Beach Density Jar: Simple Summer Science

When it comes to summer, nothing is quite like the beach. The beach is a lovely haven of rest for some, and a hubbub of activity for others. Bring the beach home and into the science classroom with this fun beach-themed density jar. In the beach density jar, there is an ocean floor, ocean water, sky, and clouds. Kids will love learning about density in this super fun summery version of the classic experiment.

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

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Simple Summer Science: Beach Density Jar

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

What you’ll need for the beach density jar:

 

  • Sand
  • Water
  • Vegetable oil
  • Blue food coloring
  • Shaving cream
  • Various beachy items (seashells, mermaids, sea creatures, etc)
  • Tall jar
  • Glitter (totally optional)

Fill the bottom of the jar with about 2 inches of sand.

Dye the water blue, then add about a cup of it to the jar.

Add a cup of oil.

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

Don’t add the shaving cream until you’ve done the density experiment or else the objects will get trapped in it and your kids will make a much bigger mess (ask me how I know).

Have the kids guess where each object will land inside the density jar. Do they think everything will sink or will some things float?

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

In our experiment, the mermaids hung out in the ocean floor, the sea creatures floated in the water, and our pom poms, which were meant to represent sea urchins, floated in the vegetable oil sky.

The shaving cream was lightest of all (except for the glitter), but it prevented the objects from falling to the liquid, which my kids thought was fascinating.

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

What Kids Learn in with the Beach Density Jar

Density jars a a fun way to show kids how different liquids have different densities. Some liquids will float, while others will sink. Or in the case of the sand, it will sink below all other liquids. The kids will learn that different objects have different densities, too, and will sink to different levels in the density jar.

Teach kids about density and the ocean at the same time with this super fun beach density jar! Kids will love combining summer fun with science!

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