Program Rates
How to Choose Your Program
- PreK
Join us for a preschool adventure as we learn about bears in preparation for a sensory hunt. We will ford rivers, brave snowstorms, and tiptoe through caves while never leaving the safety of the kidscommons classroom.
Features:
Phonological Awareness
Exploration and Participation
Fine Motor Skill Development
Gross Motor Skill Development - PreK
Grab your hardhats as junior civil engineers. Students will build with bricks and mortar, create bridges for elephants and send wrecking balls through cup towers. Students will take home mini construction kits to continue their STEM learning at home.
Features:
Group Collaboration
Numeracy and Measurement
Dramatic Play
Engineering Design - PreK
Enjoy making bubbles using everyday objects, then practice popping them with your body. Preschool students try different bubble experiments and learn a catchy bubble tune.
Features:
Discovery
Physical Science
Shapes
Inquiry
Fine Motor Skill Development
Gross Motor Skill Development
- K
Description: This engaging program introduces Kindergarten students to magnetism. Students will participate in various hands-on experiments to explore the characteristics of magnetism, including making their own fridge magnet to take home! This exciting program requires predicting, problem solving, observation, and cooperative learning.
IN State Standards:
Science
- K.PS.2 Identify and explain possible uses for an object based on its properties and compare these uses with other students’ ideas.
- K.PS.1 Plan and conduct an investigation using all senses to describe and classify different kinds of objects by their composition and physical properties. Explain these choices to others and generate questions about the objects.
- K.PS.3 Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
Math
- K.NS.9 Correctly use the words for comparison, including: one and many; none, some and all; more and less; most and least; and equal to, more than and less than.
- K.DA.1 Identify, sort, and classify objects by size, number, and other attributes. Identify objects that do not belong to a particular group and explain the reasoning used.
- K12
Students become bubble scientists through experimentation with shape, size and color of bubbles while learning about the scientific method. As Bubble-ologists, students conduct hands-on experiments to answer a number of questions about the nature of bubbles. They learn to shake hands through a bubble window, place things inside bubbles and much more!
Supports Nature of Science & Next Generation of Science Standards (K-2)
Indiana State Standards
Science Standards:
K.PS.1 Plan and conduct an investigation using all senses to describe and classify different kinds of objects by their composition and physical properties. Explain these choices to others and generate questions about the objects.
1.PS.1 Characterize materials as solid, liquid, or gas and investigate their properties, record observations and explain the choices to others based on evidence (i.e., physical properties).Math Standards:
1.M.1 Use direct comparison or a nonstandard unit to compare and order
objects according to length, area, capacity, weight, and temperature.
1.G.1 Identify objects as two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Classify and sort two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects by shape, size, roundness and other attributes. Describe how two-dimensional shapes make up the faces of three-dimensional objects.
1.G.2 Distinguish between defining attributes of two– and three– dimensional shapes versus non defining attributes. Create and draw two dimensional shapes defining attributes.Language Arts Standards:
1.SL.3.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
1.SL.4.3 Give and follow three- and four-step directions. - K12
Description: During this interactive program students will discover various biomes, brainstorm what animals need to survive, and use a variety of materials to construct shelters that best suit the needs of their chosen animal.
IN State Standards:
Science
- K.LS.1 Describe and compare the growth and development of common living plants and animals.
- K.LS.2 Describe and compare the physical features of common living plants and animals.
- K.LS.3 Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
- K-2.E.2 Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate and investigate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve an identified problem.
- 1.LS.3 Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
- 1.LS.4 Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.
- 123
Description: During this interactive program, students will discover the elements of sound, including how sound travels through and interacts with different materials. They will observe sound vibrations and explore pitch by constructing sound makers of their own!
IN State Standards:
Science
- 1.PS.3 Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
- 3.PS.3 Generate sound energy using a variety of materials and techniques, and recognize that it passes through solids, liquids, and gases (i.e. air).
- 3.PS.4 Investigate and recognize properties of sound that include pitch, loudness (amplitude), and vibration as determined by the physical properties of the object making the sound.
Math
- 1.M.1 Use direct comparison or a nonstandard unit to compare and order objects according to length, area, capacity, weight, and temperature.
- 234
Description: Throughout this program students will explore the characteristics of living things and their habitats by participating in collaborative group activities. Students will also discover the world of macro and micro organisms by getting an up close view of various organisms found in samples of pond water! (Only available Fall and Spring)
IN State Standards:
Science
- 2.LS.1 Determine patterns and behavior (adaptations) of parents and offspring which help offspring to survive.
- 2.LS.2 Compare and contrast details of body plans and structures within the life cycles of plants and animals.
- 2.LS.3 Classify living organisms according to variations in specific physical features (i.e. body coverings, appendages) and describe how those features may provide an advantage for survival in different environments.
- 3.LS.1 Analyze evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms
- 3.LS.3 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
- 4.LS.1 Observe, analyze, and interpret how offspring are very much, but not exactly, like their parents or one another. Describe how these differences in physical characteristics among individuals in a population may be advantageous for survival and reproduction.
- 4.LS.2 Use evidence to support the explanation that a change in the environment may result in a plant or animal will survive and reproduce, move to a new location, or die.
- 4.LS.3 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction in different ecosystems.
- 3
Description: Students will work to identify what architecture is and discover its uniqueness in Columbus. After exploring the elements of architecture and design, students will have the opportunity to explore the business aspect by working together to design a project given to them by various clients. Projects include designing a Pet Hotel, Haunted House, Zoo, and more!
(An architecture tour to supplement your program may be booked. Contact kidscommons educator for more information.)
IN State Standards:
Social Studies
- 3.1.4 Give examples of people, events, and developments that brought important changes to your community and the region where your community is located.
- 3.1.6 Use a variety of resources to gather information about your region’s communities; identify factors that make the region unique, including cultural diversity, industry, the arts and architecture.
- 3.4.2 Give examples of goods and services provided by local business and industry.
- 3.4.4 Define interdependence and give examples of how people in the local community depend on each other for goods and services.
Math
- 3.G.3 Identify, describe and draw points, lines and line segments using appropriate tools (e.g., ruler, straightedge, and technology), and use these terms when describing two-dimensional shapes.
Fine Arts
- 3.8.2 Create artwork utilizing concepts, subject matter, or the sign systems of other disciplines.
- 3
Description: Students will discover the work of paleontologists in this engaging hands-on program. After a discussion about the various types of fossils and the role they play understanding history, students will step into the shoes of paleontologists as they classify, analyze, and piece together fossils, while also getting the opportunity to replicate fossilization processes by making their own fossil casts.
IN State Standards:
Science
- 3.ESS.4 Determine how fossils are formed, discovered, layered over time, and used to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
- 34
Description: This program introduces basic knowledge of forces and simple machines through a variety of hands-on group activities and problem solving scenarios. Students are asked to construct various simple machine models and draw conclusions as they examine the many ways simple machines make work easier in daily life!
IN State Standards:
Science
- 3.PS.2 Identify types of simple machines and their uses. Investigate and build simple machines to understand how they are used.
- 4.PS.3 Investigate how multiple simple machines work together to perform everyday tasks.
- 345
Every day tasks are made easier by the science of robotics. Students will explore the musculoskeletal system of the human body and technology used in our exhibit, KidsClawmans, to guide them in designing a robotic arm. Our Lego Mindstorms robot, Snatcherbot, will also make a visit.
Indiana State Standards
Science Standards:
3-5.E.1 Identify a simple problem with the design of an object that reflects a need or a want. Include criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
3-5.E.2 Construct and compare multiple plausible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
3-5.E.3 Construct and perform fair investigations in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
