Our momstown Milton Little Scientists Explore What Dissolves When Wet, Wet, Wet!

Our momstown Milton Little Scientists had fun experimenting in the kitchen, trying to determine what will dissolve when it gets wet, wet, wet! 

We started off with talking about what it means to "dissolve": when you add water to something and the little particles become so tiny that you can't see them anymore - they become part of the water; you may not see them but they are still there.

The kids were excited to be conducting experiments with common things that they see in their kitchens:  salt; instant coffee; pasta; quinoa; jello powder; and sprinkles.  We made a hypothesis for each item - would it dissolve in water, or would it stay the same?

Each Little Scientist chose a cup.  We then took turns putting a scoop of the food into a clear glass, then pouring warm water into the glass and stirring.

  
Kids love scooping and love pouring water, so this in itself was pretty entertaining for everyone!  It was fun for them to guess what would dissolve and what wouldn't.  

Seeing the coffee dissolve, the kids could see that something that dissolves is still a part of the solution.  We then moved on to the salt.  It dissolved into the water and the water is clear.  Everyone got to taste the water with a spoon to show that the salt didn't disappear, it changed form and became a part of the water.

 

The jello powder and the sprinkles were fun for the kids.  The water turned bright blue with the jello powder and our Halloween sprinkles turned the water black, though they didn't quite dissolve completely.  Not surprisingly, the sprinkles didn't dissolve completely off of little Sky's face after she sneaked a handful.

 

This is a fun and easy experiment to do with preschoolers.  They are able to participate by scooping, pouring and stirring, and they have fun guessing at the outcome (forming a hypothesis).  My daughter spent part of the afternoon walking around the house putting things like magnets, pens, a spoon of sugar, etc into a cup of water to see if they would "disappear".  It is nice to know that they think about these learning experiences once you have cleaned up the mess and moved on!

Thanks to everyone who came today for some basic science fun! Join us next month at our Little Scientists program  when we explore how to make music with bottles and water! !

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Submitted by Paula Porter, a momstown Milton member and

 mother of two children.