Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Will It Float?

Our science text (a term I use loosely), Bubbles, Rainbows and Worms, suggests an experiment called "Floating Objects." Last Thursday, we took it to the next level.

First Son and I wandered the kitchen and living room, filling a bin with items to test in our bathtub. (I was originally going to use a storage bin of water, but First Son wanted to test a couple of pirate ships, so we needed something bigger.)

Before we placed any item in the water, I asked the kids if they thought it would sink or float. First Daughter would just yell whatever came into her mind, but First Son had a theory. If it has a hole, it will sink. If it doesn't have a hole, it will float. You won't be surprised to learn that his theory didn't work so well. By the end, he seemed to be revising it a little but he was still wrong quite often.


We did, however, have a lot of fun. Until Second Daughter managed to climb in (on her fifteenth attempt, all previous ones stopped by Mama) and the experiment came to an abrupt halt.