Ocean Science for Kids - Easy Ocean Life Experiment Kids Love

It’s summer, so that means it’s the perfect time to enjoy activities on Beach and Ocean Science for kids. Start teaching your children about the beach and ocean life by setting up this fun summer science activity. Kids will love learning about density with an exciting hands-on ocean activity. So gather up your preschoolers, kindergarten and early elementary children for an easy ocean life experiment that they will love.

In this ocean density jar, there is an ocean floor, ocean water, ocean life, the sky, and fluffy clouds. Have fun!

Ocean Science Activities for Kids

Ocean Science for Kids – Easy Ocean Life Experiment Kids Love

Are you starting an ocean theme preschool unit or looking for fun ocean theme ideas to keep your children excited and learning throughout this summer? You’ve come to the perfect place. We love learning and sharing about the beach and filling the year with under the sea activities.

Water Density Experiment

What you will need to make your Ocean Life Density Experiment is in this picture below. However, I have it displayed in list form towards the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

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Under the Sea Preschool Activities

Before doing this science experiment, we took some time to read together about the ocean, beach and ocean life. Spending some time talking about what types of things live in the ocean and explaining the different layers that will be in this Science experiment helps the children understand what they are learning.

Under the Sea Science Experiments

Ocean Activities for Preschoolers in Science

Let your children guess where each ocean animal will land inside your density jar. Do they think everything will sink to the sand floor or will some things float? Let’s see what happens.

Start by gathering your supplies on a tray for your child. It makes everything run smoother if you can have the set up ready to go before you start.

Science Activity for Kids – let’s get started

Have your child fill the bottom of the jar with sand, a couple of inches deep depending on the jar.

You only need one drop of food coloring to color the water light blue. The 2nd step is for your child to pour the water into the jar slowly, so it fills it about 2/3 full. I prefer to have the amount of water that’s needed already in a pouring cup for the children to use.

Next, slowly pour in the oil until about an inch from the top of the jar.

Squeeze a thick layer of shaving cream around the inside edge of the jar to resemble puffy clouds. Squeeze a very thin layer on the top of the oil in the center of the jar opening, leaving one or two little holes with no shaving cream. The small holes with no shaving cream will make it much easier to drop stuff into the jar.

I prefer to do the shaving cream squirting myself, so it doesn’t go all over the place, but if you have older children doing the science activity I am sure they can make the clouds themselves.

If you are using glitter, sprinkle that over the shaving cream to represent rain. It will not go through the shaving cream, so that means the rain is still stuck in the clouds.

Beach Science Experiments

Now it is time to start the density experiment: The sand represents the ocean floor, the water is the ocean water, the oil is the sky, and the white shaving cream is the clouds.

Sand is heavier than water and water is heavier than oil and oil is heavier than shaving cream, so that is why the density jar is layered that way.

Start dropping in ocean objects to see which will go down in the sand, which will float in water, and which will float in the oil. It all depends on the weight of the objects we are using. We had some ocean objects on the sand, some floated in the water for a few minutes, and the whale, starfish, and the sea plant floated in the oil.

Ocean Books for Kids

Ocean Science Experiments for Preschoolers and Kindergarten

Density jars are an easy and fun way to show kids how different liquids and different objects have different densities. Some liquids will float above others (like oil and water) while others will sink right through.

Preschool and Kindergarten Ocean Science

This is a fantastic STEM experiment to begin talking about the science behind our oceans and differences in density. For younger kids its a fun beginner activity to explore different solids, liquids, and gas.

Hands-on Science activities are fascinating for children and keep learning new things exciting.

Ocean Science Experiments for Preschoolers

Ocean Life Density Jar

What’s Needed

1 Empty Quart Jar
Sand
Vegetable/Canola Oil
Blue Food Coloring
Shaving Cream—foamy type
Plastic Ocean Creatures, Glass Rocks or Sea Glass, Aquarium Sea Plants, Small Shells
Glitter (optional)
Water

Directions

1. First fill the bottom of the jar with sand, a few inches deep.
2. Color the water light blue. Slowly pour water into the jar, so it fills it about 2/3 full.
3. Slowly pour in the oil until about an inch from the top of the jar.
4. Squeeze a thick layer of foam shaving cream around the inside edge of the jar to resemble puffy clouds. Squeeze a very thin layer on the top of the oil in the center of the jar opening, leaving one or two little holes with no shaving cream. The little holes with no shaving cream will make it much easier to drop stuff into the jar.
5. Now it is time to start the density experiment: The sand represents the ocean floor, the water is the ocean water, the oil is the sky, and the white shaving cream is the clouds.
6. If you are using glitter, sprinkle that over the shaving cream to represent rain. It will not go through the shaving cream, so that means the rain is still stuck in the clouds.
7. Sand is heavier than water and water is heavier than oil and oil is heavier than shaving cream, so that is why the density jar is layered that way. Start dropping in ocean objects to see which will go down in the sand, which will float in water, and which will float in the oil. It all depends on the weight of the objects we are using. I had some ocean objects on the sand, some floated in the water for a few minutes, and the whale and the sea plant floated in the oil.
This is a fun summer ocean experiment for kids to learn about density!

Pin Beach Stem Activities & Ocean Science Experiment to Save for Later

For more resources, printables, and activities related to the ocean and its inhabitants, please visit our Oceans Activities page and my Under the Sea Pinterest board.

Ocean Slime Science with Clear Slime Recipe Click Here

OCEAN ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

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