This month at RisingOaks Early Learning | Saint John Paul II, the school-age 1 children have engaged in a variety of science experiments. Atheena brought in kinetic sand for the children, which focused on movement and energy. The children saw how the particles in the sand when molded with their hands made the sand stick together by creating energy as they moved their hands in the sand. They also explored the different texture of the sand, talking about how kinetic sand differed from regular sand. “It’s soft and squishy,” replied Aeddan who molded his sand into a den for his dinosaur. The children also got to see and play with a plasma globe. They saw how the gasses in the globe when mixed with a high voltage of electricity at its center created beams of colour. They each had an opportunity to place their hands on the globe and see how the beams moved towards where they hands were placed. They also watched a video that explain this process and explained in more detail how plasma globes work. To continue with our experimenting, we did a float and sink experiment. As a group we dropped different objects into a pool of water after guessing whether the object will float or sink. The children used their critical thinking as they learned about the density in objects and made predictions on if it would stay above or go below the water. They had fun dropping the objects into the water and fishing them out. As they predicted what happened to each object, they talked with their peers on what they thought would happen and told stories about how they’ve tested other objects at home in the bath or at school.
