Little Edisons

miSci’s Little Edisons program, for kids ages 3 to 5, is fun way to nurture the curiosity of pint-sized future engineers, chemists, and inventors. Sessions are 45 minutes long and feature hands-on activities designed to teach problem solving and to encourage the joy of discovery.

Tickets for Little Edisons sessions grant entry to the program for a student and parent/guardian. Programs run 10 – 10:45 a.m. and 1 – 1:45 p.m. on scheduled days.

School Year 2023-24 Session Pricing:
$15/class Non-Members
$13/class Members

Weekly Pass Discount:
Choose an entire week of programming to get a ticket good for both a Tuesday and Thursday program that week.
$26/week Non-Members
$22/week Members

Schedule

FEBRUARY

Chemistry is Colorful
Thursday, February 29th
Students will start the lesson by reading Mix it Up! by Herve Tullet and talking about light refraction and chromatography, or how colors move through light and paper! Then, we will do our very own chromatography experiment, and make suncatchers to take home.

MARCH

Horton Senses Something Small
Tuesday, March 5th
Our book today is Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, where we put on our best listening ears, and talk about different ways we can observe something small. Students will use magnifying lenses on everyday objects to see if they can find new details and use their sense of smell to observe molecules too small to see!

My Five Senses
Thursday, March 7th
We read My Five Senses by Aliki and then put all of our senses to the test, smelling, feeling, tasting, seeing, and hearing our way through various activities designed to show young learners the strength of all of their senses!

Caring for Mother Earth
Tuesday, March 12th
We read The Digger and The Duckling by Joseph Kuefler this week and learn about the environmental impact that we as humans can have on animals. Then, we get our hands dirty in an “oil spill” sensory activity, where we use dish soap to clean our feathers and talk about how we can help the planet!

Fossilized Fun
Thursday, March 14th
Little Edisons start this week off with a roar by reading Dino Treasures by Rhonda Lucas Donald and learning about the job of finding dinosaur bones, or paleontology. Then, we make our own dino tracks with playdough, and record our findings in a fun take-home book like true scientists!

Waiting for Wings
Tuesday, March 19th
We read Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert to learn about the lifecycle of butterflies and whether or not they are insects. Then, we’ll make a lifecycle of a butterfly craft, and a beautiful and colorful butterfly using coffee filters and clothespins.

Fly, Hop, Swim
Thursday, March 21st
We read Move! by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to learn all about the different ways animals move in different environments. Then, we measure how far some animals can move in a single step (or jump, swing, or stroke!) and make a take-home jumping frog craft.

Pinhole Projectors
Tuesday, March 26th
We start by reading A Few Beautiful Minutes: Experiencing a Solar Eclipse by Kate Allen Fox, then talk about how we will be seeing a solar eclipse next week! Then we craft small Sun projectors so you can see the Sun any day!

Exciting Eclipse
Thursday, March 28th
Today we read Eclipse by Andy Rash and have a special visit from Ms. Kerry, miSci’s Planetarium Manager, who will tell us all about wonderful cosmic events like eclipses. Then, we make a model of an eclipse with a flashlight to show on a smaller scale how eclipses happen.

APRIL

APRIL BREAK WEEK
April 1st- April 5th- No Little Edisons Classes this week.

April Showers
Tuesday, April 9th
Today we read Rain by Cynthia Rylant to learn about how all animals and plants on earth need rain to survive. Then, we make rain clouds in jars, and watch as we create our very own rainstorm.

Salty vs. Fresh: Where is Earth’s Water?
Thursday, April 11th

Flower Power
Tuesday, April 16th
Today we read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, then learn all about the lifecycle of a flower. Then, we’ll plant some seeds to take home so you can learn to grow and care for your very own flowers.

Budding Biologists
Thursday, April 18th
Today we read What’s Inside a Flower?: and Other Questions About Science & Nature by Rachel Ignotofsky, then we make flower suncatcher and learn about all of the different ways that flowers make themselves colorful, and how flowers attract pollinators like bees!

miSci Loves our Planet
April 23rd- April 25th
miSci focuses on Earth Day this week, reading My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLachlan and Earth Day- Hooray! Stuart J. Murphy. Then, we make our own seed paper from recycled bits we’ve used over our the week, and build terrariums out of recycled materials.

A Note of Thanks

miSci is forever grateful to Elizabeth “Beth” Hudson for founding the Little Edisons program. Beth brought more than 35 years of experience working in special education and a love of teaching pre-school children to miSci. She will be missed, and we wish her well on all her retirement adventures. Thank you, Beth!