Museum of Science, Boston

Books for Kids

  • A Drop of Water
    , by
    Walter Wick
  • Butterflies and Moths
    , by
    Dorling Kindersley
  • EyeWitness Butterfly & Moth
    , by
    Paul Whalley
  • The Ultimate Bubble Book
    , by
    Shar Levine

Contact Us

Contact the Discovery Center and Living Lab staff at livinglab@mos.org

Capillary Action Butterflies: Toddlers






  

    

  Capillary Action Butterflies can be a fun science activity for people of all ages. We provide these generalizations as guidelines about what children at different ages might do during Capillary Action explorations at the Discovery Center’s Experiment Station, in the kitchen at home, or at school.  Listed below are science and technology process skills that children may be practicing during their explorations. Please remember: each child develops at a different rate, so some children in each age group may be able to do some of the things described in the age group before or after their own. 


How might toddlers explore Capillary Action?



  

      


  

    
Classify - Toddlers




Toddlers can sort the markers or pipe-cleaners by color.


Toddlers can compare different butterflies that they make to each other, and to ones you or their friends make.  


Toddlers can compare butterflies they make to pictures of butterflies in books or on the internet.


This site- http://bsi.montana.edu/web/kidsbutterfly/photos is a good place to find photos of butterflies from around the world.
  





  

    
Observe - Toddlers




Toddlers can use their sense of touch to observe the unique texture of coffee filters and pipe cleaners.  


Toddlers can watch the water drop from the pipette and travel through the paper.

They can observe the colors changing as the water mixes the marker pigments together.


Many toddlers can name the colors of the markers, and can identify new colors that are made when the water mixes the primary colors together.
  





  

    
Use Tools - Toddlers




Young toddlers have developed their raking grasp and should be able to squeeze the pipette using their entire fist. 


Young toddlers are also developing the hand-eye coordination necessary to bring a marker to a paper.  


Older toddlers develop pincher grasp. They can squeeze the bulb of the pipette between their thumb and forefinger, and - with this increased control - can create more intricate designs with the markers.