Sunday, July 27, 2014

Disappearing Act

Today, we did an experiment to see what things dissolve in water and what things don't. 

First, I said, "Okay, Gordon Lee, we are going to learn a new word today.  It is called dissolve. Can you say dissolve?"
He replied, "dissolve"
Then I said, "Dissolving is like mixing.  When something dissolves into water, it mixes with the water.  It becomes part of the water.  Let's see what things dissolve in water!"

So, I placed a tray with six small cups of water in front of him (I had this from my baby bullet set for freezing food).
Then, I chose 6 items for our experiment (leftover construction paper squares from yesterday, a graham cracker animal cookie, an ice cube, food coloring, a candle, and a chewable tablet for nausea)
We placed each item in its own cup.  I gave Gordon Lee a spoon to see if he could help dissolve some of the items.  He really enjoyed this!


He quickly understood the concept of dissolving as he saw that..
1.) The food coloring dissolved immediately.
2.) The ice cube and the graham cracker dissolved very quickly.  I took a minute to remind him that the ice cube was water, but it was just frozen.
3.) He was a little confused as to why the chewable tablet was taking a long time to dissolve.  I warmed up some water in a different cup and showed him how it dissolved faster in warm water.
4.) And he saw that the construction paper and the wax candle clearly did not dissolve at all.

He clearly understood what it meant and enjoyed experimenting with it.  However, he asked me a question at the end that I found myself unable to answer.

"Mommy, why didn't the candle and the paper dissolve?"

Oh gee...I wasn't prepared for that one.  So, I sort of gave the best answer I could.  "Well, Gordon Lee, they are just solids that don't dissolve in water!"

1 comment:

  1. I am enjoying seeing your teaching methods. Gordon Lee adds the plus to it. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete