Raising A Curious Child: Science At Home

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Songs about the planets are fine. They aren’t what makes a child scientific. That comes from what happens when they ask a question.

The four words that do most of the work are “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”

A parent who says that, and then looks it up with the child, has demonstrated the entire method: that not knowing is normal, that questions have findable answers, and that finding out is something ordinary people do.

A parent who bluffs an answer teaches something else entirely.

The “why” questions

A four-year-old can ask why forty times in an afternoon, and it’s exhausting. It’s also the whole thing.

Ask what they think first. “Why do you think the moon follows us?” Their answer is usually wrong and interesting, and it tells you what they already believe.
Don’t correct immediately. “How could we check?” beats “no, you’re wrong”. A child who tests their own idea learns something a correction can’t supply.
Answer honestly at their level, without inventing. Simplified is fine; wrong isn’t, because they’ll have to unlearn it.
It’s fine to say “nobody knows.” Some questions are open, and knowing that’s part of understanding what science is.
Let some questions wait. “Let’s think about that” is a legitimate answer, particularly at question thirty-one.

Science at home that costs nothing

Cooking. Prediction, measurement, irreversible change, and immediate feedback on whether the reasoning was right. The best science lab most households have.
What floats and what sinks: in the bath, with a prediction before each one.
Growing something. A bean on damp cotton wool, or spring onion ends in water. Slow, visible, and it teaches patience alongside biology.
Ice. Which melts faster and why, in the sun or the shade, in water or air.
Cornflour and water, which behaves like a solid and a liquid and reliably astonishes.
Shadows: trace one in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Taking something broken apart: an old radio, a torch, with supervision.
Watching things properly. A millipede on a boardwalk for twenty minutes is doing the same work as any experiment.

What you’re teaching

Not facts. The habit of: notice something, guess why, work out how to check, change your mind when the answer disagrees with you.

The last part is the one adults find hardest, and the one children most need to see. Change your mind out loud in front of them: “I thought it would sink, and it didn’t, so I was wrong about that.” That’s what distinguishes science from opinion.

The thing to stop saying

Don’t say “I was never any good at maths” or “science isn’t my thing” in front of your children.

It sounds harmless and self-deprecating. What it communicates is that some people are science people and some aren’t, that this is fixed, and, where a parent says it, that the child may well be in the same category.

There’s a well-documented association between adults’ own maths anxiety and children’s, particularly where the adult is helping with homework.

Related: the gap between boys and girls in science confidence opens early and is about belief, not ability. Watch for the small things: who gets asked the technical question, whose guess gets taken seriously, who’s praised for being careful and who for being clever.

Where to go here

Science Centre Singapore, particularly from about six
Nature reserves and Sungei Buloh, where things are visibly happening
Public libraries, which run children’s programmes and cost nothing
The Botanic Gardens, and the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden
Museums, several free for citizens and PRs

Frequently asked questions

How do I encourage my child’s interest in science?

Mostly by how you answer questions. Ask what they think before answering, resist correcting immediately in favour of “how could we check?”, and say “I don’t know, let’s find out”, then find out with them. That demonstrates the whole method.

What if I don’t know the answer?

Say so. It’s the single best thing you can model, because it shows that not knowing is normal and that questions have findable answers. Bluffing teaches something else, and simplified answers are fine while wrong ones have to be unlearned later.

What science can we do at home?

Cooking is the best science lab most households have: prediction, measurement, irreversible change and immediate feedback. Also float-and-sink in the bath with a prediction first, growing a bean on cotton wool, ice melting in different places, cornflour and water, tracing shadows, and taking something broken apart.

What am I teaching?

Not facts, but the habit: notice something, guess why, work out how to check, and change your mind when the answer disagrees. The last is hardest for adults and the one to do out loud.

Why shouldn’t I say I was bad at maths?

Because it communicates that some people are maths people and some aren’t, that this is fixed, and that your child may be in the same category. There’s a documented association between adults’ own maths anxiety and children’s, particularly when helping with homework.

Do girls need different encouragement?

Not different, but attention to the small things. The confidence gap opens early and is about belief, not ability. Notice who gets asked the technical question, whose guess is taken seriously, and who’s praised for being careful and who for being clever.

What to remember

“I don’t know, let’s find out.” Then find out. That’s most of it.

Ask what they think before you answer, and let them test a wrong idea instead of correcting it.

Cook with them, grow something, take something apart. And change your mind out loud when you’re wrong.

Stop saying you were bad at maths. They’re listening, and they’ll apply it to themselves.