Using Senses to Find Water - Infantil 3 años

This is an activity I did in infantil 3 años when they were learning about the characteristics of water.  We looked at the visual appearance, the smell and the taste of pure water.  I made a chart to record our results; they all sat on the floor and passed around different containers to test their senses and powers of observation.  They had to decide which container had pure water in it.

For appearance and smell, I put samples into identical tubes that the students passed around and looked at or passed around and smelled.  For taste, they passed around cups of flavoured water (and one of pure water) and tasted them.  We recorded the results on the chart when they decided which sample A, B, C or D contained the pure water.

This was what I used for visual appearance, hair gel, pure water, sunflower oil and balsamic vinegar.

For smell, I used alcohol, cinnamon oil (any essential oil or perfume in water), a few drops of ammonia in lots of water and pure water.  Diluted vinegar is good too, as is acetone, but it dissolves plastic tubes. 

For taste, sugar water, onion water (grated onion, mixed with water and sieved to give a clear liquid - super bitter and yucky!), pure water and salt water were good because you can't really see a difference and they don't smell.  Lemon water is works too, but you can usually see bits of lemon in it and it smells. 

I passed all the different samples round the class so everyone could try.  We also talked about what they thought the samples were (then I told them) and the clues that they had used to decide - especially for the visual appearance.  I did this with my son's class of infantil 3 años and it was the first activity that I did in Spanish.