Hot Air Rises Experiment {Preschool Science}

My 3 year old is obsessed with The Magic School Bus series of books. At first I wasn’t too sure of these books but, wow, are these books effective. My son knows more than me about A LOT of topics thanks to this series. So I am not embarrassed to admit that I sourced this idea from The Magic School Bus Inside the Hurricane. The activity is so simple, I had to share it with you.

Materials:

1. Piece of paper
2. Scissors
3. Needle & Thread (or tape)
4. Lamp

Approach:

1. Draw a spiral on the paper
2. Cut out the spiral (older children can do these first two steps on their own)
3. Put the needle & thread through the top of the spiral (make sure a knot is tied at the end). I actually ended up taping the thread to the spiral.
4. Hold the spiral by the thread above the warm/hot light bulb
5. Watch the hot air rise and make the paper spiral spin

Questions:

• Ask your children to postulate on why the spiral spins?
• What does the light bulb do to the air?
• What happens to the warm air? Where does it go?
• What does this activity do to the spiral?

Thanks for visiting!

Marnie