Make a paddle boat
Paddling pools are a great place to start water based investigations with your child. From predicting whether items will float or sink to whether the water temperature changes throughout the day, the children will be absorbing all of the information they learn through hands on play.
A great experiment to try is the paddle boat. It requires following the instructions on the video, drawing and cutting out shapes and predicting what they think may happen when they let go of the boat. All of these are essential skills for children getting ready to start school.
Make a wave bottle
Adults and children alike find movement and colour together mesmorising. Combine these 2 and you have the perfect sensory experience and science experiment.
Wave bottles are great for a number of reasons
- Visual sensory play for preschoolers and toddlers
- Add to the toy basket for some quiet exploratory time
- Encourages discussion and curiosity
To encourage scientific conversation and prediction making ask you child
Do the liquids look the same?
What do you think will happen if I put them together?
Do you think one is heavier? Which is the heaviest?
Learning through play is vital to the emotional and physical wellbeing and growth of a child. All Mini Professors experiments are set up in a way that will encourage children to discover new scientific principles in a simple and understandable way.
To make your Wave bottle you will need a couple of things
- A bottle or jar
- Water
- Oil
- Food colouring optional
Find out if a water balloon sinks or floats.
🎈Or in fact set up an entire experiment on sinking and floating!
🎈While it may seem like a simple experiment to most, it is actually introducing the idea of density and buoyancy to your child.
🎈Fill up a bucket of water, or better still ask them to fill it up for you using a jug and work on those pouring and measuring skills.
🎈Go around and collect objects from the garden and house and work together to predict what you think will happen to each object - will it sink or float? For older children you can ask them to record their predictions and findings. This can be a clipboard and paper or even just some chalk on the pavement.
🎈Grab your water balloons and ask... Will they sink or float? Why? For older children you could ask them to fill them up with water of different temperatures and see if it makes a difference.
🎈With all these water balloons around, why not fill up the paddling pool and put them all in there. Splash fun for everyone!
Spoiler alert The balloons will float! Do you know why?
