My First Science Experiment Science and toddlers go hand in hand. email to friend
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A young child's natural curiosity and sense of wonder combined with an age appropriate activity makes for an unforgettable learning experience. Steve's 20-month-old twin boys, Mark and Scott, share one such hands-on adventure using plastic soda bottles.

Your child's first introduction to science must be fun and filled with hands-on play. Select an activity that helps them focus on "gee-whiz" element and encourages them to try something new. The Tornado Tube experiment is a great example of an activity that encourages discovery play with a science twist.

Materials

All of these activities are variations of a classic science toy called a Tornado Tube. This specially molded tube is used to connect 2 plastic soda bottle. With young children it's especially important to use smaller plastic soda bottles to make them easier to handle and control.

All of the activities mentioned on television are included in the Tornado Tube Book by Steve Spangler.

Experiment
Related Experiments

Here's the classic experiment: Fill one of the plastic soda bottles 3/4 full with water. Use the Tornado Tube connector to attach the second bottle. Swirl the liquid in the bottle to create a tornado-like funnel as the water moves from the upper to the lower bottle. It's best to use small plastic soda bottles (16 or 20 oz.) for younger children.

Try these variations:
1. Add food coloring to the water
2. Add a pinch of glitter to the water
3. Add a drop of liquid soap to the water
4. Use fine sand in place of the water to make an hour glass
5. Fill the bottles with tiny Styrofoam beads and water
6. Use the activity to introduce new vocabulary: water, bubbles, spin, twist, swirl, tornado (or if you're really ambitious... "vortex")
7. Identify the difference between air and water
8. Compare the differences between the various projects
9. Count how long it takes for the water to flow from bottle to bottle
10. Use the twisting, turning tornado to teach your child how to do Mike Nelson's famous "Tornado Dance".

How does it work?

The swirling action of the water in the bottles creates a vortex. In a real tornado, rising hot air collides with a cold air front to cause the air molecules to move in a circular motion.