The Story of Water

 

 

The extremely cold temperatures have put a damper on our outdoor play, much to everyones' dismay. The children have had indoor "recess" a lot in past few weeks, but it has not prevented us from playing with the snow!

 

The sensory bin was filled with snow each morning, and begged for

warm fingers to take the plunge and explore. Aiy-yi-yaiy!

 

 

As the morning progressed, and many pairs of hands passed through the bin, the snow started to change. They discovered that the snow became more malleable. And later still, "Hmmm. There is water." 

 

  



"Hey!  Now we have two water tables!"

 

Our study of water has been multi-faceted. Thank you for sending in your interesting and shaped containers for "show & share". We gather around the water table and explore capacity, and predict which containers will hold more or less water. The children have also been predicting how many caps of water it will take to fill the containers.

 

So as we studied the states of water (liquid and solid), the children also noted the streaks of water left behind on the table when wiping up after snack.

 

Writing our names in the water on tabletops.

 

But then they wanted to know why the table didn't stay wet. I heard the critical thinking and grabbed a pencil and paper.

 

               "Where did the water go?"

              "It's drying. That's what happens." 

              "I think its in the table."

 

 Our follow-up discussion related to the steam we saw rising from the kettle when making our Borax crystal snowflakes, and the fog we see when we talk on a cold day. (No shortage of those lately:)

 

The take-home lesson for the day:

Water can be found in 3 states ~ liquid, solid or a gas (water vapour).

The water didn't soak into the table - it evaporated into the air. We can't see it, but it's there.

 

FUN APPLICATION TIME ~ what happens when you combine water, food colouring and an ice cube tray?

 

 

With the help of my friends, we coloured some water and

poured it into the ice cube tray.

 

 

The tray made it's way to the freezer in the staff room and

clothes pegs were added once the water started to turn into a solid.

 

 

And our provocation was ready for the next day...

 

 

 

To play.

To explore.

To observe.

To create.

  

The children "working" on their individual "paintings"

using the ice cubes (water as a solid) that they created.

 

 

 

The children "working" on their collaborative mural

using their ice cubes.

 

 

And what happened to those pools of "paint"? They were there yesterday.

 

That's right - if its not a liquid, and it's not a solid, it must be a gas.

 

EVAPORATION was the word of the day, and continues to be, as we explore with more of our "wet on wet" water colour paintings.

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping by our atelier.