Environmental Education - Reuniting Kids w/ Nature

Reuniting Kids w/ Nature – Quick Sand

February 27, 2013
Uncover the mystery around quicksand with this fun and easy activity! Who knows, maybe the knowledge will come in handy in real life one day?

MATERIALS:

1 box of corn starch, 2 cups of water, newspaper (or a tablecloth that can get dirty), a large bowl, a small plastic animal (optional)

TIME FRAME:

15 – 60 minutes

PROCEDURE:

  1. Cover a table with your newspaper or tablecloth
  2. Pour your cornstarch into your bowl
  3. Slowly add in the water until your cornstarch becomes pretty thick (think about how thick honey is, that a good consistency for your quick sand) and stir it gently
  4. Play with it!  Try to poke at it with your finger or another object, pick it up, hold it in your hand.  Grab a small toy (a plastic animal will work perfect) and place it on your quick sand.  Experiment with how it feels and how it reacts when you do different things with it.

REFLECTION:

What happens when you play with your quick sand?  Does it get soft when you move it around?  What happens when you poke at it or are gentle with it?  Why might it be important to understand how quick sand works?

CONNECTIONS:

If you were to step into quicksand, don’t worry, it won’t suck you down.  Remember to stay calm, the slower you move, the easier it will be to get out.

TIDBITS:

Did you know that quicksand occurs when sand gets trapped above water and the sand is so saturated by the water that it can not support any weight?  Opposite of what you might think, the faster some one moves to get out of the quicksand, the harder it becomes to get out of it!

TIPS & IMAGININGS:

  • Aren’t you glad you’re a human!?  Now that you know how quicksand works, you can escape it!  Imagine how an animal might feel if it got trapped…luckily, you never have to worry about feeling like that!
  • If you’d like to keep your quicksand for a little while, keep it in a plastic sandwich bag or in a Tupperware container.
xoxo,
M
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2 Comments on “Reuniting Kids w/ Nature – Quick Sand”

  1. We did this on a large scale once in a big tub outside. Then had everyone jump onto it. First you bounce, then you sink. And very, very messy! But fun and good to do on a hot day when you can hose everyone down. Kind of a waste of a few boxes of cornstarch but for a one time deal at a kid’s party, it was worth it.

    1. Now that sounds like fun!!! What a cool way to have some fun and show, more realistically, what happens in quick sand! I love it!

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