After we did our last experiment, Meredith asked if we could do another. When I asked her what sort, she said she wanted to fill up a bowl of water and put an apple in and see what happened. I almost tried to veer her in a bit of a different direction (I don’t even know why now), but then I reminded myself that the point of science and experimenting is to ask questions and then come up with experiments to find out the answers. She didn’t know what would happen if you put an apple in water and she had made up an experiment on her own to find out.
So instead, I asked her what she thought might happen, and she said she thought the apple would float.
She was right! Then she wanted to gather more materials and see what else would float and what might sink.
Close at hand, we found a magnet, a foam bead, a bag clip, and a penny. She guessed what each one might do, then tried them out in the water.
We then found some more materials, including a paper clip, a thumb tack, a piece of paper, an onion peel, and various other objects we found around the house. She also put a shot glass in the water and observed on her own that it floated, but that if she filled it with water it would sink. Fiona had fun with it too.
Afterwards, Meredith told me it was fun to ask questions and find out the answers. A true scientist!
She told me she wants to do lots more experiments, so we will likely try some others over the next several weeks.
Related posts:
We play sink or float ALL. THE. TIME. LOL. Isaac loves it. xo