Colours!

We have spent a lot of time discussing colours lately. After completing a mini unit all about rainbows we decided to try out a colour experiment. This task helped to develop our fine motor skills as the tots had to fill their eyedroppers with the coloured vinegar. This was a fairly open ended task with a lot of chance to build on language and inquiry skills.
First we filled tin pans with an inch of baking soda and mini containers full of vinegar. Initially I wanted to only add primary colours to fill our vinegar containers, however I decided that since this was an introductory colour activity, I gave the tots six different colours. Red, yellow, pink, light blue, dark blue and orange. After a demonstration of how to use the eyedroppers, the tots were off. It was interesting to see the various approaches that they took in creating their project. One approach was to put various drops of different colours throughout the pan, another approach was to layer the colours.
I did not to any direct teaching in this lesson, but simply posed questions to get the children interested in exploring and thinking about their project. Below are some of the questions and statements I used to help the children expand upon their thinking.
"I heard a sound when you put the colour in your pan! Did you hear a sound?" (fizzing)
"H, I noticed that you put the blue colour on top of the yellow colour in your pan. What happened when you did that?" (This drew his attention to something he may not have observed on his own.)
"What happened when you put the vinegar onto the baking soda?" (It made little bubbles that quickly disappeared). 
"What colour are you adding now?"
"Do you prefer the light blue or the dark blue?" 

After some time dropping the vinegar into the pans, one tot decided to use his eyedropper to mix up his concoction.
"What happened when you mixed everything up?" (It made clumps of baking soda). 

After about half an hour worth of play, the tots were still into it but looking for a new way to continue their discoveries. They asked for spoons. Using the spoons we mixed, packed, and carved the baking soda and vinegar mixture. This lead to a whole set of observations. The kids created holes in their packed down baking soda and found out that when they put the vinegar into the hole, it disappeared. They also created lines in their packed down baking soda and attempted to have the vinegar "flow" down their roads and rivers.

 All in all this is a good one! We will try it again soon! 
Alicia