As always, I am excited to be back for another Saturday Science. We love experiments for kids! Science is such a staple in our house and guides the rest of our lessons for the week. This week, I thought it would be fun to share some old science fun we had before we ever started homeschooling. This experiment is one we did when Legoman was in second grade for his science fair project.
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Since this science experiment was for science fair, we needed to follow the scientific method. If you are a regular here, you know how much we love science and how we try to teach the correct procedures and techniques involved in science explorations. This science experiment would be great for any age, with some modifications and adult help for the younger ages.
Question/ Hypothesis
Question: How do various liquids {tap water, river water, salt water, carbonated water, and soda} effect plant growth?
Hypothesis: Legoman predicted that the plant that was given the river water would grow the most.
Materials and Procedure
What we needed:
6 Plants (all the same variety, roughly the same size)
(We chose to use established plants to see the effects of the liquids on the plant growth)
6 Different Liquids
{We used tap water, river water, salt water, carbonated water, and soda but you could use any liquids your child wants to investigate}
Planters
Ruler
Measuring Cup (to ensure you are using the same amounts of liquid with each plant)
Journal and pencil (for recording data)
Procedure
Step One
We planted each plant in individual pots and used our handy label maker to label each pot with the liquid we would be giving it over the next two weeks. We also labeled each liquid container so that they would match the plants.
Something important about a science experiment is to teach children about constants (unchanging elements) and the variables (what you are manipulating).
For this project, our contants are the type of plant used, the container, and the amount of liquid for each plant.
Step Two
We measured the same amount of liquid and “watered” each plant. We notated the amount we used (this will vary depending on the size of your pot) We used 1/4 cup at the beginning. You will see in observations, that we later had to change this.
It is important to note: We also measured each plant at the beginning of the project to get the starting size for each plant. We wanted to know how much the plants grew over time and having a baseline measurement was very important.
Step Three
Each day we measured each plant, “watered” it with the appropriate liquids, and collected the data in our science notebooks. We repeated this for 2 weeks.
Observations/Data
Every day Legoman would grab his tray of plants, his ruler and his liquids. He was excited to wake up each day and “get to work”. It was immediately obvious that the plant with the salt water was starting to wilt. For day one, most of the plants had not grown any, but the salt plant had began to shrivel.
If we were reporting this as a science fair (and if you repeat this) we would report what happened every day, with the measurements and the changes. However, I need to leave something for you to find out! Don’t you want to see what happens?
One important observation we made was that the pots we used did not allow for the liquid to drain. This meant we needed to change the amounts and frequency we were giving out plants “water”.
Results
We couldn’t believe what happened to the plants! Seriously, you will want to try this one and this is the perfect season! I wanted to have a printable available for you but couldn’t find it. I’d love to know if you are interested or have a need for a printable science journal and science project packet.
Legoman really had fun putting all his data into the computer and making graphs for his science board.
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Aww, you’re not going to tell us the results?! 😉 This sounds like an interesting experiment and I love how into itLegoman was!
I absolutely love this!!! Thank you so much for posting such a thorough post about it. On my list of things to do.
Oh your poor salt plant! It looks like most of mine in the garden, haha. Great experiment.
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This is an interesting science experiment. Let’s not forget the proper spelling though. In most of the times when the word “effecting” was used here it actually meant “affecting” instead. Since wet are teaching children, spelling is important. This scientific project could be called: ” The effect of different solutions in plant growth: how various solutions affect plant growth. ” Tricky words!
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Dear Legoman Mum,
I am a science teacher from Hong Kong and I find your experiement bery useful and interesting. I would like to have a printable science journal and science project packet.
Please kindly send to me. Thank you very much!!!!
What would you like in your science journal. This is definitely something I could work on.
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Hi, i am a primary school teacher. I really love this experiment that you have conducted, by any chance are you able to send me the results of this experiment? I would love to show my Year 2 class your observations, and your results.
Thank you.