As man's knowledge increased, he had need of better scientific instruments. With the advent of new technology, he was able to study the physical world and the heavens in ways that were closed to him before. Galileo Galilei, who was willing to risk everything to reveal the truth about the heavens to his fellows, set the stage for new scientific inquiry. His example led scientists to question and eventually disprove the ancient myths. Mathematics is the tool for analyzing and researching the data of science.
Children can observe scientific laws and understand what's happening without the math.
Simple record keeping of observations is enough. When I teach physical science classes at our homeschool co-operative, I first establish a context appropriate to the students' level of understanding so that they have the background necessary to comprehend what the experiments show about reality. Without that context, science appears to be a magic trick. Understanding the reason why something occurs is more important than the mere fact that it occurs. I build the context and lead them along close enough so that they can guess what will happen before we do the experiment.