Early Childhood
LSC is here to help your young learners discover their love for the world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and nurture their STEM identity. We have a variety of programs for grades Pre-K - 2 to engage your most curious and creative thinkers.
Backyard Safari (45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: Kindergarten
Available online, at LSC, or at your school. Have you ever wanted to go on a safari? Well, let us introduce Mickey. He's a small but mighty puppy who loves other animals and especially loves noticing patterns! With his love of patterns and making observations, Mickey will serve as the perfect guide for a backyard safari featuring our LSC animals. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: K-LS1-1 Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. Connections to NJSLS - English Language Arts: RI.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. RI.K.4. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
Maple Seed Models (30-45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: Kindergarten
Available online, at LSC, or at your school. Create your own maple seed model out of paper, and explore how the maple seed has a special way of getting the space it needs to grow and survive. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: K-LS1-1 Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Flower Power (30-45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: 1st Grade
Available online, at LSC, or at your school. As the seasons change, flowers begin to bloom again. But how do they get the water they need to grow? Explore how plants use specialized parts to take in water and send it throughout their structure. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: 1-LS1-1 Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
Super Strong Shapes (30-45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: 2nd Grade
Available online, at LSC, or at your school. Which shapes are not only strong but… super strong? In a hands-on program that blends science and architecture, we’ll build and test our favorite three-dimensional shapes and explore how an object’s shape relates to its properties and uses. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: 2-PS1-2 Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose. Connections to NJSLS - English Language Arts: W.2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. Connections to NJSLS - Mathematics: MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. MP.4 Model with mathematics. MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically.
Move it, Move it! (Five Session Series, 45 Minutes Per Session)
Intended Grade: Kindergarten
Available at LSC or at your school. In this engineering series, students will become physicists and engineers as they make catapults, model cars, balloon ziplines, and more. Beginning first with a hands-on exploration of pushes and pulls, students will master the definition of a force while uncovering the steps of the engineering design process. After learning that a force is a push or pull, educators will lead these budding scientists through four days of project-based experiments with students planning, constructing, and testing, just like real engineers. Students' projects completed as part of this series will be able to be kept by students as part of the program. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: K-PS2-1 Plan and investigate to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. K-PS2-2 Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
Circle of Life (Five Session Series, 45 Minutes Per Session)
Intended Grade: 1st Grade
Available at LSC or at your school. Zoey can’t wait to become a zoologist! Help Zoey apply what she’s learning about in school, from animal adaptations, to life cycles, to behaviors that parent animals use to help their babies survive. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: 1-LS1-2 Read text and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive. 1-LS3-1 Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Calling All Chemists (Five Session Series, 45 Minutes Per Session)
Intended Grade: 2nd Grade
Available at LSC or at your school. In this exploratory series, students will focus on the wonderful world of chemistry and nurture their inner chemist. Students will create matter models, make bubbles, investigate dry ice, and more as they synthesize the properties of matter and what happens when we heat and cool matter. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: 2-PS1-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties. 2-PS1-4 Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
Rain, Rain, Go Away! (30 Minutes)
Intended Grade: Pre-K-2
Available online or at LSC. Explore causes of our weather using Science On a Sphere. See how Earth’s weather changes from place to place and season to season. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: K-ESS2-1 Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. 2 ESS2-3 Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid. Connection to NJSLS - Mathematics: MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. MP.4 Model with mathematics.
Sun, Moon, and Stars (30-45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: Pre-K-2
Available online. Join a tour of the sky for our youngest astronomers! Explore the sun, moon, and stars and discover their patterns, including sunrise and sunset locations, moon phases, and how constellation visibility varies with Earth’s position from season to season. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: 1-ESS1-1 Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted. 1-ESS1-2 Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year. 1-PS4-2. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated. Connections to NJSLS - English Language Arts: W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Science Circus Jr. (45 Minutes)
Intended Grade: Pre-K-2
Available at LSC or at your school. Let’s think big together and investigate the effects of forces as you’ve never seen them before! Be shocked and amazed by the pushes and pulls involving electricity, gasp in awe at the air all around us as we demonstrate the science behind attraction and repulsion, and explore how forces affect objects. Alignment to NJSLS - Science: K-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. 2-PS1-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.