Candles with Air and Water

Don’t worry if the kids don't understand the scientific principles involved. The language, observation, exploration, and discovery processes will carry over to other areas and provide the kids with useful skills.

Objectives

Children ages 4-5 years can answer questions classifying and organizing objects according to form, use, and function Lang. IIA
All children participating will be able to stay with an activity for some time SE III
and they can put bottles over small objects FM I

 

Materials

A shallow bowl; short candles; a quart jar or tall glass for each child; water.

Procedures

1. Seat children around a table. Give each child a shallow bowl with a short candle in the center. Light the candles and let drip so that the candles can be placed in the melted wax. Have the kids carefully put their candles in the soft wax (or use Votive candles, which are stable).

2. Fill the bowl with water and re-light all the candles.

3. Each child puts his/her jar inverted over the candle. Ask the children to tell you when the water starts to rise and when it stops. Explain to them that the flame of the candle burns some of the air in the jar or glass--the part of the air that is oxygen. As the air gets burned up, the water goes up inside the jar to replace the air.

4. Repeat, asking the children to explain the steps. This time, ask the children to tell you when the candle goes out. Is the water still rising inside the jar? Why does water stop rising at the same time the candle goes out?

5. When the candles get very short, the rising water may put out the flame before the oxygen is burned up inside the jar. Discuss the effects of water of fire (cooling, preventing flame from getting oxygen). Compare the flame to breathing--we can't breathe under water. That really means we can’t get oxygen from water as we can from air. And so on.