November-February

We worked with water themed experiments for a long time. We have a group at the preschool in which all the children who are going to start school gather once a week. This group is called the star club (a name the children themselves chose and voted for). In the star club there are about 25 children. We wanted the children to work with the concepts of floating, sinking and density. We also wanted the children to have experience with nature and learn the right of public access in Sweden. We therefore chose to build boats of bark and other forest materials with the children.

The first time we went to the forest, the children were asked "what material in the forest do you think floats?" The children got to pick up any material from the forest they wanted and the next time we met they had to test their material in a transparent plastic box. The children thought it was fun and laughed a lot when the stone splashed in the water and sank to the bottom. The children could now see which material was floating and which material was sinking.

The next time we went to the forest, the children had to pick materials that they could build the boats with. They made a whole pile of bark, sticks, cones and leaves. When we poured out the material in front of the children and were about to start building the boats, it had been in a storage room for a week and what we did not think about were all the insects that lived in the bark. The children and educators had to collect insects for 15 minutes before we could start building. The children thought this was exciting and fun. We also had an opportunity to talk about our insect hotels that we built this summer. The children used glue, yarn and tape to put their boats together.

When the boats dried, it was time to test them in water. The children got to test the boats one by one and it is now that the children notice that it is not just about the density of a material but that construction and design are just as important. Many of the boats were heavier at the top and fell over in the water. It was very exciting and the children guessed before we put the boats in the water if they think they will float or sink.

After Christmas and New Year, we took the boats to the forest to find streams where we could test the boats again, now out in nature. We found a stream that had some water in it where the children could play with their boats. Many of the boats fell over even now and the children had to hold them to keep them