Preschool
Will it Sink or Float?
October 2019
While we have been exploring outside on the playground the children have noticed acorns falling from three trees that line our fence edge. With buckets in hands we started collecting acorns inside and outside of the fence. It was not long before the children had collected a bowl full of acorns. While we collected the acorns we noticed that some acorns had lids while others were bare. We even found an acorn that looked like it was eaten, Korah suggested that a squirrel ate it.
Once we got inside we filled up a bucket full of water and laid the acorn bowl on the table. Before each child did the experiment we asked them, “Do you think the acorn will sink to the bottom, or float to the top?” Each time we asked the children the question we would show them what sinking and floating meant. Each child made their prediction and then we figured out together what the result was and if they had guessed correctly or not. The chart posted in the preschool room shows what the group of children had predicted and what the actual result was.
Eloise was the first one to question why some acorns were sinking while some would float. Once everyone had a turn I grabbed one acorn with a lid and one without a lid and had posed a question to the group. “Do you notice something different from this acorn to this acorn (pointing as I asked my question). The children took turns waiting patiently to examine the acorns. Markus turned to the group and pointed saying “this acorn has a lid and this acorn is missing its lid.” Miles then turned to the group and said, “well which acorn floats to the top and which one sinks to the bottoms?” Joshua dunk the acorns into the bucket of water and we discovered that an acorn with a lid floats to the top, while an acorn without a lid sinks to the bottom. We cannot wait to see what further exploration we will have with acorns in the preschool room as we develop our project!
