Age-Appropriate Topics

Explore these science topics and sample questions for different grade levels. Click on your child's grade range for age-appropriate conversation topics and questions. Also, see our Talk Tips page for strategies that work for any science topic.

Pre-School
Grades K-2
Grades 3-5
Middle School
High School

Pre-School

Early learners are ready to talk about science! They are typically curious and ready to observe and explain, including simple cause-and-effect. Pre-school children have likely discussed what living things need to grow, simple weather concepts (e.g., cloud shapes), and seasons. Pre-school children are ready to engage in sensory experiences. They can talk about and draw the physical properties of objects (size, shape, color, and texture).

Sample questions:

What are the different parts of a tree?
What does the bark of the tree feel like?
What colors of leaves do you see? What about the shapes of leaves?
If you have pets/plants: What do we give to our pets/plants so that they can live and grow?
What do the clouds look like today?
What kinds of activities do we do in summer? What about in winter?
What happens to trees in the winter?
Why do we put trash in the wastebasket and not on the ground?

Click to return to the top of the page.

Grades K-2

Children in grades K-2 have likely discussed ecosystems, such as what plants and animals need to survive. Other topics include human use of natural resources for everything we do, and the ways that humans can reduce their impact on nature. Also, children have likely discussed weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, and warm) and how weather forecasting can predict severe weather.

Sample questions:

What are your five senses? How do they help you to experience the forest?
What do you think plants need to live and grow? What about birds? What do plants and birds have in common?
Some animals have shells, like turtles, and some plants, like acorn seeds. What do shells do, and why are they helpful?
Do you see any baby animals in the forest? How are they similar to their parents? How are they different?
How do plants and trees of different heights get enough sunlight to grow?
Are there any "clues" that the forest has changed over time? What do you think caused that change?
What natural resources do humans use that we can find in a forest?
What is today's weather like? Has the weather been this way for a while, or has it changed?
What are some signs of a storm coming?

Click to return to the top of the page.

Grades 3-5

Children in grades 3-5 have likely discussed life cycles and food webs. Children talk about behaviors and traits that help plants and animals to survive in their habitat. Some traits are inherited from parents to offspring. Other topics include environmental changes and their impacts on plants and animals, along with different weather climates around the world.

Sample questions:

What kinds of plants do you eat in everyday life? Where do these plants grow?
What happens if a plant does not get enough water? Will it be shorter or taller?
What happens if an animal does not have enough food in the area where it lives (also known as its habitat)?
Have you heard of a food web before? Where are plants in the food web? What about animals?
Some plants and animals have characteristics that help them to survive, such as plants' thorns or animals’ camouflage. Do you see any examples here in the forest?
What body parts are associated with your five senses?
How would you describe the weather in the forest today?
What makes a forest different from other habitats, like a desert?

Click to return to the top of the page.

Middle School

Children and teens in midddle school have likely discussed natural resources and energy transfer within food webs. They have talked about plant and animal cells. Biodiversity, inherited traits, and adaptations are other common topics for this age group.

Sample questions:

Have you talked about cells at school? What are cells?
Have you talked about photosynthesis at school? What happens during photosynthesis?
When an animal eats a plant, where does the plant’s energy go?
What are some natural resources that humans and animals need to live and grow?
What happens to animals when there are fewer resources in their habitat?
Where do plants go in a food web? What about herbivores? What about omnivores and carnivores?
If you see mushrooms or fungi: what do decomposers do?
Pause for a moment. How many different plants do you see? How many different animals do you see (or hear)?
Why are some flowers bright and colorful?
What are some adaptations that you see on the trees? Hint: look at their height, bark, and seeds.
If there are siblings: what physical traits do you have in common with your siblings?

Click to return to the top of the page.

High School

High-school teens have likely discussed the role of DNA in providing "instructions" and making proteins for growth. They have talked about photosynthesis in plants and algae, along with energy within food webs. Ecosystems are a major topic, including pressures that affect different species within ecosystems (e.g., overpredation, overpopulation, and climate change). Human impacts on ecosystems are also discussed.

Sample questions:

What is DNA? What does it do?
How does DNA make one tree different from another tree?
How is DNA passed on in a species?
What do plants do with the sugars made from the sun’s energy during photosynthesis?
Where do plants store some of the sugars?
How does the energy animals get from food become energy their bodies can use?
What happens if there are too many predators in an ecosystem? What about too many prey animals?
What are some ways that humans impact ecosystems?
Have you talked about endangered species before? How do some species become endangered?
What are some ways that humans can protect, or conserve, plant and animal species?

Click to return to the top of the page.

Topics and sample questions are based on the Next Generation Science Standards and the Illinois State Board of Education’s Early Learning and Development Standards.