6 experiments with air for children: discover science
Children do not need to learn to explore, ask and manipulate. They are born with a strong desire to discover the world by manipulating it and knowing it through their own hands. It gives children great satisfaction to be able to manage and control things and obtain results that are beyond their own bodies, which will lead them to better understand the world around them.
Taking advantage of the natural curiosity of children to discover their environment is fundamental and since children are very young we can stimulate them to discover the exciting field of science. To achieve it, nothing better than to propose experiments with which to know what happens if ... how, when and why.
The experiments answer your questions
Why has this happened? Why does it work that way? What would happen if ...? Children ask these questions daily about the world around them. With science, young children have to be physically acting on a concept, to understand a definition. A concept has real meaning for them when they have checked it through exploration and manipulation.
6 experiments with air for children
1. Soap bubbles To have a fun time, you have to put a small amount of soap and water in a glass and stir with a straw. Afterwards, it will be necessary to blow gently through the straw until bubbles form. You can talk about the air inside the bubble and ask them why they think the bubbles explode when they touch the ground.
You can also talk about how the bubble has different colors because the light changes when it passes through it.
2. Do they fall at once? For this experiment we need a ball, made with a sheet of paper, and an unfolded sheet. We will talk to the children about the similarities and differences between them, asking them if they think they weigh the same and if they would fall together and at the same time to the ground. Then, get on a chair and drop it.
Indeed, the ball falls faster. You have to talk about how the folio has to break through the air and find more resistance.
3. Fly balloons. The experiments with air are aimed at boys and girls checking in a physical way that the air has consistency, that it exists. To do this, we can let the children feel the air that comes out of a straw when they blow through it, for example, blowing a balloon.
It is very easy to invent a game that consists, for example, in keeping the air balloon as long as possible.
4. Air transfer. Now let's do an air transfer. We will inflate a balloon and place the balloon opening inside the mouth of a plastic or paper bag. Let the air pass from the balloon to the bag, so that it fills it and inflates it in turn.
In the same way, we can place an empty bottle inside in a container of water to check how the air comes out in bubbles.
5. As plumbers. Maybe they have never seen it, but we are going to teach them a plunger, talking about their use. We will take two and press against each other until they are stuck together. Why? What happened to the air while they were sticking with each other?
When they are stuck, the air is forced out of the interior, becoming empty. They will remain stuck until a little air seeps inside.
6. Grinders. Building a paper mill is not difficult and can be a great help to perform some experiments, for example, check where the wind comes from. With a sheet of paper, we will make some cuts in the shape of a cross and then we will stick the tips towards the center.
They can be made in different colors and left in the window to know how much the wind blows at each moment.
Beatriz Bengoechea. Psychologist and family counselor
