Activity:
Make a Sand Clock
An hour glass, or a sand clock, is a device that measures the passing of time. It consists of two bulbs that are connected by a narrow segment. The hour glass is used to measure how long it takes for the sand inside to pass from one of the bulbs to the other. In this activity, you will make your own hour glass using sand or salt and observe how it works.
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What You Need:
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Duct tape
- Construction paper
- Watch or timer.
- Dry sand or salt
- 2 jars or cups
What You Do:
- Pour the salt or sand into one of the jars.
- Cut a circular piece of paper that is big enough to fit over the opening of the jar.
- Punch a hole in the middle of the piece of paper and put the paper over the jar.
- Place the second jar upside down on top of the first jar so that the openings are lined up with each other.
- Seal the openings of the jars together with the duct tape.
- Ask your child to predict how many seconds it will take for all the sand to fall to the bottom of the jar.
- Flip over the jars so that the sand starts to fall through the hole into the bottom jar.
- Start your timer and have your child record how long it takes for all the sand to pass through to the bottom jar. You can try a second time and see whether you get the same result.
