Rainbow Water

Purpose:  Children love to explore color and play with water.  This activity combines the two.  The children will want to talk about what they have seen.  For younger children who are just learning to name their colors, describing what they have seen helps them develop a knowledge base as well as vocabulary and sentence structure, all of which help build a foundation for later reading development. For 4-, 5-, and 6- year olds, be sure to use this as an opportunity to also teach new scientific words like liquid, observe, and predict.

 

Materials/Advance Preparation:

Directions:

    1. Have children color small (approx. 1") solid squares on paper with the markers (good way to test markers).  Use different colors.

    2. Cut out squares.
    3. Fill muffin cups with water. 

    4. Let the children dip the colored squares in the water and watch how the water changes color as they dip one color.  Let them experiment with length of time and observe the effect.

    5. Share in the children's excitement and discovery and together name the colors.  Frequently ask them what they think will happen and why they think so.  Ask open-ended questions that include "how," "what," and "why?"  But avoid saying "right" or "wrong."  Let them experiment and see for themselves.

    6. See what happens when they dip first one color, then another so that colors mix. Ask them to describe the colors and combinations. 
    7. With older children, when you think they have had sufficient time to observe the patterns, ask them to predict what they think will happen, then observe and describe.  Be sure to use the vocabulary predict and observe and explain what these words mean.
    8. Remember throughout to echo the children's comments back to them:  For example, "That's just what I see, too! Yellow water!"

Notes: This is a very easy project; just have a sponge and mop handy.  Remember that children learn as they play messily, especially with water.  Avoid urging them to not spill.

 

Eric Gidseg

 

 

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