Recommended Age: 3y+
Level of Parent Involvement: Low
Prerequisites
- Can dry objects and wipe up spills with a cloth
- Can fill a jug from a water source and carry it without spilling
Materials
- An accessible water–source
- A small jug
- A medium-sized bowl to do the activity in
- Two small bowls, with labels that read ‘float’ and ‘sink’ (with simple illustrations)
- A container with a collection of 8 to10 small household objects (e.g. a cork, small spoon, small jar, large coin, paper boat, small toy car, piece of Lego, wooden block, elastic band, ping pong ball, marble – aim for ± equal numbers of objects that float/sink)
- A face washer or small towel to dry objects and wipe up spills
Steps
- Invite the child to use the jug to fetch water from the water source and pour it into the medium-sized bowl. Repeat until the bowl is ± three quarters full.
- Explain to the child that some objects float on top of the water and some sink to the bottom of the water – indicate the simple illustrations on the labels on the bowls as you explain this.
- Choose one object from the collection and show the child how to put it gently into the bowl of water – model watching the object expectantly as it sinks or floats and articulate what the object does (e.g. “The marble sinks”).
- Remove the object from the bowl, dry it and place it in the relevant bowl.
- Invite the child to try the other objects one at a time.
- Allow the child to explore for as long as she likes.
Variations
- Rotate the objects to maintain the child’s interest – the child could help to look for small objects to experiment with.
- Use a waterproof control card with two columns labelled sink and float (with simple illustrations) and sort the objects into columns.
- Choose an object from the collection and ask the child to predict whether it will float or sink before she places it in the water.
- Use a tool for removing the objects from the water (e.g. a small pair of tongs or a slotted spoon)
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