Sink or Float

I have a running list of ALL.THE.QUESTIONS. that Jacob asks, usually at 5am. The title is "My Ears Hurt." Can gorillas juggle? Do whales have big poop? Can monster trucks jump over the moon? Just cows? Is the Easter Bunny sleeping right now? ?Does poop go through your brain? (We're 4 so poop is life) Does a jelly bean sink or float? Finally! A question I could answer! Even better though, we could find out the answer with an experiment!

"Sink of Float" was calling us. 

I love this activity because while it's a really simple set-up, they are deep in a science lesson without realizing it. 

SUPPLIES:

-Varies toys and objects. Let them pick some out and then throw in a few extras like foil, a plastic utensil, and a rock. 

-Large bowl or bin filled with water.

-Paper and a marker.

DRAW a large container on the paper and a line for the water. Write "float" above the water line and "sink" at the bottom. 

PREDICT- Have your child sort the objects on the paper, predicting whether the objects will sink or float. If I were in the classroom I'd have little clip-art pictures or drawings of the objects that kids could attach to the graph to make predictions and then adjust to what actually happened. But let's not get carried away! I just took pictures on my phone and then we used them for reference later.

TEST- Put the items in the water and talk about what's happening. Some items are more dense than water and sink. Items less dense will float. You don't have to go into a deep vocabulary lesson. A lot of what they're learning is a simplified version of the Scientific Method. 

I can ask a questions. I can predict what I think will happen. I can test it out and compare the results to what I predicted. This opens the door for curiosity! And yes more questions.  

RESULTS- While we did the experiment I wrote on the paper the objects that floated. We dried everything off and sorted them on the paper.

SURPRISES- We looked at the picture on my phone of his predictions. We compared what he thought would happen to what actually happened. We removed all the objects that we predicted correctly, leaving all the ones that surprised us. This part was fun and it shows them why testing out a prediction is important. It's not always what you think! It's also ok to be wrong! 

Bonus: It turns out jellybeans soaked in water do not taste as good as fresh ones.