Asteroid Blast
Concepts and skills: Fine motor, gross motor, sensory processing, and forces
Recommended ages: 2 and up
Materials:
Plastic bowls or trays
Flour
Varied size balls and marbles
What to do: Pour flour in the bowl or tray (with the help of an adult). Drop the varied size balls and marbles to make craters into the flour. Hold these at different heights to examine how each ball makes a different size crater. The impressions that are made can be connected to how craters are made on the moon by asteroids.
Dancing Food
Concepts and skills: Fine motor skills, sensory processing, density, and buoyancy
Recommended ages: 2 and up
Materials:
A clear cup
Clear pop (Sprite or 7-Up)
Small food (raisins, grapes, uncooked pasta, or corn kernels work best)
What to do: Pour the pop into the cup, leaving it uncovered. Add a small scoop of your food of choice into the pop and watch as it starts to dance, floating to the top and dropping back down again.
Additional information:
These small foods are denser than the liquid in the soda, so initially they sink to the bottom of the glass. The carbonated soft drink releases carbon dioxide bubbles. When these bubbles stick to the rough surface of the food, they are lifted up because of the increase in buoyancy.
When the food reaches the surface, the bubbles pop and the carbon dioxide gas escapes into the air. This causes the food to lose buoyancy and sink.
Sink or Float?
Concepts and skills: Fine motor skills, cognition, language acquisition, making predictions, buoyancy, and density
Recommended ages: 2 and up
Materials:
Two clear bins
Water
Balls of various weights and sizes (ping pong, bouncy ball, etc.)
Paper clips
Pennies
Various rocks
Cork
Straws
Sponge (dry vs. wet)
What to do:
Introduce the items.
Make predictions about which items will sink and which items will float. This can be done on a piece of paper or simply out loud.
Drop one item at a time into the water.
Additional information:
Why do some items sink and some float?
Whether an object sinks of floats depends on its density. Everything is made of molecules. Molecules are tiny particles that can only be seen with a microscope. Some objects have molecules that are packed closely together. Others have molecules that are packed more loosely. This is density. Objects with tightly packed molecules are denser and sink. A paper clip or a penny is dense. Objects with more loosely packed molecules are less dense and float. Wood, cork or sponges float.
Source: http://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-sink-and-float/
Squeaky Clean
Concepts and skills: Fine motor skills, problem-solving, and positive health
Recommended ages: 2 and up
Materials:
A sink
Oil
Cinnamon (alternatives: any other powder or glitter)
Soap
Paper towels
What to do:
Have an adult pour a tablespoon or so of oil into the child’s hands. Have them rub the oil around evenly and then coat their hands in the powder or glitter to represent the germs we touch every day. First rinse the hands in just cold water to try to remove as much of the “germs” you can. When finished, pat your hands on a clean paper towel to examine all of the “germs” that are transferred.
These are the microorganisms that could be passed along to new surfaces or even other people. Now wash hands in warm water with soap and when finished, pat hands on a new, clean paper towel. Investigate the difference of paper towels and talk about the importance of keeping your hands clean!
