Ages: 2+
(see handy tips at the bottom for ideas to simplify or extend to meet your childs needs)
Materials: Multi vessel container (recycled packaging or ice-cube tray), pipette/turkey baster/eye dropper/small syringe (many come with children's medicines), water, food colours
Simple put a few drops of food colouring in each segment. Have some basic colours and mix some others. I used the instructions on the back of the food colouring box to see how many drops of each colour would create other colours. Some were just random and even I had no idea which colour would show up. Provide a vessel of water and some water transfer tools.
Learning to squeeze the bulb then release to suck up the water and then squeezing the bulb again to release the water.
Guessing and seeing which colours appeared when water was added was quite exciting
Going from the pipette to the syringe was a little tricky as she had to learn a new process. Pull up to get water, push down to release water. It didn't take long to get the hang of it.
The syringe squirted the water out very fast. Woah!
A wonderful array of colours. But now what to do with them? How about some testing some absorption on cotton pads, making pretty patterns on towelling paper or making 'cloud jars' with shaving foam and water?
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Handy Tips:
- Simplify this activity for younger children by focusing on the water transfer. Can they get water from one vessel to another? If pipettes etc are too tricky for little fingers provide a small spoon for them to transfer the water. Which colour will each segment have?
- Extend this activity by using your coloured water to experiment with, try mixing the colours, test absorption on cotton pads, try some art on towelling paper or use with a cloud jar experiment. Children could also write down their guesses for the colours in each segment.
- Use this time to demonstrate particular skills to them that they might be attempting unsuccessfully. Learning the process of squeeze in, release and squeeze again to transfer water with a pipette can be a little difficult for little kids. Let them practice and experiment until they get the hang of it.
- You could also put drops of food colour in the bottom of various glasses for them to experiment with.
- See what happens to the colours when you add more or less water. Talk about the strength of colour. dark or light? etc
- Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it. eg. "You are doing a great job transferring water from one vessel to the other" etc
Happy playing,
Debs :)
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