A is for Absorption Experiment

I love finding fun ways to explore science with my young kids.  Having 3 children, all at different ages, I try to get them all involved in our experiments no matter how much they understand the end results.  I feel starting young, it gives them a curious mind and a heart for learning. Today we are exploring A is for Absorption Experiment.  All 3 of the kids had a chance to get in on the experiment and we all had fun learning.

 

 

A is for Absorption Experiment

 

What we used/ supplies:

 

ice cube tray

 

liquid watercolors

 

pipettes

 

toilet paper

 

paper towels

 

tray

 

 

 

Start by telling the kids what absorption is.  Absorption is the process of one thing absorbing into another.  I told them what we will be testing.  We are testing to see if the toilet paper or the paper towel is more absorbent.  I always love to ask them what they think will happen when we do an experiment.

The experiment:

 

I placed paper towel and toilet paper on the tray or table.  I let the kids pipette watercolors out and dip them on the paper products.  I asked them to watch and see which one held more water.  I also had them look under the paper towel and see if the color was bleeding through.  If they put a little drop it did not.  If they put several drops it would bleed through.

 

 

By the end we had lots of bright and cheerful colored paper towels.  We saw that the toilet paper would not hold as much water as the paper towel and would tear when really wet.  It could not absorb any more water and fell apart.  The paper towel, once it could not hold any more water, would start leaving water behind on the tray or table.

 

This is a part of the A-Z Science Series (Click on the landing page to keep up with the entire series<–) hosted by us at Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tail. We are excited to see all the posts in this series by some of our favorite bloggers!