Grades K–2
Sink or Float: Predict and Test
Guess whether eight objects will sink or float, test them in a tub of water and check your guesses.
Science worksheet · Sink or float
Liquid Density Tower
Pour honey, dish soap, water and oil into a cup, number the layers from bottom to top and draw your tower.
- Grade level
- Grades 3–5
- Time
- About 30 minutes
- Topic
- Sink or float
- Answer key
- Yes, page 2 of the PDF
- Kids practice
- Sinking and floating, Density, Predicting and testing
What kids do
Printed on the sheet:
- You need: a tall clear cup, honey, dish soap, water (with a drop of food coloring) and vegetable oil.
- Do it: slowly pour the same amount of each liquid into the cup, one at a time, down the side. Wait and watch. Heavier (denser) liquids sink to the bottom.
- 1. Write 1 for the bottom layer up to 4 for the top layer.
- 2. Draw and color your tower. Label each layer.
Words on this sheet
waterhoneyvegetable oildish soap
Teacher tip
Pour slowly down the side of the cup so the layers don’t mix.
How to use it
- Set up a water tub with towels and let kids test real objects.
- Ask kids to predict and record before every test.
- Start with a two-minute “I notice, I wonder” talk about the picture on the sheet.
Watch for
Big things don’t always sink. Shape and material matter.
Talk about it
- Why does a heavy ship float?
- Where have you seen this outside of school?
Take it further
Hold a boat-building contest with foil and pennies.
US Letter, prints well in black and white. Free for home and classroom use: print as many copies as you need.
More sink or float worksheets
Grades 2–5
Clay Boat Challenge
An engineering challenge: shape clay into a boat that floats and holds as many pennies as it can.
Grades 1–3
Floating: True or False?
Seven facts about sinking and floating to mark true or false, then explain how a heavy ship floats.
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