Float or Sink

 

This is a great science project that requires very few supplies and very little effort.  It’s easy enough for a toddler to do. 

 

-Fill up a large bowl or tub with as much water as you’re comfortable cleaning up.  (Safety Mama, if there were one, would remind you to always supervise young children around any amount of water!)

-Place a large towel under the bowl on some waterproof surface.  (The kitchen floor works very well for us.)

 –Have your child find several small objects around the house that they’d like to use in the experiment.  Suggest they find some things that they think will float and some they think will sink.  Do a quick check to make sure they won’t destroy anything that you want to keep dry.

 

Have them guess whether they think the object will float or sink and then let them try it out.  Have them describe what happens when they put it in the water. 

 

If they want, they can make a chart of their predictions and the results.  Your child’s science notebook would be a great place to do this!

 

Here’s some science for you parents, in case your kids want to know what’s happening.  You can impress them with your vast knowledge:

 

One way to see how density affects things is to look at how things sink or float in water.

If something is more dense that water, it will sink, and if less dense than water, it will float.

 

In case they ask, which they always do:

 

Density is a measure of how much mass is contained in a given unit volume.

Put simply, if mass is a measure of how much ‘stuff’ there is in an object,

density is a measure of how tightly that ‘stuff’ is packed together

 

Or, just tell them they’ll learn about it in science class someday!

Tags: density, float, kid, Science, science for kids, sink