Do you teach for a Co-op? Are you teaching the same classes regularly? Do you have favorite labs you know you’ll use again? Make up kits! In another life, I might have 40 kids in one class. I needed a system. The answer was to make kits. For me, a kit has materials and instructions. I use bins with equipment and lab instructions for larger classes. Each group has a kit. It saves so much class time!
There are some labs, activities, or projects we always do. One example is the catapult kit. I keep ping pong balls, craft sticks, spoons, and rubber bands in a box clearly marked catapults. There is a bin with Hot Wheels track, launchers, and cars. I make up kits for activities we use for class, outreach projects, or even Faith camps. (Catapults are safer than slingshots when we teach David and Goliath. It’s still fun to smack Goliath with a catapult shot.)
Labs, such as the Unknown White Powder Lab is a pain to set up. I keep a kit and fill the little bottles as they are depleted.
Paper activities comprise kits, too. I have stacks of envelopes with all the supplies. I make extra sets of paper activities; some pieces inevitably go missing. If a set is incomplete when the kids are doing the lab, say a concept map, I make another set or two on the spot.
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