Kids are curious by nature and constantly try to know more about the things they observe in their surroundings.
Irrespective of whether you home-school your children or send them to a private/public school, it is crucial for parents to spend quality time with their kids.
An excellent way of doing this while ensuring that they learn something meaningful is to educate them about the everyday things that pique their interest in fun and enjoyable ways.
Talk to your kids to find out more about their areas of interest and make it a point to feed their curiosity about how different concepts and things work.
Electricity is a topic that never fails to fascinate kids. Often, kids develop an initial curiosity about electricity after watching a rainstorm with lightning and thunder.
Depending on their ages, you can teach your children about thunderstorms, lightning, circuits, batteries, conductors, electrical safety, currents, and other exciting concepts related to electricity.
Here are 5 simple and fun ways to educate your kids about electricity.
Explore Different Electricity-Related Themes Each Week
Electricity is a subject that covers a vast range of topics. You can start by making a list of all the topics you would like to educate your kids about and focus on one each week.
Depending on the ages of your children, you could choose from the following topic suggestions:
The Basics Of Electricity
For small kids, you can start with the basics of electricity. Tell your kids that electricity is the flow of electrical power or charge.
Let them ask questions and answer them in a simple, easy-to-understand language. Teach them about the two main types of electricity: static electricity and current electricity.
Electric Circuits
This is a fascinating topic to explore with children, especially older ones.
Besides giving them a theoretical breakdown of the concept, you can also do experiments with light bulbs, batteries, and voltages to provide kids with practical exposure.
Thunderstorms
Thunderstorms accompanied by lighting and rain are common occurrences across America.
The next time your city experiences a thunderstorm, turn it into an exciting lesson on electricity for the kids and explain why such natural phenomena occur.
Electrical Safety
This is a crucial topic that every parent needs to discuss with their children.
While it is essential to make the kids understand the dangers of improperly handling electrical gadgets, make sure not to scare them. Gently educate them while emphasizing the seriousness of the issue.
Electromagnetism
Electricity and magnetism are closely related as an electromagnet is simply a magnet that can be switched on and off with electricity. There is much to explore in this field for older children and young teenagers.
Conduct Experiments Around The House
There are many exciting electricity experiments that you can do with your kids around the house.
You can teach your little kids about positive and negative electrical charges with a simple static electricity science experiment that tells you how to separate salt and pepper powder with just a comb.
They can also make a stream of water bend through the power of positive and negative electrical charges.
If you have older kids, you can build an electric circuit with them using a copper wire, a 6-volt lantern battery, alligator clips, and a light bulb.
You can also build circuits with playdough; since playdough contains salt, it conducts electricity.
Besides building a basic circuit with a switch and a light bulb, you can engage the older kids in another fun experiment with electricity: make an electromagnet!
If you need more ideas for easy electrical experiments to try with kids, browse the internet for blogs and videos.
Teach Your Kids About Sustainable Energy
Most of the energy in the United States comes from coal, oil, and natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels.
Every stage of production of these fuels and their usage contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases, water pollution, and climate change.
As children grow older, it becomes the responsibility of the parents to educate them about the harms of using fossil fuel and the availability of more sustainable and renewable sources of energy.
While books, YouTube videos, and educational blogs are useful resources to teach your kids about renewable and non-renewable energy, the best way is to lead by example.
Switch to Stream Energy “Green & Clean” plan for your family’s electricity needs. Talk to your kids about how we can make an impact by making more conscious choices regarding our electricity consumption.
Plan Games And Activities
You can make education more exciting and meaningful if kids have fun while learning. Experimenting with batteries, voltages, and light bulbs is a great electricity activity for older kids.
Supervise them as they have fun replacing bulbs, changing the battery volts, and moving switches.
Smaller children can play a simple yet fun game by rubbing a balloon against someone’s head to demonstrate static electricity.
You can ask young kids to make a scrapbook with electricity-related pictures and interesting facts. This is a good way of letting their creativity flow while they learn new things.
Children can also make their own deck of cards with images and words related to electricity.
Ask the little ones to collect a few pennies and a piece of aluminum foil and show them how to build a real working battery with things found easily around the house.
Host A Family Teaching Night
Children enjoy learning in an interactive atmosphere where they feel heard. Most kids enjoy teaching what they know to others. Host a family teaching night for an enjoyable and educational weekend activity.
Set up chairs and a whiteboard in your living room to recreate a classroom setting and ask your child to teach all they know about electricity to the rest of the family.
The child can explain a simple phenomenon or conduct a little experiment to demonstrate a concept.
In Closing
Teaching your children about electricity can be fun-filled and meaningful for everyone involved. Be sure to incorporate interactive activities and experiments instead of keeping their education strictly theoretical.
Another way to help kids see the world in terms of energy efficiency is to lead by example and support renewable energy companies such as Cleanchoice Energy.
There are various resources available online to help you develop an enjoyable educational routine to teach your child about various topics related to electricity.