MATERIALS AND THEIR PROPERTIES - where children are expected to develop an understanding of the properties, classification and structure of materials such as wood, plastic, glass etc.
STARCH GLUE
To make starch glue:
You will need:
One part starch granules (one cup)
Two parts boiling water (2 cups)
Saucepan
ADULT:
Add a small amount of water (about 6 tablespoons) to starch to make a paste.
Add boiling water to the starch, stirring it constantly. The mixture should become thick and milky glossy. If it doesn't thicken it is becaus the water isn't hot enough. Put it on a stove and bring it to the boil. Remove from the stove and wait until it has cooled to a warm temperature before use.
WARNING: Please be careful when heating water or using any kitchen utensils in children's activities. With care, of course, it can be an ideal time to teach them about the safety rules that apply.
In MATERIALS AND THEIR PROPERTIES you could try the following activities with your child.
1. PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS - put different objects from the house on a tray and blind fold your child. Ask them to identify the object on the tray that fits the description you read out to them. For example, if you put a metal teaspoon on the tray the description would be hard, cold, solid, and smooth. You would need to make sure that the other items on the tray were not of a similar description. If your child can go on to identify the object a extra prize could be given. The properties children of 5-7 years of age should be able to master are, hard, soft, smooth, rough, cold, hot, wet, dry, squashy, stretchy, solid, liquid, grainy and fine. Items that may go on your tray are a teaspoon, some honey, some ice, some cotton ball, a stone, some sugar granules or some tin foil, there are of course many others.
2. CHANGING STATE OF MATERIALS - young children should understand that materials can change their state through a number of different processes, two of which are easy to demonstrate to this age group - freezing and cooking. For freezing, make up some little ice pops with water, food coloring and some flavoring. Mix it up in a beaker, like an experiment and pour it into a freezer proof container, with the help of your child. Comment on the liquid from of the ice pops pre freezing, and then after an hour or two, get them out of the freezer and see how they are now solid. When they then eat the ice pops, comment on how they revert to liquid in the mouth because of the heat.
To illustrate the effect of heat on a material, make some bread and watch it rise, or melt some butter or cheese to see the different states of foods. You might like to include your child in as much of the daily cooking as is safe, it is an area that fascinates many children.
3. NATURAL AND MANUFACTURED MATERIALS - Knowing that some materials occur naturally in the world and others are manufactured from a variety of different materials is an early concept in Science.
One of the best ways of teaching this principle is to let your child discover for themselves the naturally occurring materials as they look around their local environment. Not everyone will be able to do this, but if a visit to a local woodland or quarry could be arranged it would do the job just as well. Some people's yard's have enough variety in them to isolate most of the naturally occurring materials - wood, stone, slate, clay, sand, iron, cork, and water. The manufactured materials are numerous, but examples are glass, bricks, plastics and stainless steels. Taking rubbings of some of the materials is an appropriate way to spend time studying and talking about their different properties.
4. PAIRING MATERIALS - The idea of this activity is to find objects that are made from the same materials about the house and yard. For example, a leather belt and a leather handbag, a stainless steel teaspoon and a pair of scissors, a book and a newspaper, a glass and a mirror, a wooden spoon and a match stick. Again you can either put these items out on a tray and ask your child to group them according to similar properties, or just ask them to find some things about the home with the same material. This activity supports the need for a child to understand the physical properties of natural and manufactured materials.
5. ABSORBENCY - A child of 5-7 years of age should be able to work out which materials are capable of absorbing water and which are waterproof proof. Again this will tell the child about the physical properties of the material. One way to demonstrate this to a child is to collect some items, and ask your child to weigh them dry. Then soak them in a bucket of water overnight and re weigh them the following morning. Naturally, the ones that have gained weight overnight have taken on water and so can be called absorbent, and the other ones are waterproof.
Materials to choose from to demonstrate this are something wooden (e.g. a wooden spoon), a plastic ruler, a woollen scarf, a stainless steel spoon, a stone, a newspaper, a glass.
Reading List
STARTING SCIENCE: Floating and Sinking: K. Davies & W. Oldfield: Wayland: 185210 862 2
SCIENCE ACTIVITIES: Materials: Graham Peacock: Wayland: 07502 0733 7
