A little learning for two wrote about a great experiment/activity on Sunday that I thought would be right up my boys’ alley. It is rather simple, and very cool! It also happened to coincide with an experiment I found in a recently acquired experiment book called Projects with Air A science at Work Book by Seymour Simon published in 1975, which my hubby found being discarded from the school library (I couldn’t find it anywhere on the internet, sorry!)
For the experiment found at A little learning for two, you need:
- a large plastic bottle
- something sharp to poke a hole into the bottle (adults!)
- a balloon
- water
Now, the experiment that relates to this that I found in our new (to us) experiment book:
You need:
plastic bottle
funnel that fits into the plastic bottle top
water
clay or play dough
What to do:
Place the funnel into the empty bottle and pour in some water. What happens?
Pack clay or play dough around the funnel and neck of the bottle, making sure there are no leaks.
Pour water into the funnel to fill it up. What happens now?
What to look for (directly from the book): Does the water enter the bottle while the clay is in place? Is the bottle really empty? How do you know? Does the water flow into the bottle when you remove the clay? How can you explain the difference?
Cutie Pie loved this! It’s as if it clicked that there was something in the bottle before we tried to put the water in! I love it when that happens! I know this is probably advanced for some preschoolers, but, hey, it’s worth a try! (Sorry I have no pics of this, it was a little hard to manage the camera and the water!)
The funnel experiment is brilliant, we will have to do that one today! Thankyou for the link back, so appreciated, and very glad your boys enjoyed the water 'volcanos' (sorry you got wet though, how I didnt end up with a face full of water too was pure luck I'd say! :-D)
You are fantastic to do all these science experiments. I am in awe of your volcano. My kids are in Montessori and on the first or second day of school in the 1st grade the teacher does a lesson using a volcano that really explodes – and greatly captures their imagination.
Also this year my daughter wanted a volcano cake for her birthday.
Something fascinating about volcanos…