Density Bottles Activity Fun!

I’m working once or twice a week in my friend’s 4th grade classroom at my old school. Last week, they were working on properties of matter, so we did a relative density activity to help students see new instances of sinking and floating in water. This took a little bit longer than normal to prep, but was so worthwhile!  I set up trays with materials for pairs of students.  I had an extra tray of beads and one of ocean animals so students could pick them out. Each student got a water bottle, sand, bead, ocean animal toy, water, and oil for their density bottles. There was already water in each bottle.  Students added a small amount of colored sand and 50ml of vegetable oil.  They dropped in their ocean animals and a beads. Then, we analyzed our bottles and communicated which substances and objects were less and more dense than other substances and objects.  Students drew their bottles in their notebooks and labeled the layers.  They seemed to REALLY enjoy this activity!