At one of my first summer time babysitting jobs I amazed the kids with the simple science of oil and water. Scarlett was more amazed by the food coloring and the search for things that sink and float than the actual science of liquid density. But all in all we had a great afternoon "craft time".
Use this craft to teach kids about mixing colors and let them pick things from around the house or outside to put inside their "ocean" and have them guess whether they will sink or float.
What you need:
Water
Food coloring
Oil
Fill bottle 1/4 full of water, put food coloring into bottle and have you kids experiment with colors. Teach them about primary and secondary colors by experimenting with the food colors. Then take your "water proof" items that they found and before dropping them into the water ask them whether they think they will sink or float. Then fill the remainder of the bottle with oil and tilt the bottle sideways to make waves. Watch the items in the bottle and see how they move with the water. Compare the sunk items to the floating ones.
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