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ages años ans jahre
LER 2945 3 +
Water Lab Activities
Laboratorio acuático • Laboratoire aquatique • Wasser-Experimentierkasten
Splashology has all the tools you need to take science discovery into uncharted waters: test tubes with a floating tray, targets that stick on walls or float for precision play, flasks, bubble wands, and experiments that bring everything together with more than a flourish of imagination. Take to the water, seafaring scientists, this aquatic lab has you covered, whether you’re at the beach, in the bath, splashing in the sink, or mixing it up at the water table!
Notes for little water scientists (and their parents!):
• Before diving into the experiments, check out all the pieces for yourself. Fill them up with water, fit the test tubes into the tray, squirt the syringe...you’ll soon discover the many functions and fun uses each piece has in store for you!
• Don’t hesitate to bring the experiment cards into the water—they’re designed for wet-and-wild play!
• For easy reference, the first mention of each tool is in bold font. We realize that children want fast results. We hope this small shortcut helps!
Fill ‘er up!
Tools
Directions
• Place the three test tubes in the floaty-boat tray . Set it on the water’s surface.
• Look at the test tubes and compare their sizes. Make a prediction: how many small test tubes will it take to fill the large test tube?
• Try it! Dip the splash syringe into the water, fill it, and then squirt water into one of the small test tubes until full. Pour the water into the large test tube.
How much of it did you fill?
• Do the same with the syringe and second small test tube. Is the large test tube now filled to the top? Did you predict correctly?
• This experiment shows that a whole can be made of different-size parts. At first glance, you may not have thought that two small test tubes could fill one large test tube, but appearances can be deceiving.
Now you know:
1 small test tube = ½ of the large test tube!
Color Mixing (in the sink)
You’ll need
Food coloring
Tools
Directions
• Fill the large test tube with water. Add five drops of red food coloring. Cover and shake, or stir vigorously to blend the color.
• Fill the small test tubes halfway with water. Add three drops of yellow food coloring to one, and three drops of blue food coloring to the other. As before, shake or stir to fully blend the colors.
• Using the splash syringe , squirt the red water into the yellow water. Shake it up to see the new color!
• Now, mix the red water with the blue water. Shake again and discover!
• Were you surprised to see how easy it was to make new colors? Primary colors (red, yellow, blue) mix together to make secondary colors, like the orange and purple in this experiment. What do you think would happen if you mixed blue and yellow? Try it and see! The world is your
Layers of Fun!
You’ll need
Shampoo
Shaving cream
Tools
Directions
• Place the test tubes in the tray and set it on the water.
• Insert the funnel into the large test tube. Pour water through the funnel until the test tube is halfway full.
• Grab your favorite shampoo and squeeze a healthy portion through the funnel.
Does the shampoo mix with the water or layer on top?
Remove the funnel.
• Next, have a parent squeeze a healthy dollop of foaming shaving cream directly on the water. What happened this time?
• Because foam is so light and has less density than water, it floats on top.
Try this!
Pour the contents of the test tube into the wide-mouth flask. Add some more water and shaving cream for good measure. Now, dip the syringe inside the flask and fill the chamber. Can you push any of this foamy, soapy, watery concoction through the nozzle, or is it too thick?!
backs
Bubble Mania!
You’ll need
Children’s body wash or shampoo
Tools
Directions
• Make a bubble solution: fill about 3⁄4 of the small test tube with water. Add four squirts of body wash; stir well. It’s bubble time!
• Look at each of the wands : which one is a circle? Dip this wand into the solution and blow some bubbles. What shape are the bubbles? Are they the same shape as the wand?
• Do the same with the square and triangle wands.
Compare the shape of the bubbles using all three wands. Do they have anything in common?
They’re round!
• Why are bubbles round? The air trapped inside the bubble is a gas, so it pushes back equally at every point along the bubble’s surface. These forces on the outside and inside of the bubble give the bubble its round shape.
Bull’s Eye!
Tools
Directions
• Position one of the foam floaters near you on the water, and the other farther away.
• Dip the splash syringe into the water and pull back the handle to fill the chamber.
• Estimate how hard you will need to push ( force ) the handle to hit each target with water. When ready, take aim and fire! You may need to refill the syringe after the first attempt. Keep trying until you hit the bull’s-eye!
• Try again, but this time stick the targets on the wall (to adhere, splash some water onto the wall and the targets). You can position the targets on adjacent bathtub walls, side to side, up and down, or in an entirely new formation—it’s up to you!
• What was different about trying to hit the targets horizontally (on the water) vs. vertically (on the wall)? Did the water travel differently?
• The main difference is air pressure . Pushing the handle more forcefully generates more air pressure through the chamber, resulting in a stronger stream of water. You made all the difference!
Sink that Vessel!
Tools
Directions
• We know that the tray floats (like a raft) on the water…but what would it take to make it sink? Let’s turn a raft into a submarine!
• First, fill each of the test tubes with water and place them in the tray, in a small-large-small pattern. Is it still floating? Yes? OK, time to try something different. What if we shift the balance of weight?
• Dump out the small test tubes.
Keep the large test tube filled to the
3⁄4 line, but place it on one end rather than in the center of the tray.
Does that make the tray less stable?
Does it tilt, or dip into the water at all?
• Now that we’ve tried shifting the balance of weight, what happens if the tray takes on water? Remove the test tubes. Tilt one end of the tray slightly so some water laps over the edge. Let go. Does it still float?
• Lastly, submerge the tray, pushing it to the bottom so it’s completely underwater. Let go and see if it floats back to the top. Does it capsize (flip over)?
• This experiment is all about buoyancy , or an object’s ability to float. When you add weight to an object, in the form of water or additional objects, you increase its density . And when an object has more density than water, it will sink.
Remember this the next time you’re splashing around with your favorite bath toy!
Go with the Flow!
Tools
Tools
Directions
• Gather all five lids , plus the two flasks and three test tubes .
• Do you think water flows equally well through all the lids?
Do any of the lids block water flow completely? Let’s see by holding a pouring contest!
• Fill each of the containers with water and cover with the correct-size lids (two of them will only fit on the flasks!).
• Try to pour water out of each container, one at a time.
Think back to your answers to the questions above, in step
2. Did you guess correctly?
• You can see that water only flows as well as its container allows. This means that water is adaptable . Trying to pour water through a stopper is like trying to run water through a blocked pipe—the water has nowhere to go. But water can flow freely in open spaces, like streams and oceans, as long as barriers (like dams) are absent. There is so much to know about H
2
0!
