I am not able to explain the complexities of life, such as molecules and negative numbers to a 5 year old

[StarryStarryNight]

Does anybody know any good books that explains such matter in an easy to understand language?

My son is 5, and is for ever asking me what water is made of, what is a molecule, why he cannot see it, and are there molecules everywhere, and what is metal, and what comes after -1, and how can he see minus 1, minus 2 etc when he can see 1,2,3 beads or pizza slices, why can he not see negative numbers? I am not equipped to answer such questions. Today we were doing maths with adding together negative and positive numbers, and I really dont know how to best explain it? Any clues?

I think the point is that THE CHILD asked about them, my 4.10y DS has asked about them, he isn't in school yet - it isn't a case of "doing negative numbers" it is a case of the child showing an interest in something and the parent providing the information to them.

I am the linguist too, but sadly DH is the English graduate. No good at all....

There are disadvantages in telling youngsters about negative numbers, but to be honest if they're asking about them, you don't have much choice really. My experience ran as follows:

ponderous 5-year old ds staring at new fridge freezer with digital temperature display: "I always thought the freezer was colder than the fridge"

Me: "Yes, that's right it is!"

ds: "but that says the freezer is 17 and the fridge is 4"

Me "Oh, erm err, well... you see that little dash before the 17? That means it's not really 17 like you're thinking, it's minus 17 which is 17 degrees colder than zero rather than 17 degrees above zero. It's called a minus number and you'll learn about them at school one day. They're useful when you need to think about things that are less than zero."

ds (thoughtfully): "Oh... I see, so the freezer is 21 colder than the fridge? Why didn't they make zero the coldest you can get?"

me (surprized): "Yep, that's right! But we usually say 21 degrees celcius colder, because there are other temperature scales too" followed by a forlorn attempt at explaining absolute zero and why we don't use Kelvin scale much.

Next day I get hauled into classroom and given a severe dressing down for telling 5 yo about 'minus numbers'. I think he'd been pestering teacher for sums with them in all day.

teacher was an idiot then!

Ds get the concept of negative numbers with regards chocolate buttons. If he is allowed 2 and eats 3 then his allowance of buttons the next day will only be 1 because he was at -1 already. He did eat a lot of buttons the day he wanted to know about negative numbers and I'm still not sure whether it was the maths or the chocolate he was interested in!

Molecules were done well at a science museum we went to. One child was Oxygen and held hands with two other children who were hydrogen. They got a few molecules assembled and then let them bump each other a bit - at which point of course they started to let go - et voila! Steam. Ds soon realised the hydrogen had more fun.

I agree that there is not much you can do if your child asks what comes before 0.

dd age 6 has been delighted with another Usborne one (Big book of science? it has flaps, periodic table etc.), that she says she can never get a look at at school because a boy always grab it. She saw it over my shoulder when I was ordering that great wodge of pocket science books. I won't begrudge the boy in question-lucky for us I could afford to buy her own, and she reads it most nights before bed! Not sure much is really sinking in, but it's an interest anyway.

StarryStarryNight

I know a couple of great molecule projects.

1. Place extremely hot water in a see clear glass jar and ice cold water in a seperate clear glass jar...Put a few drops of food coloring in each jar and watch the molecules work. Molecules move faster when they are heated and so the food coloring will spread much faster in the hot water.

2. Take a 1/2 a cup of water and a 1/2 a cup of rubbing alcohol and combine them. You will end up with far less than a full cup because the molecules are different and end up fitting within each other.

3. At five I would explain negative numbers as something that is owed. For example, if I lend a friend five dollars, then I have negative dollars until the pay me back. Another great way to explain it is on a line. Have 0 in the middle and negative numbers moving to the left while postive numbers move to the right.

Good Luck

These are great! Thanks all of you, it has given me some ideas. I have selected a few nice books from amazon too, which I think he will love. I also remember a very good book about water and evaporation, rain and snow from when I was little, will rummage in the attic tomorrow I think!

StarryStarryNight,

I have about twenty kids science books but this one is my absolute favorite.

Barron's
Science Wizardry for Kids

snorkle- your son's teacher is a moron. Sorry. Poor kid to have to put up with that level of thickness every day. I think you did a brilliant job of explaining on the spur of the moment in an opportunistic way. Ever thought of home-schooling?

divide by zero

put 12 buttons on the table

take out 3 buttons four times so you have 4 piles of three

then take out 2 buttons six times so you have 6 piles of 2

take out 5 buttons twice so have a 2 piles of 5 and one pile of 2

This gets the idea that division is how many piles of x big are in 12 or how many times you can take x buttons away from 12?

Then ask him how many times he could take no buttons away from the pile. Answer could carry on doing it again and again (so infinity)