The actual process of explaining floating and sinking to early years kiddos; including preschoolers and even some toddlers is something that often happens outside of an educational environment.
Your child, in the bathtub, may have noticed that certain things – like a bar of soap – sink to the bottom of the tub, while others like their bath toys, float at the surface.
This is one of those situations I like to remind new homeschool parents who may be unsure of their ability to educate their children, that they’ve essentially been their child’s first teacher from the very beginning in situations such as this, and homeschooling is just an extension of that!
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Explaining Floating and Sinking to Early Years
But, back to the matter at hand; explaining floating and sinking to early years; at this age, you’ll want to keep the “lesson” short and simple – the following is just enough information for this age range:
- What something is made of will determine whether it sinks or floats
- If something is hollow and full of air, it will float
- If something is heavy it will generally sink (use a rock as an example)
Sink and Float Activity Worksheet
The following activities and resources make it easy and fun; the perfect way to incorporate learning into your simple homeschool lifestyle.
We’ve also created a fun sink or float activity that you can download. It uses items easily found around the house so you can simply print it off and jump in immediately with minimal preparation time.
Sometimes the easiest and most fun homeschool lessons are the most simple. Usually, they’re born of a question your child has about the world around them.
The beauty of homeschooling is that we can take the time to explore our children’s interests and indulge in child-led learning.
Many times I’ll find myself on a rabbit trail with my son in tow as we research random questions that he has during our regular homeschool studies.
Click Here for your Sink and Float Activity Worksheet
For this sink and float activity worksheet, you’ll just need a few items from around the house. You’ll also need a large watertight bin. Gather the items and your bin filled with water.
Have your child make a prediction as to which items will sink and which ones will float. This simple activity is a precursor to learning how to collect, graph, and analyze data to draw conclusions and form a hypothesis.
The printable is ideal for non-readers as they simply have to color in symbols to mark their predictions and results.
Click Here to Get the Sink and Float Activity Worksheet
Explaining Floating and Sinking Early Years Through Picture Books
Things that Float and Things that Don’t
This one is geared for Preschool through grade 3, or age 4 to 8 reading level.
This 32-page book by David Adler answers questions kids have about density and floatation with activities that illustrate the hows and whys of buoyancy.
What Floats in a Moat
Geared for Kindergarten through grade 4, or age 5 to 9 reading level, this 48-page book follows Archie the Goat who is trying to cross a moat to deliver barrels of buttermilk to the queen.
He needs to determine what items will sink or float as he crosses and tests several theories to determine the proper method of transporting the items across the moat.
Floating and Sinking (My Science Library) 

Geared for first and second-grade or age 6 to 7 reading level, this 24-page book helps early readers explore which materials, shapes, and sizes of items float or sink in water.
While most preschool and kindergarteners won’t have the vocabulary to describe what is happening in a buoyancy experiment, they will undoubtedly grasp the concept of density and buoyancy.
The goal here is to introduce your child to floating and sinking; though they may already be familiar, so essentially what you’re doing is fostering a sense of curiosity about the world around us.
Your child will begin to make predictions and you’ll start to see the scientific method in action, through play!
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