Session 3: Floating Fun!

Our fantastic team of Research Assistants!

This week at Curiosity Club at the Virginia Discovery Museum, children had a fantastic time engaging with some Floating Fun! In this activity, our little scientists investigated what kinds of materials would sink or float in water. The materials included familiar items like sponges and rubber animals, as well as some surprising ones, such as a paper clip, magnet, and big piece of wood. We loved seeing all the creative ways children explored and experimented with these materials!  

Some children stacked different materials to see if they could get sinking items to float, while others combined materials in new ways, like making sponge boats for heavier objects such as paper clips and magnets. A few curious scientists tried to push the floating rubber animals underwater to see if they could make them “swim,” while others filled up sponges and guessed how many squeezes it would take to fill a smaller container. Even our youngest explorers joined in, scaffolded with some great parent guidance. 

Materials children could explore with!

Research Assistant, Maddie, helping to explore!

Parents were just as engaged as their children! We overheard some great questions like, “Do you think this will float? Why? Can you make it float?” Parents also helped children make connections to their experiences at home, like comparing the rubber shark and puffer fish toys to bath toys. Many families said they wanted to try the activity again at home, maybe even experimenting more with a container of salt water for some surprising observations. We all shared in the excitement when predictions were confirmed or not, like when the big piece of wood actually floated! 

 Here are some ways that this activity was promoting curiosity: 

1. Comfort with uncertainty: We intentionally included items that kids may not have used before in water to create some joyous uncertainty. We modeled how it is fun to make predictions, even when you might not know what happens! 

2. Alternative ideas: Since there was not one "right" way to explore these materials in the water, we encouraged children to try combine the materials to further explore their buoyancy. We saw creative examples of this when kids tried to make floating toys sink or designed boats to help sinking objects float. 

3. Use of prior knowledge: Children used their prior knowledge of what kinds of materials sink or float to make predictions when testing. Activating prior knowledge can lead to more learning because you’re making meaningful connections. For our younger scientists, we loved the parent engagement here. Parents reminded children about similarities between their bath toys and our materials, helping to provide some scaffolded exploration.  

Thank you to all of the amazing families who came to this week’s session of Curiosity Club! As always thank you to the wonderful Virginia Discovery Museum staff for giving us the space to share the joy of curiosity. 

Missed this week? Check out our parent handout below, and come see us next time on December 4 from 4-5!