Float or Sink?
Today we’ll test boats made from found materials to see which ones will float, and which ones will not.
- Let’s play with water. Choose a bath tub, sink, or any container that won’t leak.
- Now, let’s build a vessel that holds more than 5 pennies.
- What can we build with? Paper, popsicle sticks, aluminum foil, wax paper, bottle caps and lids, recycled yogurt cups, rubber bands, bamboo skewers and toothpicks…
- What do you see? Which materials float on their own? Can you add pennies to your boat? How many can it hold?
Further Your Experiment
- Talk about what happens before the boat sinks. Where does the water start coming into your vessel?
- What can you change to make it float better? Is it the material, the boat’s shape, or size?
- Which one of your boats can carry the most weight?
- Which one can travel the farthest distance?
- What material floats the best?
- Can you get the boat to move without touching it with your hands? How?
- How many pennies can your boat hold, and still float?
