WY Quality Counts

Date: 5/18/2012, by Department of Workforce Services
Age Group(s): Preschool
Estimated Duration: 10 minutes
Development Areas: Cognitive Development
Materials Needed: 3 paper cups; Water (warm, cold and room temperature); and Thermometer, optional.
Related Articles: Reading Just for Fun with Your Preschooler

January is the perfect time to get those young scientific minds working. Prepare three paper cups of water- a cup of warm water, a cup with ice water and one cup filled with room temperature water. Have your child place a finger from his right hand in the warm water and a finger from his left hand in the cold water. After leaving them in the cups for a minute, have him place both fingers in the cup with room temperature water. Ask him how the water temperature feels on both fingers. The water should feel cool on the finger that was in the warm water and warm against the finger that was in the ice water. Explore the reason why the water feels different for each finger. Older preschoolers will also enjoy learning about thermometers. For these children, explore the differences in the room temperature and the temperatures of the three cups of water. This is an ideal time to work on estimating and predicting skills.

WY Quality Counts

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