Color & Capacity

We love this water activity because it’s 5 minutes of BIG learning and then an hour (at least) of independent exploring and playing.

IMG_1455.jpg

Supplies:

  1. Food coloring

  2. Clear, plastic glasses

  3. Hose or big bucket of water

To Play:

  1. Make 3 cups of water

  2. Make each cup a primary color (red, yellow, blue)

  3. Mix colors to make secondary colors (orange, purple, green)

The Math:

IMG_1491.jpg

  • Introduce capacity by using the words full, empty and half-full to describe the cups of water.

  • Talk about which cups you think will hold more water and why. For example, “This cup is really big so it will hold more water than this little cup will.”

  • Want even more? Make predictions about how much water a cup will hold, fill it up, and then pour it into a liquid measuring cup to begin discussing units of measurement for liquids.

After a few rounds of mixing colors and talking about how full the cups are, I sit back and just let him play with the colored water.

Outside Play, MeasurementNeily Boyd