This post was inspired by our sponsor, Juicy Juice, who believes that it’s never too early to start a conversation about higher learning. Thank you for inspiring a day of educational fun for me and my family!
My husband Carleton and I both went to the same college (GO BEARS! CAL FOREVER!) and believe that a solid education is the best gift we can give our daughter. To that end, we like to turn family time into learning time whenever we can. This game of “Sink or Float” is loads of fun (kids love playing with water and making messes, right?), but it’s also really a science experiment in disguise.
We set up a “sink or float” tray, with a bowl of water and two hand-drawn life preservers labeled “sink” and “float.” Then we went around the house to gather test subjects.
We then taught Scarlet about the scientific method by asking her to share a hypothesis for each item and test it out to see if her hypothesis held water (ha, see how I did that?). Based on the results of her experiment, each thing would be placed in the space labeled for the correct category; either “SINK”
or “FLOAT.”
The experiment got really interesting when she decided to test out some juice boxes with varying degrees of juice remaining in them to see if they would float or sink when full, half full, or empty.
The scientist manned her station,
and with a little input from Dad,
began her lab work.
Would her hypothesis prove correct? Would she learn anything or get bored? Did her right shoe end up in the water? Did my house end up a total mess? Does she now want to be a scientist when she grows up? Find out the answers to all of this and more, and get inspired to create a day of educational fun for your family after the jump…
Her first hypothesis proved incorrect when the straw did not sink, but floated. She found this very interesting, and was now hooked. Let the games begin!
Next up came a whole packet of seeds. I had intended for her to remove the seeds and test them individually, but I am not in charge of this experiment. They floated.
Dad took a turn with a popcorn kernel.
It sank, as predicted.
The head scientist instructed me to take a turn. I chose a feather. She hypothesized that it would float.
She was correct.
We had so much fun predicting what would happen with each new item. She knew shells sat on the ocean floor, so she correctly hypothesized that they would sink in our bowl.
Soon all grown-ups were banished from the experiment station and Scarlet went at it on her own.
The toy car sank, and was promptly placed in the “sink” section.
Then she decided it was time to up the ante with the juice experiment.
First up was the full box of apple Juicy Juice. She predicted it would sink.
Correct! This made her very proud.
Next up, a half full fruit punch. She also predicted it would sink.
But it didn’t! However, it didn’t quite float either. This piqued her interest.
She moved on to the empty kiwi-strawberry Juicy Juice box. Learning from the previous result, she predicted it would float.
And it did!
Then she had an idea… maybe an empty juice box could work as a boat to hold other items that would normally sink.
Also correct!
I thought the juice experiment went quite well and would wrap up now, but she had her own ideas. She went back into the “sink” pile and stuck a straw in the full apple juice,
proceeded to take a sip,
and after each sip, put the juice back in the water, to see at what point it would stop sinking.
I love this kid! What a great experiment she made up on her own!
She continued on her own for awhile, running around the house grabbing stuff to test out.
Soon things started to go nuts.
Maybe we had a lesson in spatial relations as well. Does not fit.
The mad scientist took it to another level…
…working on transferring liquids (i.e. making a mess),
and cackling all the while.
I decided to go with it, since this whole science experiment had her really excited about testing hypotheses, and gave her a turkey baster to play with.
That was a huge hit: recommend.
At the end of our experiment we looked at our results. In the sink category we had:
And in the float column we had:
Overall, a great couple hours spent making science and learning as fun as possible for a kid.
My favorite part was at the end, when she ordered Daddy and I to sit on the couch and proudly announced “NOW PRESENTING THE SCIENCE OF STUFF PUT IN WATER WITH SCARLET CURTIS!” before sharing her findings.
This post was inspired by our sponsor, Juicy Juice, who believes that it’s never too early to start a conversation about higher learning. Thank you for inspiring a day of educational fun for me and my family!
Product Information
Juicy Juice Fruit Juice is made with 100% fruit and provides kids with at least one full serving of fruit and 100% of their USDA recommended amount of Vitamin C. Also providing one full serving of fruit, Juicy Juice Fruitifuls is made with 35% less sugar than regular juice. With no added sweeteners, artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, Juicy Juice offers kids the nutrition they need in a refreshing drink they love! More information about Juicy Juice products can be found onJuicyJuice.com.
