Holiday Sink and Float Experiment

Materials

• You can use any materials you have around the house - what food floats? which toys float? Experiment and have fun!

• oranges (if you have 2 sizes, that's even better!)

• fresh cranberries

• holiday bows/ribbon

• whole nuts

• flower petals (like from a poinsettia)

• small branches from a live christmas tree

• candy canes (wrapped & unwrapped)

• light bulb covers (we pulled some off of our no-longer-working outdoor light string)

• ornaments (plastic or glass work best)

• a large bowl or container of water. I like to use a clear plastic or glass container so it's easy to see the items from a side view -- gives the kids a good idea that many items may sink before they pop up and float or might begin to float but will eventually sink.

• Make predictions before you place your item in the water. Is your item going to sink or float?

• Place the items one at a time in the container of water.

• Observe what happens. Does the object sink then pop back up to the top to float? Does it sink immediately to the bottom? Does it half-sink half-float?

OPTION !:
Make two signs - one that says SINK and one that says FLOAT. When you remove items from the water sort them on the correct paper.

OPTION 2:

Use the recording sheet and record both your predictions and results as you carry out the experiment.