This activity was a science and vocabulary lesson I did to help the kids learn about the difference between “hard” and “soft.”
I started by gathering up a tray of items that were either hard or soft. I included hard things like a book, a marble, a wooden instrument, a plastic cat toy, a wooden banana, and a nut and bolt set. I included soft things like a stuffed animal, an orange, a squishy ball, a bean bag, some play foam, a pom pom, and a balloon filled with play dough.
I invited the kids to take turns selecting items from the tray.
Then they felt and squeezed and banged on the objects to determine if they were hard or soft. While they did this, we talked about how soft objects can be squished in our hands, but hard objects cannot.
And we compared how hard objects make a loud sound when banged against the floor but soft objects do not.
As the kids determined whether each object was hard or soft, we placed them into separate “hard” and “soft” piles.
Here are what our final piles looked like!
Tracey@We-Made-That says
April 3, 2013 at 4:49 amOh this is great! I want to try this with my little one. Thanks so much for sharing all your awesome ideas with us at We Made That!
Savannah says
April 3, 2013 at 9:50 amWhat a cute and creative lesson!
Nicole @ The Kavanaugh Report says
April 4, 2013 at 4:45 pmGreat idea! I think I’ll have to try this with my toddler!
Amy says
April 5, 2013 at 5:30 amHow fun! What a great, simple idea! I did this with pinecones and cotton balls a couple of months ago, but should do one again with my son 🙂
Coombemill says
April 5, 2013 at 6:55 amPractical learning is always the best and most fun
Marla says
April 5, 2013 at 7:54 amWhat a great way to present the concept of hard vs. soft. My toddler will love this!
Ashley says
April 5, 2013 at 11:47 amThis activity would be great for my toddlers, thanks!
Amy @ No Greater Honors says
April 7, 2013 at 12:32 pmI love the idea of playdough in the balloon, and think maybe it would be great to expand that to a textured sorting, filling the balloon up with different things (beans, rice, etc) and having them feel to see which two match! Great post!
Blayne says
April 9, 2013 at 1:15 pmThis is an awesome lesson! I will keep this in mind when my son is a little older!
Monica says
April 9, 2013 at 9:37 pmWhat a great way to teach the difference. 🙂 Thanks for linking up at Family Fun Friday.
Sincerely,
Monica
Carrie says
April 12, 2013 at 1:07 pmWhat a great idea!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
Sugar Aunts says
April 12, 2013 at 6:25 pmThis is such a great idea for toddlers! I love it. We are featuring your post tomorrow on Share It Saturday 🙂
Ticia says
April 13, 2013 at 5:39 pmThis is a great preschool science lesson. Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!
Layla Word says
January 11, 2017 at 7:28 amWow, I think I might have to use this! Stellar idea.
Deloris Spaulding says
January 21, 2018 at 8:09 amGreat ideas…love it