Monday, 14 March 2016

Science For Kids - Does it Sink or Float


Science is a great fun subject for children to get involved in.  But is often thought for older children where experiments fizz pop or bang. With it being British Science Week I wanted to think of some activities that Lily could join in with.

The first activity I could think of was to do a water activity with sinking and floating. Although Lily wouldn't be able to understand the concept of the science that was happening, she would enjoy this little activity. 

So we got some objects from around the room and a tub of water and decided to see what would sink, and what would float.

This is a great activity you can do at home and children around the age of 3 years plus would really love having a guess at what may sink and what may float. 

Here are the objects we found around the house that was good to put into water. I found a mixture of objects that I though would have mixed results of sinking and floating. 

Im going to tell you what I guessed each object would do, maybe you or your children could have a guess to? 


We used :- 
A Rubber Toy Whale
A Plastic Plate
A Shell
A Plastic Fish Shaped Tub with Holes in it

A Metal Spoon
A Light Plastic Figure
A Heavy Rubber Ball


First up is the rubber whale. Lily is to young to guess if it will sink or float but my guess was that the whale was going to SINK. Its quite a heavy toy. Lily put the whale into the water. 


I was WRONG, the whale looked like it was about to silk and most of it went under the water but it actually FLOATED. 


Next up is the plastic plate. Lily wasn't very interested in putting this one in the water so I did it for her. The plate is flat, and very light so my guess was that the plate will FLOAT.


I was CORRECT, the plate had no problem and FLOATED on top of the water like a Lily Pad in a pond. 


Next up is the shell. The shell is quite a solid material and this shell goes to a point at the end. My guess was that the shell would SINK.


I was CORRECT, the shell SUNK straight to the bottom really quickly. 


Next was the plastic fish dish with holes in it. It wasn't heavy so my guess was that it would partly SINK due to the holes and partly FLOAT due to how light it was. Lily placed it into the water. 


I was CORRECT, the dish filled up with water due to the holes, but FLOATED at the top of the tub. 


Next was the metal spoon. Due to how solid it is and heavy my guess was that it would SINK. Lily put the spoon in the water. 


I was CORRECT the spoon SUNK right to the bottom with a splash as Lily dropped it in. 


Next up is Toy Figure, it is really light and hollow on the inside. I was 100% sure that this would FLOAT. Lily threw the toy into the water. It didn't even cause a splash. 


I was CORRECT, the toy FLOATED on top of the water. 


Last but not least is the rubber ball. Its quite heavy and full of water. My Guess was that it was going to SINK because of how heavy it was. Lily put the ball into the water. 



I was WRONG, the ball FLOATED and bobbed at the surface. Shows how much I know. Haha




So I got 5 out of 7 correct. But it was really fun trying to guess.

If you joined in, How many did you or you child get right? 


65 comments:

  1. I remember doing stuff like this in science at school and it was great fun :) It's good to get the kids doing things like this from a young age!

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  2. I have such strong memories of doing this in school! Always fun for kids :)

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  3. proof that you're never too young to get involved in science - love this

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  4. I remember doing stuff like this at school but I was never that good at science! x

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  5. I love science so much so like getting into new things and seeling how stuff work.

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  6. What an awesome idea, fun and educational! Win / Win! x

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  7. What a fun science experiment I remember having to this at school and it was so much fun! You were good at this game!

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  8. what a fun and great way to learn must try this with the kids

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  9. Aww this is an awesome activity! We will try tomorrow to spend the day doing something useful lol! :)

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  10. Fantastic! It just goes to show - you are never too young for science! :D

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  11. When I have children i plan to do activities like this that are both fun and educational!

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  12. Water play for kids never gets old! I love that they're learning at the same time too.

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  13. I used to love doing science experiments like this and I can't wait to do them with my own kids one day.

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  14. Such a simple idea. I might do this with my son at bath time. Thanks for the idea

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  15. Awwww this brings back memories, I remember as a child doing this with my parents. Hope to do this with my future kids too. such a fun activity

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  16. That sounds like so much fun! :) I even tried to guess before scrolling down haha

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  17. This looks like a fun thing to play with a young child, and educational too!
    - Emily from http://www.emilyunderworld.co.uk ♡

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  18. All kiddies love playing with water, a simple idea but effective.

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  19. Love trying experiments out
    Fun and learning -great for lily to learn

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  20. Love trying experiments out
    Fun and learning -great for lily to learn

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  22. As a teacher and as a essaywriting.education for a certain science study, I would have to say that this kind of activity in learning will surely enhance the learning skills for kids to do the experiment like this

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  23. even as young as Lily is, I bet experiments such as this cast little seeds of learning for her (Kim Styles)

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  24. What a lovely activity! Really must try this with the Little People sometime :)

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  25. Ah this is a cute activity, I will have to try this with my daughter. I remember doing it at school :-)

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  26. I remember doing these kind of activities with my daughter a whole ago as she is very fine of water splashing and spilling. And I am waiting to do it all again with my baby son but he is a quiet too young to do it now

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  27. I remember doing these sort of experiments when I was younger :)

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  28. Never to early to start experimenting.

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  29. What a really fun activity! I will definitely be doing this with my daughter, not only will she have fun playing with water (which she loves) but she will also be learning so much without realising!

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  30. Fun activity

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  31. My kids love playing with water, so this activity will go down well!

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  32. What a great activity. I will be doing this with my 3 yr old niece

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  33. Great activity for an afternoon :D

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  34. Such a simple activity, we like to play this one at bathtime as well

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  35. Love reading your little experiments on your blog, keep up the great work! xxx

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  36. This is such an interesting activity and so simple

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  37. I remember doing this in my school days now that brings back memorys!! <3

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  38. My daughter loves doing science experiments

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  39. Ashleigh Allan31 July 2017 at 08:19

    We did something similar for my daughter's homework. Sometimes it's hard to guess

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  40. Looks like so much fun used to love doing things like this with my kids

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  41. Great activity, as they get older things that look the same like eggs in a shell (raw or hardboiled) can be really hard to guess.

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  42. This is so simple to do yet a really fun activity. My kids went to the science museum recently, they love doing things like this.

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  43. Looks fun! I am going to try this

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  44. Aw look how little she is there. This is a lovely educational idea

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  45. Lovely idea - I think we sometimes forget how simple learning activities can be

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  46. Such a great activity :) WIll try with my little girl

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  47. This is such fun to do with the little children and my grandson had great fun - especially making splashes!

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  48. This looks such great fun and quite simple to do , definately going to try this with William and Ava

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  49. the best interaction fun why learning ,great idea i remember doing this with my children & now going to do this with grandchildren

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  50. great activity im going to do with my daughter

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  51. What a lovely idea! I just do this during bath time but it'd be lovely to do it during the day at playtime

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  52. Thanks for a wonderful share. Your article has proved your hard work and experience you have got in this field. Brilliant .i love it reading. here

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  53. Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can't wait to read lots of your posts. here

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  54. I love how you started this learning so early! It is fun and easy science

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  55. Margaret Clarkson
    Great learning activities, thank you.

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  56. some great ,practical and fun experiments for kids here

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  57. This looks great funto play and learn with little ones!

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  58. This looks like fune for the children

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  59. I love this! It's hard to remember what is Science and that some experiments can be as simple as seeing what floats. A great activity with my kids this half term.

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