Sink or Float?

After our little adventure building a boat at the Steiner school fair, we came home and Lachlan wanted to test it out on the water. I filled up a container with water so he could sail away. Unfortunatley, Lachlan grew quite frustrated with the boat. He kept telling me that the sail was to big and he was very annoyed. He decided that the boat was not good for sailing and before he could get more frustrated, I decided to see if I could diverge his attention towards something else.

"Let's play a guessing game." I said. "How about we play 'sink or float?' Lachlan was eager to see what this game was all about and the frustrations immediatley left his face. "Let's gather some objects in the house and bring them over here. Then we'll see if they sink or float!" I grabbed a few things: a styrofoam ball, a mandarin, orange and a rock. I held up the ball. "Do think this will sink or float?"
"Float!!" Lachlan exclaimed. I handed it to him and he dropped it in the water.
"oooooooh, float!" he said. He was very pleased. We moved on to the rock and he predicted correctly that it would sink. He was however very surprised that the mandarin floated, as well as the apple.

"Okay, buddy. Now it is your turn to find some things to put in the water." He walked around the house looking for something but came back with nothing.
"Is there nothing you'd like to put in the water?" I asked.
"Oh! Fish!" He said as if the idea suddenly popped in his head. He ran over to his light box where he had some toy fish and seashells. One by one we brought them over and shouted, "Sink!" with each fish or "Float!" with some of the shells. Many of those sank as well. He also learned that they would float if he gently placed them on the water, but once they filled with water, they would sink to the bottom.

It was a fun experiment for him and before we knew it we were testing out race cars, jungle animals and the peel of the mandarin after mommy ate it. (supervising a budding scientist makes you very hungry, I tell you!)

So why not grab some objects and test them out with your child. This is a fun experiment for all ages. It is a great sensory activity for young ones and as they get older wonderful for cognition and problem-solving. You don't have to set up a container, you can just incorporate it into your child's evening bath. Might be just the thing to lure that bath-hating toddler to the tub! Have fun!