Tracking Water Movement

Last semester the children explored ice on our ramps. They were intrigued by the trail of water that was left behind as the ice made its way down the ramp.  Today I decided to explore this idea again. Instead of using ice, I provided the children with colored water and placed white paper on the ramp. I wanted the children to be able to track the trails the water made as it moved down the ramp.  The children were very excited to see the pathways created. They were interested in how fast or slow the water traveled.  They decided to begin racing their water and would show excitement when the water reached the very bottom. Soon, as the paper became saturated with water, the children noticed the water was not making it far down the ramp. They tried pushing their drops of water with spoons. Some children realized they could start their water farther down the ramp, past the wettest part of the paper.  They were excited when again, the water would travel all the way to the bottom.  The next day, we added another color and the children were able to race their water even better, since they had two different colors racing. As the explored for a while, they began to notice their drops of water with mix with other drops of water and a new color would emerge. Once they saw the new colors being created by the mixing of water, they focused more in mixing the two bowls of water to make new water.