Science Experiment: Sink or Float #MotivationalMonday

Following on from our previous experiment about Germination, we decided to investigate whether things would float or sink. My little boy just going into Year 1 is very bright and inquisitive and just kept asking about things. I thought it would be a great way to see how much they learned and remembered from the last experiment, but also see how much they could apply to the new one.

experimental_designer

First of all my five year old wrote out a list of materials, and then considered whether they would sink or float. From this list I collected as many of them as I could/thought appropriate and added a few of my own. I filled up a (sorry dirty) pink bucket with cold water and printed out some “investigation sheets”.

experiment_sheet

The first thing the sheet asked was: “What is the problem?” – we decided it was that we wanted to determine which products would sink and which would float: The teen told us that it was caused by the different materials having a different density. The experiment could have been made very complicated but I felt it more important that the 5 year old could understand the principles, and get to grips with some of the terminology used in a Science experiment, whilst the 10 year old getting to know which variables were which.

independent_variables

Simply for the independent variables (something that is changed in the experiment) we had the different objects we were using. You could have used the density, the material, the size etc. With the dependent variables (being whether they would sink or float. We discussed what the constant variables were and decided on the type of liquid drop in (water), the level and temperature of that liquid; how level the container was, that the height the objects are dropped from, and with how much force, and finally how long we wait to see the result. For the controlled variable we decided that we would use 2 pegs of different materials – so as to determine whether it was shape or material that had an effect.

For a more complicated hypothesis you could talk about different types of materials, or items with similar properties and what you would expect to happen. We simply hypothesised as to whether an item would sink or float.

young_scientist

My 5 year olds hypothesis:

Things that will float:

  • Paper
  • Lolly Stick
  • Duplo
  • Plastic lid
  • Foil dish
  • Sponge
  • Fabric material
  • Bubble wrap
  • Weetabix
  • Cardboard
  • Lego
  • Plastic peg
  • Wooden peg
  • Things that will sink:
  • Tissue paper
  • Glass bottle
  • Monkey nut
  • Stone
  • Rock

 esperimental_design

What is the Procedure?

If I were just working with my older son (aged 10) I would work more on getting him to think about drawing the apparatus and writing the method; however, I had a 4 and 5 year old eager to drop things into a big pink bucket of water. We agreed that we would use the tuff spot to make the ground level, we would gently place the items in, and we would wait for 1 minute before determining the result – measured by if the item had sank to the bottom, or floating on the top. We did not discuss until it happened but, items floating at the top but underneath the water were deemed as floating.

materials

Our conclusions were simply which items floated and which sunk, however, we thought about other things we could think about for further investigations. We talked about different rock types, and this lead us to think about how quickly the items that sunk reached the bottom: Indeed the small stone went much quicker than the bigger rock. We talked about the possibility that things might be different if we used a different liquid, or if it were fizzy (a possible experiment with our new SodaStream), or if the water was hotter (I very eager 5 year old wanted to boil the kettle there and then!). During the experiment we thought about it in terms of material to build a boat. My 5 year old decided to see If the foil would still float with the weight of a rock on it (like a boat with a person inside).

watching_sink_or_float

Our findings were that the stone, rock, card and Weetabix did sink (note I put this in last and quickly got it out, but it didn’t go as mushy as I expected). When my 5 year old saw that the bottle floated he said that we were meant to take the lid off (because that wasn’t glass) – and indeed the bottle filled with water and sank – making his prediction right! The other items we had tested that floated were a plastic tray lid, a monkey nut, bubble wrap, a stick, a foil dish (flattened), tissue paper (which did surprise me), both plastic and wooden pegs, sponge, Lego, a lolly stick, and fabric material.

drop_it

I am really pleased with how much my children remembered, could identify what the variables were, and generally just think about things. They now have all manner of ideas about how to build a little boat.


68 thoughts on “Science Experiment: Sink or Float #MotivationalMonday”

  1. I can remember doing this experiment with a bunch of kids while I was studying psychology. It sounds like your little ones did really well, 🙂 x

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  2. I love these kind of experiments. We usually end up doing them either in the bath or even better in the outdoor swimming pool over summer-it can get very splashy!

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  3. What a great idea and a simple way for kids to learn about science and how to carry out experiments methodically while also having fun! Good way to keep them out of mischief in the holidays 🙂

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  4. This is such a good idea, its something we did in school but I never thought about doing it with pops!!! I joined in, sorry it was not in-keeping with the theme!! x

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  5. Wow – I now see that parenting of children rather than toddlers is pretty full on! lol 😉 I pretty muhc just hand mine a crayon and a piece of toilet roll and sit back… #bugger lol! xx

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  6. I would never think of doing something like this with my 2, although my 12 year old wouldnt be bothered – my little girl might like to do something like this, I will have to keep it in mind for next holidays!

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  7. What a great idea – I must admit I am rubbish at doing anything that involves an element of learning in, something I need to rectify !

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  8. What a simple and brilliant idea, I have my last day at home with the girls tomorrow before they go back to school and I’m going to do a bit of science with them. Thanks for the inspiration

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  9. Must be great to have a bigger gap, anything I attempt with my two ends in chaos. But I found this really inspiring, I really must do more stuff with them!

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  10. Love, love, love science experiments at home! You have so much more time and attention to give then a rushed lesson at school, can’t wait until Ethan’s old enough to do this kind of thing 🙂

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  11. This is my 4-year-old’s favorite science experiment! And the cool thing about it is that there are always different things to test out. 🙂

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  12. Seems like you all had good fun, whilst the little ones experimented and learnt. Kids do love to play with water, good to get their minds working, and curiosity satisfied, safely.

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  13. Fantastic! We had a fun time doing this experiment when Madam bought it back for homework. Love the picture of the boys peering into the bucket for results! xx

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  14. You have just inspired me to do this with my 4 yr old son in reception and 3 yr old girl who has just started nursery – I have the exact sae pink bucket, also very dirty lol intended for a washing basket which has actually become a thing for the kids to pull each other around in! lol. My son would absolutely love this experiment and they are both very inquisitive! I remember doing a science project with my daughter when she was 7, she was off school for a week with a virus and so I wanted to do something which was still educational and do a project to take back to school with her. She particularly loved a volcano with vinegar and bicarb!

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