Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Cornstarch and Water Fun!

In this exploration, the children experience the ways in which cornstarch is transformed from soft, silky powder to slipper, crunchy liquid. In the process, they also observe and reflect on the beautiful creation of color.

I introduced the children to the materials. Water, cornstarch, spoons and water colors. I coached the children about moving the water from the cups onto the mixing tray. Then I demonstrated how to move the cornstarch onto the tray of water with a plastic teaspoon. The children then had the opportunity to squeeze drops of water colors onto the their tray! It was like magic when the children discovered that the white watery powder turned pink, orange and or green when the colored water meets the cornstarch and water.

During their exploration, the children used their spoon to add cornstarch into the mixing tray, and added colored water to it; they poured water in their mixing tray and squeezed the watercolors out of the bottle onto their tray! As the children explored I asked them a few questions...

-What does dry cornstarch feel like on your skin? (Hannah,"soft")
-What happens when the water meets cornstarch?( Grace,"scratchy")
-What happens when the watercolors meets the mixture of water and cornstarch? (Everyone agreed it was a beautiful and magical!)







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