Materials
- Dish of water for each child
- glass with ice for each child
- pot of hot water
What to do
1. Talk about water. What do we do with water? (Drink, wash, water plants, cook, and so on.)
2. Explain the three ways water is found:
- Liquid: Give each child a dish of water. Encourage them to look at, feel, and slosh it.
- Solid: Give each child a glass with ice in it. Encourage them to look at and feel the ice. Point out that the ice will melt and become a liquid.
- Gas (or steam): Boil water on a stove or hot plate (adult only). Encourage the children to watch the steam, but to be very careful not to burn themselves on it. Encourage them to notice that as the water cools down, the steam turns to liquid.
3. Ask the children if there is anything else they notice about water, perhaps calling their attention to the condensation that appears on the outside of the glass of ice water. Explain how this is not the water from the inside of the glass, but water that is being taken from the air.
4. Talk about where water is found (in rain, rivers, the ocean, and so on).
5. Tell the children about snow, icicles, sleet, and hail.
More to do
- Science and Nature: If there is a lake nearby, ask the children what color the water is (blue or green, for example). Collect a cup of the lake water and bring it to school. Show the children that the water is colorless. Talk about why it reflects the sky's color and appears blue (or other color) in nature.
-Lucy Fuchs, Brandon, FL
