Wood Floats, Boats Float
By Loty Arteaga, KMS Preschool Teacher
In the science area, Pumpkins (Preschoolers) were inspired by a story in which a witch who fell into the
ocean survives because she holds her broom the whole time. We brought our curiosity around this to the
science area, where Mahiti declared her theory while holding a piece of wood, “I think she survives because
her broom was made of wood and wood floats in the water.” Alicia, Miriam and Lucas helped Mahiti carry
different types and sizes of wood for a fun exploration in the water. In the process, more kids became
engaged and discussed what else floats in the water. They were especially fascinated by how boats float in
the water. From that moment Pumpkins started to do their own investigations by looking at different books
and sketching their ideas of different types of boats. In the Atelier the students were so creative assembling
their boats using scrap wood for later testing on the bumpy water.
“I think the witch survives because her broom was made of wood and wood floats in the water.” -Mahiti
“It’s a broom turned into a boat and it’s floating because it’s flat and bristley.” -Ada
“Look, it’s sinking because it’s so big.” -Miriam
“What floats in the water?” -Loty
Surfboard (Kyle), people (Ozzie), boats (Ada), kelp and
seaweed (Alicia), animals like sharks, whales and dolphins
(Mahiti), a yellow duck can float in the water too (Cortland).
“The water makes the wood move and it’s floating,
see?!” -Lucas
“This is my pedal boat.” -Seyjan
“My fire boat can float and sink if I add this piece”
-Zane
We took a walk to the star room (library) upstairs to do some research on boats.
“I want to make a motor boat like this”
-Ozzie
“Me too, it’s faster than sail boat” -Kai
“This is a party boat” -Willa
In the library and after this visit, they sketched their ideas for the boats they wanted to build:
A Sailboat, Zane
A Fishing Boat, Cortland
In the atelier they were so creative assembling their favorite boats using wood, glue and tape.
Peter (below) brought his boat to the water in the science station and said, “Look, my boat broke!” Ozzie
said, “Maybe you can use a rubber band?”
From that moment Peter and Ozzie shared this great solution
with a lot of friends.
“It’s hard to make a bird boat.” -Lillian
“You can use rubber band like me. Look it’s working!” -Peter
“My boat turned into two boats.” -Seyjan
“I think you didn’t put enough tape.” Colby
“No, no it’s because you put too much glue!” -Cortland
Following our ocean experience in the sand area earlier this year (see previous blog post) the Pumpkins
wanted to test out their boats in the “ocean” outside.
What did you notice when you put your boats in the ocean?
“It was floating for the whole entire time” -Kyle
“It stayed in one place the whole time because it was too heavy.” -Cortland
“It looked like water play and my boat got dirty and it was sinking.” -Vincent
“Mine was sinking too, upside down and then later it was floating.” -Sachin
“I noticed it started floating and then my boat got stuck” -Ethan
“My boat was floating because there was a lot of water” -Ozzie