Playing with Sponges: 5 Ways

We are studying water this week and I was thrilled to have found some very old, shriveled up sponges.  Sponges, water and two little bodies meant lots of wet fun!  Here are five ways that we played and learned about water.

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We began by measuring our equal parts of water in a few small cups.  Then our experiments began:

1) we poured the water quickly on a completely dry sponge.  What happened?  The water splashed everywhere.

2) we poured the water slowly on a dampened sponge.  What happened?  The water filled the sponge.

We used the above two experiments to spark a discussion about rain and flooding.  The sponge represented the earth and the water is like rain.  We live in North Texas where we can go a month or so without any rain.  The sponges made a great analogy as to why flooding sometimes happens (as it has recently) in spite of the fact that it doesn’t rain very often in our area.

3) we squeezed out our sponges and repeated the process.  The kids loved “making” rain.  The sponge can also represent a cloud, and can demonstrate how clouds become saturated with moisture and how God uses them to send rain to the earth.

4) we banged on the saturated sponges and watched the water splash out of them.  Couldn’t think of a “learning” discussion to go with that one, but my two-year old had a blast!

5) We washed off our faces and discussed the uses that water has for us.

The kids then wiped off the table.  I love it when they do chores!  If only getting them to wipe down the table was this easy every post-dinner time.

If you are curious, here is a sample of the highschool soil/sponge activity I did a decade or more ago.

This project was part of our Water learning theme.  Click the link below for similar activities: