Weekday Wonders is a series designed for parents and other adults who are interested in engaging children in science at home.
Explore our archive of carefully curated educational content meant to provide additional support to caregivers who have found themselves with a virtual learner this school year. Weekday Wonders provides fun, educational activities and resources to supplement virtual (or in-person!) learning. These resources are written in a way that is easy for caregivers to facilitate, even while working.
Designed for young scientists in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade, Weekday Wonders provides activities and journal prompts for each day of the school week. You will find 18 weeks of resources linked down below that can be done in any order that works best for your scientist. Many of the activities include support on how to adjust the activities to be easier for the youngest scientists or more challenging for scientists in grades 4, 5, and beyond.
The activities require minimal preparation and materials. Many young scientists will be able to complete the activities with instructions from an adult followed by time on their own.
- Download Weekday Wonders General Information Guide
- Download our Guide to Nature Journaling
Nature on the Page:
Day 1: What are the traits and features of a character? PDF
Day 2: How do you develop a setting for a story? PDF
Day 3: What is the plot for a story, and how does it develop? PDF
Day 4: How can a story show action? PDF
Day 5: How do you end a story? PDF
Weird and Wacky Nature:
Day 1: How do animals hide from predators? PDF
Day 2: How do animals eat their food? PDF
Day 3: How do animals care for their young? PDF
Day 4: What are some of weird and wacky ways that animals use their sense of taste? PDF
Day 5: What are some of the weird and wacky ways that animals use their eyes to see? PDF
Nature Detectives:
Day 1: Can you spy living things outside your window? PDF
Day 2: Can you find evidence of residence? Or, how can you tell where animals live? PDF
Day 3: Who left that trail? PDF
Day 4: What has been eating outside my window? PDF
Day 5: Why do plants come in so many different shapes and sizes? PDF
Mad Scientists:
Day 1: Why do plants look wilted or die if they do not get water? PDF
Day 2: How do boats float on the water? PDF
Day 3: What happened to the ice pop on a hot day? PDF
Day 4: Why is the sun important? PDF
Day 5: How can you discover preferences of wild animals that share your outdoor space? PDF
Water Warriors:
Day 1: How much water do you use in a day? PDF
Day 2: Could your water usage affect others? PDF
Day 3: How do everyday activities affect water quality? PDF
Day 4: How does water quality affect wild animals? PDF
Day 5: What are some ways you have fun with water? PDF
Wild World of Art:
Day 1 – What kind of art can you make with rocks? PDF
Day 2 – What kind of art can you make with dirt? PDF
Day 3 – What kind of art can you make with water? PDF
Day 4 – What kind of art can you make with sticks? PDF
Day 5 – What kind of art can you make with leaves? PDF
Wonders of Nature:
Day 1 – Have you ever wondered about the power of the sun? PDF
Day 2 – Have you ever wondered why the moon changes shape in the sky? PDF
Day 3 – Have you ever wondered how plants can live in such interesting places? PDF
Day 4 – Have you ever wondered why insects’ wings come in so many shapes? PDF
Day 5 – Have you ever wondered how insects can have such different lifestyles? PDF
STEM Around Us:
Day 1 – How does a bird’s wing help it fly? PDF
Day 2 – How does STEM help animals? PDF
Day 3 – How do man-made buildings mimic nature? PDF
Day 4 – How can we explore color in the world around us? PDF
Day 5 – How can I build a machine to move objects? PDF
Animal Olympics:
Day 1 – Do you have the speed of an animal champion? PDF
Day 2 – Can you compete in the jumping events? PDF
Day 3 – Can you hit the mark? PDF
Day 4 – Do animals work out or exercise? PDF
Day 5 – Are there animals that would be good at several Olympic events? PDF
Looking for more fun? Check out our previous weeks of Weekday Wonders!
Living Things:
Day 1 – What are living things? PDF
Day 2 – What do animals need to live? PDF
Day 3 – What do plants need to live? PDF
Day 4 – How do living things rely on each other to live? PDF
Day 5 – How do plants and animals share resources where they live? PDF
Diversity in Ecosystems:
Day 1 – Where do animals live in the ocean? PDF
Day 2 – Where do animals live in rivers and streams? PDF
Day 3 – Where do animals live in the forest? PDF
Day 4 – Where do animals live in your backyard? PDF
Day 5 – What’s the difference between and ecosystem and a habitat? PDF
Changing Ecosystems:
Day 1 – What things change in your neighborhood? PDF
Day 2 – How do the places where animals live change? PDF
Day 3 – How do places where other animals live change? PDF
Day 4 – How often do ecosystems change? PDF
Day 5 – Why is a diverse ecosystem healthier than one that has only a few living things? PDF
Watershed Wisdom:
Day 1 – Where does water come from? PDF
Day 2 – Where does water go? PDF
Day 3 – What watershed do I live in? PDF
Day 4 – What else lives in your watershed? PDF
Day 5 – How can you protect your watershed? PDF
Diversity of Living Things:
Day 1 – What physical characteristics do animals have? PDF
Day 2 – How are all animals similar and different from each other? PDF
Day 3 – How can knowing the characteristics of animals help sort them and know what they are? PDF
Day 4 – How are the characteristics of animals of the same kind similar and different? PDF
Day 5 – Why is it important for animals of the same kind to have different characteristics? PDF
Inherited Characteristics:
Day 1 – What characteristics do animals have? PDF
Day 2 – How are parents and offspring the same, and how are they different? PDF
Day 3 – What characteristics can be passed on from parents to offspring? PDF
Day 4 – Why are only some characteristics of offspring the same as their parents’? PDF
Day 5 – How does the environment affect characteristics? PDF
Adaptations:
Day 1 – What characteristics or adaptations do animals have? PDF
Day 2 – What characteristics help an animal to survive? PDF
Day 3 – What characteristics help and animal to survive where they live? PDF
Day 4 – Why do different animals have different adaptations for the same environment? PDF
Day 5 – Why are there differences among animals of the same species? PDF
Growth and Development:
Day 1 – How do animals grow and develop? PDF
Day 2 – What is a life cycle? PDF
Day 3 – Are there different kinds of life cycles? PDF
Day 4 – Do plants have life cycles? PDF
Day 5 – How does the environment affect living things’ life cycles? PDF
Biodiversity and Me:
Day 1 – What resources do humans and wild animals share? PDF
Day 2 – How do humans and animals rely on each other to survive? PDF
Day 3 – Why is it important for humans to share resources with other living things? PDF
Day 4 – How do humans take care of the animals at the Tennessee Aquarium? PDF
Day 5 – How can humans help animals where we live? PDF