🔬 Part 1: Predictions and Observations

1. Before you start, what do you think will happen when you put a ball of plastilina in water?

It will float on top

It will sink to the bottom

It will float halfway down

2. What happened when you first put your plastilina ball in the water?

3. Draw the shape you made that worked best for floating:

4. Which shapes helped your plastilina float? (Tick all that worked)

Flat and wide

Boat shape

Bowl shape

Long and thin

Other: _______________

💭 Part 2: Understanding Buoyancy

5. Why do you think changing the shape helped your plastilina float?

6. Buoyancy is the force that makes things float. What do you think affects whether something will float or sink?

Only the weight of the object

Only the shape of the object

Both the shape and how much water it pushes away

The colour of the object

7. Complete this sentence: When I made my plastilina into a _________ shape, it floated because _________.

8. Name two objects from home that float and two that sink:

Objects that float: _____________ and _____________

Objects that sink: _____________ and _____________

9. Ships are made of heavy metal, but they float. Using what you learned today, explain why you think this happens:

10. If you were designing a boat from plastilina to carry the most marbles without sinking, what shape would you make it and why?