NEWSLETTER
"I Am a Scientist!"
This time of year gives us lots of fun candy to work with and experiment with! Today's science experiment involved colored candy hearts. We incorporated both math and science concepts into our experiment with our usual strategic fine motor work 😉 The candy hearts are a variety of colors and come together in the bag, so our first step was to sort them by color. The children used heart color mats to sort the hearts, and were tasked with using tongs to pick up the items. The size of the tongs are perfect for strengthening the hands and fingers (short and fat), and the children practiced using them before the sorting began. They noticed right away that they had to work to get the tongs opened and closed, and that they need some practice! They went around the room for a few minutes picking up various items with the tongs to get used to the movement (their idea!). Then we sat down and got to work sorting the hearts. The children placed the hearts in different places on the mat which was very interesting to watch. Some made towers, some made piles and others even placed the candy around the border of the heart. Each type of placement required hand-eye coordination and patience as they used the tong to pick up one piece, bring it over to the mat and then place it. All of the children were successful in this task which really shows how much their motor skills are strengthening!
Once the candy hearts were sorted, we moved on to our science experiment. Simple experiments inspire children's curiosity and thinking, and hits many different areas of learning and development. This experiment had specific steps to follow and reactions/changes in the materials to pay attention to. We began by identifying our three liquids - the children identified the letter, we said the sound and then said the name of the liquid (water, soda and vinegar). We repeated the sounding out of the name a few times. We used our senses to explore the three liquids and discussed our observations and what we thought might happen when we add the candy. The children noticed the smell of vinegar and the look of the bubbles in the soda. They then dropped the candy hearts into each container and observed what happened. As the materials started to change we heard:
"It keeps changing and changing..."
"They are floating."
"They are sinking."
"Let's stir it and see what it does."
"They are going away." (We added the word "dissolve" to this part of the conversation and repeated it together.)
"They are getting smaller."
The last step in our experiment was to document our findings! We used a pre-made template to guide this part in order to support this work since it was the children's first experience documenting findings. They had to match the letter above the cup on the paper with the letter on each of the actual cups and then draw/color what they saw. As they worked they described the colors they used and the parts of their illustrations that connected to the actual cups (candy hearts, color of the liquid, bubbles). When they were finished we hung their findings on the wall and they gathered around to discuss their work. Overall is was a very fun and interactive experiement and experience!
