The revamped New Zealand curriculum emphasises "scientific literacy for all students" and provides teachers with an opportunity to promote science as an integral element of the primary school curriculum. Exploring and explaining the natural world in primary science can provide authentic contexts for the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with enquiry learning, especially focused questions and thinking skills. Children of primary school age frequently seek to explain their experiences in and of the natural world. The explanations they construct are often different from the existing scientific explanation. These personal explanations can be referred to as a child's personal science: "I think this because ...". The "because" is the child's evidence to justify the explanation. If one takes science to mean "the current explanations of nature/the natural world and the evidence used to validate explanations," then it can be argued that when children create explanations that are supported by evidence, they are thinking in a scientific manner. Primary science education therefore is about children thinking. It requires teachers to take children's ideas and explanations seriously as they do science. It is about "children's science." In this article, the author explores how to get children thinking scientifically at primary school. (Contains 1 table.)