A great way to explore science concepts with a simple invitation to play!
Yesterday, I shared with you how we used live worms to create a worm farm. Today, I’d like to tell you about our gummy worm science.
Preparing an Invitation to Explore
This science activity was inspired by the book Candy Experiments by Loralee Leavitt. On one of our tables, the children found a small aquarium tank partially filled with water. The tank was surrounded by gummy worms and tweezers. A delightful invitation to play…
Building Fine Motor Skills
The children needed no instructions, as the intent was clear. They immediately began picking up the gummy worms with the tweezers and dropping them into the tank…
When they ran out of gummy worms to drop in the tank, they simply reached in and pulled them out…
After centers were over for the day, we left the gummy worms in the tank for observation. The next morning when the children arrived at school, this is what they found…
Investigating with their Senses
The gummy worms were larger and almost translucent. The water in the aquarium looked a little slimy. To conclude our gummy worm science, the children were all invited to gather round our large table. Each child was given one new gummy worm, straight out of the package. The children closely examined their fresh gummy worm to see what it looked, felt, and smelled like…
Making Observations
Then we pulled out one of the gummy worms that had been sitting in water overnight. The children compared the two by looking at them…
It was obvious that the gummy worm left in the water overnight had gotten much bigger. Next, each of the children were given one of the water-logged worms to feel…
A Wonderful Sensory Experience
The worms that had sat in the water overnight were squishy and slimy and were now much more fragile (we talked about that word). The children held the gummy worms gently so they would not break apart but we had to do a little squishing in the end…
Once the children had made observations about both of the gummy worms, they were given the opportunity to stick their hands in the tank and play with the leftover squishy, slimy worms…
You may have seen our gummy worm science and our worm farm live on our Fox Morning News segment…
Available on Amazon
Links to grow on:
Gummy bear science by Teach Preschool
Two candy experiments: Melting and dissolving by Play Create Explore
Learning to measure with gummy worms by Kids Activities Blog
