The Age 9-11 - Semester 2 - Science Kit provides specialized materials for hands-on investigations in units Technology and Invention, Space, and The Human Body. These activities help children analyze how inventions work, model Earth’s movement with a lamp and basketball, create planetary orbits, and investigate how the senses and eyes work.

Engage Your Child with a Hands-on Science Curriculum

This kit includes over 50 materials used in hands-on investigations throughout the semester. Here are a few examples your child will complete.

• Explore How Inventions Work: Your child closely examines an invention, draws its parts, and explains how each part contributes to its function. By suggesting an improvement, your child connects structure and purpose to the process of improving technology.
• Discover What Causes Day, Night, and Seasons: Your child uses a basketball and lamp to model Earth and the Sun, observing how light changes as the ball rotates, tilts, and moves. The model demonstrates how Earth’s rotation produces day and night and how its tilt affects seasonal patterns.
• Investigate the Shape of Planetary Orbits: Using string, thumbtacks, and a pencil, your child draws and compares ellipses. This hands-on model shows that planets travel around the Sun in oval-shaped paths rather than perfect circles.
• Explore How Your Sense of Taste Works: Your child tests different tastes on the tongue using substances such as lemon juice, salt, and sugar, then records observations on a taste map. The investigation connects taste buds with the signals the brain uses to identify tastes.
• Understand How the Eye Processes Light: Your child builds a model of the eye and uses a flashlight to trace how light moves through its structures. The model connects the cornea, lens, retina, and optic nerve to their roles in vision.

A Complete Hands-On Science Experience

Hands-on science can require families to gather specialized supplies for different activities. This kit provides materials used throughout the semester’s investigations, reducing preparation and helping parents focus on guiding observation, analysis, modeling, and scientific discussion.

The following items are included in this kit. This list is subject to change.

• Inventions booklet
• 2 pieces of wood
• 2 wire hangers
• 6-volt light bulb
• 9-volt battery
• bamboo skewer
• brads
• brass fasteners
• buttons
• clothespin
• connecting wires
• dowel rods
• gear cards
• gear set
• long board
• marbles
• metal washer
• paper clips
• pencil
• plastic propeller
• rubber bands
• ruler
• sandpaper
• screw
• small motor
• straw
• string
• toothpicks
• wooden splints
• wooden spools
• 3 paper plates
• 6 colors of clay
• balloons
• brown clay
• card stock paper
• clay
• drinking straw
• green food coloring
• pair of panty hose
• paper plate
• small cardboard box
• 2 thumbtacks
• 35 mm film container
• Alka Seltzer tablet
• black construction paper
• butcher paper
• compass
• index cards
• liquid graphite or black food coloring
• paintbrush
• piece of cardboard
• safety pin
• watercolor paper
• watercolors