Homemade Craters

What you need: 

• 6 cups flour 
• 6 cups salt 
• large shallow pan 
• cinnamon 
• marbles of different sizes

What to do:

1. Fill a shallow pan with 6 cups each of flour and salt and mix them together. 
2. Smooth out the top, and then shake cinnamon on top. 
3. Invite your child to drop different sizes of marbles from a height of 12 inches onto the flour mix one at a time. 
4. Measure the width of each resulting crater. 
5. Record and compare the numbers. What effect does marble size have on the width of the craters? What other factors might affect the crater size — width or height? Challenge your child to design an experiment to test his theory.

Learning benefits: 

• promotes comparison 
• encourages observation 
• develops experimentation skills