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Don't be discouraged! Young children may not have previously been allowed to create and need repeated exposures before they take ownership of a project. Summer classes can be disrupted by family trips or the arrival of out-of-town visitors. The culture of summer programs may be to lightly engage. And it is harder to know what motivates and engages children when we only have a few weeks with them.
In shameless self-promotion, I suggest you look through the NSTA Early Years blog posts and the Early Years columns in Science and Children. The excellent Teaching Through Tradebooks columns also address the K-2 grade span and extend with a second set of lesson plans for 3-5 as well.
What do you think you will try next summer? Have more discussions with the children? Develop projects that engage them in investigating the same phenomenon in different ways? Plan enough projects with them that one or two will get deeply into understanding scientific concepts and the nature of science?
Looking forward to hearing how others address this and how you tackle it next summer!
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