Science for babies--fun with spoons

My little man (9 months) is in love with the dropping game.  His sister was being cooperative about picking his spoon up each time it fell--fun game!  I ran and grabbed two more spoons of different types--so we had a plastic spoon, a rubber-tipped spoon and an all-metal one.  Then I let them continue with the game for a bit.  I led into a gentle discussion of "Which spoon is the loudest when it hits?" and we brainstormed possible reasons why.  Then Mommy stood up and dropped the spoons from high and we listened to each one's clatter.  We decided we liked the sound of the metal spoon best!  This simple science lesson begins to teach concepts such as properties of a solid, laws of gravity, sound, and even the properties of different solids (hardness, temperature, etc.)  If I were just doing this game with the baby I'd let him explore for a while and then drop them for him to show the different sounds.  We are also teaching him to say, "uhhh-ohhh" when it falls and "there it is!" by pointing at the spoon on the ground.

Older kids would enjoy this too!  You could incorporate wooden spoons or even disposable plastic spoons.  Have them close their eyes, you drop a spoon and let them guess which one it is based on the sound.  Lots of opportunities for exploration!