Sink or Float

As the summer wears on, you may need to come up with a few new ideas to get the kids engaged and involved. Back when I was a teacher, we did a unit on sink and float.  The idea was to get the students to experiment with different materials, create boats and see how many pennies the boats could hold. Then, we (the teachers) would explain the general idea of displacement to the kids.  In other words, an aircraft carrier is made of material that is heavier than water, but it is lighter than the amount of water it displaces (or how much space it takes up in the water) so it floats! They may not grasp the full concept, but they get the idea that the materials matter and the shape matters in how you construct a boat that will float.

This journal entry captures the fun the boys were having doing some experimenting in the pool. Since we were just at home in the summer, I didn’t do any ‘lessons’ on sink and float, but I did have some books from my teaching days and I had an idea of some materials that might be fun for the boys. Then, they expanded on those ideas on their own.

If you’re interested in trying some sink and float experiments, search sink and float along with an age group that might be right for your child. If I were doing it for Mikey I might put ‘sink and float experiments for preschoolers.’

Have fun sciencing! Yes, spell check, I made up that word…just go with it.