In the 1-2s, we lean into the weather, and this week, we had some wet weather! All the rain filled up the stream of run-off by Morse Pond with a slow moving current of water. We experimented with different flotsam and jetsam nearby to see what could glide along with the current - sticks, mulch chips, pieces of plastic, and bark. This got our scientific minds thinking - what if we could make a water craft that could travel down this stream? How far would it get? How would we make it?
With this in mind, kids partnered up to take on the challenge! Using two index cards and six inches of tape, kids created a prototype of a vessel they thought would travel far. Some great ideas were engineered - using crayon to apply a layer of wax (and color!) to their "boat" to make the paper more water resistant. Other kids worked on crafting the cards into the shape of something that already works successfully as a "floater" like a boat or a fish or a frog. Some enterprising engineers even included a daggerboard in the hopes that it would keep their boats upright in the water. We then took our boats down to the stream and tested them in the water. After watching each prototype make its way as far down the stream as it was able before sinking or catching on debris like rocks and sticks, we moved on to making our aluminum foil models.
Kids learned a lot from their original constructions and those of their peers - some sort of wall or ridge was helpful in keeping water out, taking inspiration from the shape of a boat or water animal made for a better craft. Today's models fared much better, even with a slightly shallower testing ground than yesterday. Our boats made it much farther than yesterday and some even made it the length of the distances between the two fallen trees we were using as boundaries. We also liked to see kids cheering on the boats of others in a supportive and encouraging way - taking delight in the results of everyone's efforts!
Enjoy the pictures below from today's regatta!
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