Exploring at Home: Air

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Your child has been exploring some of the properties of air—that invisible, vital element essential to all life. Listen to what your child has discovered in science experiences. Then be a partner in doing a simple experiment in your kitchen.

Impressive Pressure! Enjoy sharing this surprising air pressure experience with your child. You’ll need a clean, lightweight plastic jar with a lid. (An empty peanut butter jar, ready for the recycling bin, will be just fine.) First, carefully punch a small hole about 1/2 inch above the bottom of the jar. (The hole should be about the diameter of a drinking straw.) At the sink, let your child fill the jar with water. Ask: “What happens?” (A small stream of water pours out the hole.) Quickly screw the lid on the jar. Ask: “What changed?” (The flow of water stopped.) “What could be touching the sides of the jar keeping the water from flowing out?” Give your child time to figure this out. (This is the same substance that helps to press down on the water, pushing the water out the hole when the lid is off: air!) Let your child continue to play at the sink with the jar of water with the lid on, with the lid off. Talk about the experiment you shared later on—tomorrow, next week, next month. Air pressure will become a permanent part of your child’s fund of information this way.