All parents know how kids play with water. They can pour it from one tank to another for a long time, bathe dolls, launch boats, splash joyfully. But it’s much more interesting to put the first scientific experiments under the guidance of mom or dad. The properties of water is an exciting topic. The main thing is not to forget about safety rules during experiments.
Basic properties
What water experiences can I offer children? First, introduce them to the basic properties of this fluid. These include:
- Color. Put water in a glass cup, make sure that it is transparent. Place a small toy in the container. It is clearly visible in water.
- Smell. Let the baby smell the water. Compare its smell with other drinks: fragrant tea, hot cocoa. Help make a conclusion - water is odorless.
- Taste. We try boiled water, tea and cocoa. Let the child make sure that the water also has no taste, unlike other drinks.
- The form. For this experience, containers of various shapes are needed: bottles, jars, sand molds. Children usually happily watch how water takes the form of any vessel into which it is poured.
Drowning - not drowning
Preschoolers enjoy experimenting with water in kindergarten. In the younger group, they are introduced to the poem by A. Barto about the girl Tanya, who dropped the ball into the river. Toddlers are convinced that the ball does not sink in a container of water, unlike heavy pebbles. Similar games can be arranged at home, having tested various objects for buoyancy.
Older children suggest cutting flowers out of paper. Bend the petals to the middle to get closed buds. Put them in a cup of water. The liquid will gradually impregnate the paper, and homemade flowers will bloom under their own weight. And after a while, they will begin to slowly sink to the bottom.
No less interesting are the experiments with the egg. In pure water it drowns. But if you pour half a liter of water in a jar and put 2 tbsp. l salt, the egg pops up. The fact is that salt water is denser than fresh. By the way, therefore, swimming in the sea is easier than in a river. Toddlers like to mix clean and salty water in one container, causing the egg to either float or sink to the bottom again.
Take paints
One of the favorite experiences with water in the garden is painting it in different colors. For the experiment, you can take ordinary watercolor paints. Toddlers for a long time captures this process. Check together, which water will color faster - hot or cold? Explain that molecules move more actively in hot water, and therefore the mixing process proceeds more intensively. Make sure that staining occurs even faster if you stir the water with a spoon.
Using paints, you can easily verify the ability of water to rise up. Place white flowers (such as cloves) or celery in glasses with colored liquid and observe the result. If you have no time to wait, draw colorful circles on one end of the napkin. Dip it into the water with the other side. The liquid will begin to rise up, the circles will turn into stripes, the colors will mix.
Salt experiments
Children's experiences with water are endless. And, which is very nice, they do not require complicated equipment. For the next experiment, we need a glass of water full to the brim, salt and a toothpick. We begin to gradually pour salt into the water, gently stirring it until completely dissolved. The kid will see how long water will not spill from the tank. The thing is that between its molecules there is a space which is occupied by the soluble substance. And just adding more than half a glass of salt to water, you will see how the liquid finally overflows.
In such a saturated saline solution, crystals can be grown. Dip a woolen thread or branch in the glass so that its upper part is above the water. Wait a few days and enjoy the beautiful crystals, similar to hoarfrost.
Is everything soluble?
We continue to make fun experiments with water. The kid has already seen how salt dissolves in it. What will happen if you take other objects and substances? Make sugar, flour, cocoa, valerian, tea, candy, plasticine and a plastic toy. Make sure that some substances are completely dissolved in water (sugar), some - partially (cocoa), and others will not do this at all. Dissolution time will also be different. Lollipop, for example, may take up to half an hour. Please note that water during this process can change its color, taste and smell.
For the next experiment you will need 5 glass goblets, sugar, paints and a syringe. Pour a little water into 4 glasses. Paint it in different contrasting colors. Add half a teaspoon of sugar to the first glass, a whole to the second and a half tablespoons to the third. Stir.
Now fill the syringe with liquid from the fourth glass, where sugar was not put. Release it into an empty glass. Fill the syringe with water from the first glass, lower it to the bottom of the fifth and carefully squeeze out the color solution. Repeat the same procedure with the second and third glasses. You will see how the multi-colored layers in the fifth glass are located clearly one below the other, without mixing. This is due to the different density of the solutions.
Evaporation Experiments
Water can take on various states of aggregation. This discovery is very surprising for kids. The conversion of water to gas is easiest to show, bringing it to a boil. Steam rises above the pan, and the liquid becomes less and less with time. Make sure that the little researcher does not get burned during the experiments. Evaporation of water from a can placed near a battery takes longer. But you can leave marks on it, observing the process.
Find out why it rains with your child. For experience, you need a jar of hot water. Cover it with an iron lid on which to place pieces of ice. Water evaporating, will rise up, where it will encounter cold. As a result, the vapor molecules become heavier and again turn into liquid. Make sure with the child that the inside of the lid is wet, as are the walls of the can. When this happens in nature, drops begin to fall from heavier clouds. It's raining.
You can also teach your child how to get fresh water from salt water. In a deep basin, place a glass of washed pebbles at the bottom. Pour water into a container, dissolve in it 2 tbsp. tablespoons of salt. An empty glass should rise above the liquid level. Pull the film on top. Push it down over the glass, put a heavy stone. It’s a funnel. Put the structure in the sun. Water will evaporate and drain into an empty glass, while the salt remains at the bottom.
Turning into ice
Pouring tinted water over the tins and putting them in the refrigerator, you can get funny ice toys. Kids are fascinated by experiments with water, its freezing and subsequent melting. Colored ice cubes placed in a glass with vegetable oil look very impressive. When melting, rainbow drops sink to the bottom. You can also sprinkle one ice toy with salt and another not. The first will melt earlier. Salt "eats" holes and moves in the ice. If color salt is made using dyes, there will be no limit to the delight of the baby.
Show your child that water expands when it freezes. Take a cocktail tube, cover one end with plasticine and pour half the water. Mark its level with a marker. Plasticine the other end and place the tube vertically in the freezer. When the water freezes, you will see that the ice has risen above the mark.
How is snow and hoarfrost formed?
In winter, take a thermos with hot water and a plate for a walk. Open the thermos. Steam will go out of it. Hold the plate on top. The steam will cool in the cold, will again become water. Drops will appear on the plate. Put her aside and do not touch until the end of the walk. After some time, the water will freeze and turn into frost. Thus, it is formed on tree branches, a hat and coat collar.
If the droplets freeze in the air, it snows. Remind your baby of the experience with the water when you rained in a jar. Explain that in winter, the drops freeze in the air, turning into tiny ice crystals - snowflakes. Arm yourself with a magnifying glass, admire them, and sketch at home in an album.
Living water
Moisture is necessary for all plants. Invite your child to wrap one pea in a dry cotton swab and the other in a wet cotton swab. Put them on a platter and watch which grow faster. The same can be done with the bulbs by planting them in an empty jar and a jar of water.
And scientists say that this amazing fluid can store and transmit information. We put beans in three pots, put on one window sill. We will water them with water from different cans. Before the first watering, say nice words, read beautiful verses. Be silent over the second. Having collected water in the third jar, scold and call it. Look in which pot will sprout faster. Commit the results.
Game of colors
Most of all, kids enjoy spectacular experiences with water. For children , a lava lamp can be arranged in a transparent jar. Fill the container with vegetable oil two-thirds and pour in tinted water. It is heavier and immediately starts to fall down. Throw a quarter of an effervescent tablet and enjoy the colorful bubble dance.
The underwater eruption of the "volcano" will not leave kids indifferent. The experiment should be carried out by adults, as there is a danger of burns. Pour water at room temperature into a deep glass dish. Attach a stick to the glass with a rubber band so that it sticks to it. Fill it with boiling water, add red dye. Slowly lower the glass to the bottom of the container. Hot colored liquid will begin to rise, as its molecules are lighter and faster.
Experiments with water allow children in an entertaining way to get acquainted with the basics of physics, to study the natural laws. They arouse curiosity in kids, allow you to diversify your leisure with useful activities. And, of course, they bring a lot of pleasure to both the children and their parents. After all, nothing brings family closer than common activities and hobbies.