children to explore the world around them. The best part? These lessons are hands-on and full of exciting investigations that make learning come to life!

In this blog, we’ll explore what the Knowledge and Understanding of the World curriculum looks like in Reception, with a particular focus on the fun investigations that help develop key skills. 

  1. What is Knowledge and Understanding of the World?

In Reception, Knowledge and Understanding of the World is one of the key areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. It focuses on helping children develop an understanding of:

  • Themselves and others: How they are similar to and different from others, their own families and cultures.
  • The environment: The world around them, including plants, animals, and seasonal changes.
  • Technology: Simple tools and how they are used in everyday life.
  • Scientific thinking: Investigating materials, physical properties, forces, and the natural world.

A key element of this area is to foster curiosity through hands-on investigations, which help children explore, question, and experiment with the world around them.

  1. What Are Fun Investigations in Reception?

Fun investigations are a core part of the KUW curriculum. These activities are designed to be engaging and to give children the chance to explore scientific ideas in a way that feels like play. Investigations encourage children to ask questions, make predictions, explore different outcomes, and develop problem-solving skills. Here are some examples of fun investigations your child will be involved in:

Exploring Materials

Children investigate different materials—such as fabric, plastic, wood, metal, and paper—to explore their properties:

  • What’s soft, hard, rough, or smooth?
  • What happens when you bend, twist, or tear the material?
  • Which materials float or sink in water?

Through these investigations, children learn to observe and compare the physical properties of different materials. They may even predict what will happen before experimenting—teaching them basic scientific inquiry skills.

Investigating Water and Materials

Water investigations are always a big hit in Reception! Children will experiment with:

  • What happens when you mix water with different materials?
  • How does water change when it’s frozen or boiled?
  • What can float or sink in water?

These simple science experiments allow children to predict and test ideas. For example, they may drop various objects into a bowl of water to see what sinks or floats, or try mixing substances like oil, flour, and water to see how they react.

Exploring Light and Shadows

Children in Reception are fascinated by light and shadows. Fun investigations include:

  • Making shadows with different objects and lights.
  • Observing how shadows change size and shape depending on the light source.
  • Exploring how light affects our ability to see.

This type of investigation sparks curiosity about the properties of light and encourages children to think about cause and effect, such as, “What happens when I move this object closer to the light?” or “Why do shadows change?”

Simple Machines and Forces

Some activities involve:

  • Rolling balls down ramps to investigate speed and gravity.
  • Investigating pushing and pulling forces by testing how hard you need to push or pull different objects to make them move.
  • Building simple structures with blocks to see how tall you can build something before it falls over.

These activities help develop problem-solving skills and an early understanding of concepts like force, gravity, and balance.

We have attached videos and photographs from our volcano investigation for you to watch, alongside exploring with magnets and different materials.  These experiences provide children with the foundations for scientific thinking that they will continue to build on throughout their education.