Monday, April 16, 2012

Science Play - Water Propelled Squid


We had some fun science themed play today, inspired by a "race a squid" project from Cindy A. Littlefield's aptly titled Awesome Ocean Science!


In this case, our squid were really balloons, filled with water...


...kept in by closed glue caps (the original project called for pop open juice, or dish soap caps)...


...inserted into the neck of the balloons - a two man job, if ever there was one.


The children used permanent markers...


...to create the terrifying stare, and menacing mouths of the giant squid.


Then, they placed them into a tub of water (younger children should be closely supervised with deflated balloons, and tubs of water)...


...and twisted open the caps, simulating the streams of water real squid use for propulsion through their siphons.  Littlefield's book has a very good illustration, diagramming the parts of the squid.


We repeated the experiment, with an air filled balloon, and discovered, while it was a lot more showy, the bubbling stream of air was not nearly as efficient for moving the balloon.


Then, after watching a quick animated video clip about giant squid, from BrainPop.com (a subscription service - I highly recommend ), we added a sperm whale, the only natural predator of the giant squid, to our ocean tub.  And, I turned the rest of the morning over to the children's imaginations.


It's great to be a homeschooler.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Who knew water balloons could move so well in the water? (AWESOME Science fun...)

Sheltie Times said...

Looks like lots of fun. I love that series of books for creative projects for kids.

Mary said...

I love the Kids Can books- they have lots of awesome titles. Looks like a lot of fun!

Kathryn said...

I remember having so much fun with those books when I was a kid. I'm a teacher and use Brain Pop videos and activities from time to time with my classes- it's great for review. Our public library buys a subscription from the county so your readers may want to check if it's for free through the library before purchasing. Thanks for sharing so generously of your ideas.

Phyllis said...

That's cool that you can compare the difference between water and air propulsion.

Ticia said...

Now, why couldn't you have posted this before we learned about squids?

Kendra said...

LOVE that book. :D We did a whole summer long ocean study with that and the ideas in Amanda Bennett's Ocean Study

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

I can see how this could entertain children all morning. Fun!

Eddie said...

That could entertain my kids for a full afternoon, I'm pretty sure! We'll have to give it a try in the wading pool this summer (assuming we can get the dogs out of it, of course).