Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Science Sunday/Why Does A Snowflake Float?

100_2017

(Now believe me I tried to get pictures of this experiment, but it is hard to catch a moving object with a camera!)

Selena talked herself right into some science last night. Yes, she is still playing with that snowflake/spider web that I made over the weekend. She got to tossing it up in the air and watched it float to the ground.

After several times of doing this she finally asked me. “Why does my snowflake float?” Well, I guess you know I jumped into action, a science subject to discuss!

We took a small round ball of hers, and compared how differently the ball and the snowflake fell to the ground. We visually examined both items and Selena was quick to point out that the snowflake was flat, thin or skinny as she called it, and holey. She told me the ball was round, hard, and heavy.

I showed her by blowing around the snowflake how the air goes through the holes, then when I blew on the ball it didn’t pass through. There were many aspects of this discussion that we discussed, I don’t know how much of it she actually understood, but I guess her question got answered as she quickly moved onto something else.

Pin It

7 comments:

  1. I hear you on getting pictures of moving objects. So many of my pictures turn out blurry because of that, but I don't think I'm quite ready to make the plunge to buy a more expensive camera.
    Oh, and I was able to fix the linky and add yours in, since I emailed you. I fiddled with it a bunch and figured it out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love those child led learning moments! It always seems they make such an impact on my kids.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good job being available to experiment. Great age appropriate examining and explanation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great real life science Debbie!

    I love the way your said "talk herself into some science" too:-).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wonderful, those teaching moments are the best.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like those "hands on" science moments too, and you really made the best of it making her go through this reasoning exercise. I think children are learning best when we are not telling them the answers right away, we make them arrive to answers. I really need to get better at the whole "let's learn together" approach.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love impromptu science discussions like this! Kids are such quick learners...

    ReplyDelete