School-Age: Weight and Density

This week we talked about weight (how heavy something is) and density - and how we measure it! 

1. Reading
We read "What Can a Crane Pick Up?" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It was a fun tie-in to our discussion/book about weight and measurement because it discussed how many heavy items cranes are able to pick up.

2. Discussion
I asked the kids if they knew what 'weight' meant. Then I began a discussion using the book "Weigh It: Fun With Weight" by Rachel First. The book defines 'weight' as 'how heavy something is'. It also had great discussion points throughout the book. 

One of the pictures showed a little girl weighing apples at the store. I pointed out different types of scales and types of food they might see being weighed at the grocery store. 

I also used the book to point out that, just because something is large (or small), it does not mean that it is heavy (or light). The book used a large beach ball as an example of a large light item and a bowling ball as an example of a small heavy item. 

This led into our activity...

3. Activity
We compared a variety of items, weighing them on a scale my library assistant brought it, that we found around the library. I made up a worksheet that had the items in different columns and they had to circle the item they thought would win each round. 

[The duck was rather humorous as an item to try to fit on the scale - he is one of our large puppets we use for storytimes and he is rather bulky.]

For each round I asked the kids which item they thought was heavier. Then I put each item on the scale and they got to see the numbers fluctuate to show how heavy the items were in grams and ounces. 

4. Craft

The craft we made this week were paper weights. I hinted to the kids that these would make great (belated) Mother's Day presents OR upcoming Father's Day presents.

I pre-painted the rocks before each program and glue-dotted them to a paper plate. That way it was easy to cart it home on its paper plate. 

During the craft time we put out glue dots at the craft tables as well as bowls full of beads, jewels, and googly eyes. The kids could make pet rock monsters or just decorate the rocks as they would like. 

Here are some examples of ones the teens and I made:

One of the teens made a three-eyed rock monster prince:

Another teen made a happy rock:

And I went the punny, creative route:

Notes:

It was a great program this week and went smoothly. I'm glad I listened to my gut and painted the rocks prior to each program. I had almost decided to have the kids do it but, at the last minute, I painted them before the programs. I think it went a lot smoother having me do the messy portion of the craft instead of the kids!