Bottles in the Bath

WARNING: Always supervise children when they are in or near water.

What you need

• empty plastic bottles with lids
• bathtub or sink
• water

What to do

Let your child explore an empty plastic water bottle without a lid in the bath or a sink. Let them watch how the bottle sinks as it releases bubbles.

Have several bottles with the lids screwed on tight; one empty, one full and some in-between. Encourage your child to experiment with which bottle is the hardest to push under water. Your child will love it when you dunk the empty bottle in the water and let go and the bottle pops up out of the water again.

What they learn

Children learn about shapes and volumes by playing with water and different shaped bottles and jars. They can also experience different levels of buoyancy.

Encouragement questions

• Which bottle sinks/floats?
• How can we get this bottle to float/sink?
• How many bubbles does the bottle let out?