Exploration of Water

1. EExxpplloorraattiioonn ooff
WWaatteerr PPrreesseenntteedd bbyy:: KKaattee
SSttaannlleeyy

2. Pouring aanndd MMeeaassuurreemmeenntt
Ella and Degan fill the
cups until they overflow.
Then they repeat the
process.
Kristina and Bobby
carefully pour water
from one cup to the
other just to the top.

3. TTooddddlleerr EExxpplloorraattiioonnss
“Cold Ice!”
exclaims Eli,
age 19
months.
“Cold!” Ella,
age 25 months,
exclaims as she
shivers and
giggles
Zachary, age 17
months, feels the
ice and then grunts.
Kate responds,
“The ice is cold.”
Eli decides
the explore
the ice with
his mouth.
Again, he
exclaims,
“Cold ice!”

4. AA DDiiffffeerreenntt KKiinndd ooff
EExxpplloorraattiioonn Daniel, age
20 months,
tries to climb
in. When he
discovers the
ice is cold he
sits on the
ground.
Myles, age 35
months, carefully
balances as he
puts his foot into
the ice
Jared, age 4,
jumps in with
both feet. He
wiggles his
whole body to
get his feet
under the ice.
Joce, age 20
months, decides
to explore with
her hands first,
exclaiming,
“The ice is
cold!”

5. SSeellff EExxpplloorraattiioonn
Rainbow Falls and pools
at Penn Hills Resort,
Analomink, PA

6. Bushkill Falls
Bushkill, PA

7. FFlloowwiinngg WWaatteerr
For a focused exploration of the flow of
water, we set up a river building activity.
Some children jumped right in to digging.
While others, like Lia, age 3 (on the right),
observed the other children before jumping in
to help.

8. Jared, age 4, Liam,
age 5 and Mason,
age 4, quickly
discover that two
pools can be
connected by a
curving trench.

9. Mason digs a trench
with a ladle. As he does
this the water moves
through the trench and
he exclaims, “Look
guys, the water is
moving!”
In contrast,
Lia has just
begun her
exploration,
first, with a
spoon and
then with her
hand.

10. AAddddiittiioonnss ttoo tthhee
EExxpplloorraattiioonn To involve the children
in the progression of
this exploration, we had
a conversation about
what other materials
they might need to add.
They decided they
wanted to make bridges,
so we added popsicle
sticks.

11. As the sandbox filled with water and the bridges were
washed away, a few children began to build forests on
the small islands that were forming.

12. Liam notices the flow of water is slowing. He looks back over his trench and notices that
Henry, age 4.5 had put stones in the trench. He counts as he places the stones in the
trench.

13. What was lleeaarrnneedd tthhrroouugghh aann
EExxpplloorraattiioonn ooff WWaatteerr??
• As a teacher, I was reminded to let the children take the lead with the activity.
• The children further developed problem solving skills and processes of
investigation
• The children further developed cooperation skills.
• The children further developed an understanding of cause and effect as they
dug the sand out of the trenches to create a path for the water to follow.
• The children practiced math skills as they measured with the popsicle sticks to
see if they would fit across the river.
• The children practiced one-to-one correspondence as they counted the rocks
they used to build a dam.
• The children began to understand the concept of conservation as they carefully
poured the water from one cup to another, stopping just before the water
reached the top.