What Dissolves?
What you need
- four clear plastic cups of warm water from the tap
- a spoonful each of sugar, salt, rice and flour
- a spoon to stir with
- a tray to stand the cups on
How to do it
- Stand the cups on the tray, show your child the four little heaps, and ask which ones they think will disappear in the water.
- Make two groups together: the ones they think will vanish and the ones they think will stay.
- Tip one heap into each cup and let them stir, ten big stirs each, then look hard through the side.
- Talk about what happened: which vanished, which went cloudy and which sat at the bottom. Were they right?
Why it matters
Guessing first and then watching closely is how scientists work too, and finding out a guess was wrong is half the fun.
What they're learning
- Guessing first
- Saying what they think before they look.
- Peering in
- Looking hard through the side of the cup.
- Vanish or stay
- Some things dissolve and some don't.
What to look for
Notice them changing their mind about a guess and moving a heap to the other group.
A tip
Warm from the tap is plenty, so keep the kettle out of it. Stay beside them while there's water on the table, and tip it away when you finish.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: try just salt and rice, one that vanishes and one that doesn't
Harder: stir salt into a cup of cold water as well and see which cup clears first
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Sensory activities · Toddler activities with a spoon · Toddler activities with cups · Toddler activities with a tray · Toddler water activities