Science Sunday – Gravity

The topic for this week science was inspired by the comment of Almost Unschoolers for our Tower of Pisa unit. Leah mentioned Galileo experiments that he has supposedly conducted in Pisa. So I looked online for some gravity experiments for preschoolers and stumbled upon an excellent book by Vicki Cobb. I Fall Down has several gravty experiments, but they are also wrapped in the story that explains the results and even tackles the difference between mass and weight. I wish I read this book when I was  studying physics – it’s a great introduction into the material that was quite intimidating to me.
One of the experiments was about comparing weights by watching the rubber bands stretch differently depending on the weight of the object. As Anna’s predicted, papa’s shoe stretched the rubber band a lot more than her own shoe. She was so pleased with this  experiment that she kept measuring all the shoes in the house until one of the rubber bands finally snapped. We tried to use hair bands then, but found out that they are not stretchy enough to make a spectacular difference depending on the weight of the shoe.
She recorded her results in her brand-new “science journal” (ala Sid the Science Kid) – those are three shoes of different sizes hanging from the rubber band. Anna was very excited about her science journal, and was begging for more experiments, so she could draw in her journal more. I had to channel her creative energy by giving her a less fancy drawing pad.
Come and share your science play and experiments with Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.