Float your Boat!

Date: 16th Dec 2020 @ 10:35am

As part of our Science topic, Everyday Materials, pupils in Year Two were set a challenge to design a boat to carry an ‘orange’ across a river.  We were given a range of materials including paper, clingfilm, tinfoil, sponge and fabric.  We then had to use these materials to create a boat that would float.  During this investigation we found that the sponge floated well initially, but when it began to absorb the water it became too heavy and started to sink.  We also found that tinfoil was a useful material as it was waterproof and it didn’t absorb any water.  Then some of us had the brilliant idea of covering the sponge with tinfoil, this made a great boat as it floated well and the tinfoil kept the sponge from absorbing the water.  We really enjoyed working in small groups to tackle this challenge and we found out a lot about the properties of some everyday materials.