When you think of water, what image comes to mind? Perhaps you think of a water bottle, the torrential rain that caused those leaks in your living room, or a calm pond? Everyone’s pre-existing understandings of water are different and discussing these will allow you and your children to explore the properties and characteristics of water in an engaging way.
Read on for STEM learning ideas to explore water with your children. Don’t forget to share your water or STEM explorations with us! Join Little Scientists’ Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to exchange STEM ideas with educators all over Australia.
Go on a water hunt
🌊 Invite the children to find and document water around your service or classroom. Discuss their findings as a group: Where are the different areas in which they found water? Does water look the same in each place? The word “water” is intentionally open-ended, which allows children to demonstrate their pre-existing understanding of water.
🔎 Go on a water scavenger hunt with older children. Create a list of water-related objects for them to find, for example:
- A drop of water
- Water that is “hard”
- Water that is moving
- Something that has water in it
- Hidden water
- Something that loves water
- Something that floats in water
- Something that sinks in water
Blindly explore water
Try this activity with children to engage their senses in water-based explorations.
Materials:
🥣 Several bowls
🥣 Warm (not hot) water
🥣 Room-temperature water
🥣 Ice cubes
🥣 Carbonated water
Instructions:
- Ask the children to close their eyes. If they’re comfortable, use a blindfold to cover their eyes.
- Offer a bowl of room-temperature water for children to explore with their hands.
- Ask them to describe what they feel.
- Document the children’s responses on paper or audio/video recording.
- Try this again with different kinds of water. For example: ice and carbonated water.
- Encourage the children to talk about how these different types of water felt. What did they notice? Are there any differences or similarities between the different types?
Closely observe water
This water activity idea encourages children to look at the subtle changes in water and consider how these changes can be created with everyday materials.
Materials:
🫧 A bowl or container
🫧 A magnifying glass
🫧 Pipettes
🫧 Straws
🫧 Paddle pop sticks
Instructions:
- Provide children with a bowl or container of water, a magnifying glass, some pipettes, straws, and paddle pop sticks.
- Encourage the children to look closely at the water using these materials. What do they notice? Can they see tiny bubbles? Can they see ripples in the water? Can they see a line at the top of the water?
- Have the children interact with the water using the materials. What happens if they blow across the top of the water? What happens if they make a prick on the water’s surface with a stick? What happens if they use the pipette to slowly drip one drop at a time back in?
Read “Water Is Water”
📙 “Water Is Water” by Miranda Paul & Jason Chin (illustrator)
Ages: 6+ years
This book introduces children to water’s ability to look and feel different in various situations (AKA the aggregate states of water). The beautiful illustrations and repetitive poetry are perfect to ignite children’s interest in the water cycle and the properties of water!
Book into a Little Scientists Water Workshop!
Little Scientists’ foundational “Water & Co-Construction” Workshop explores STEM through the vehicle of water and the fascinating pedagogical topics of co-construction, metacognition, and inquiry-based learning in early education. While we don’t have any Water Workshops at the moment, we will schedule more throughout the year. Before then, if you’d like to immerse your entire team in hands-on STEM, click here to book an in-service workshop to immerse your entire team in hands-on inquiry-based STEM learning without leaving your service.
In our interactive “Water & Co-Construction” Workshop, you could:
🌨️ Explore water vapour and make a cloud in a bottle.
🪨 Make dirty water and then purify it.
💧 Explore the capillary action of water and try to make water walk!
💭 Investigate the role of free exploration, prompted exploration, and demonstration in inquiry-based practices.
💡 Explore the educator’s role in a co-constructed environment.
📸 Practise documenting children’s learning.
Develop your STEM skills with pedagogy-based STEM PD:
- Browse our in-person STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM workshops.
- Browse our online STEM Hours.
- Book an in-service workshop for your team.
- Book a STEM Family Workshop for your families.
