Material Girls

Lately the girls are always asking me what things are made of.  This probably started because in order to expedite the ever-lengthening process of getting the kids in the car, I have made the rule with my two-year old that Mommy does the metal parts of the 5-point harness buckle and Abby can do the plastic parts.  This is primarily because once the metal parts are done, she can’t get out of the carseat, but it helps that the plastic part is easier, and hence faster, for her to do.

Today I thought we’d spend a little bit of time being material girls, of the non-scantily clad variety.  In our case I was going to take the time to sit down and answer all of the “What is this made of?” questions.

I started after naps (well, after creating an all white fruit salad snack by Briana’s request – mango, bananas, & apples with just a little red from their skins) by asking the kids what materials they thought things could be made of.  They came up with paper, metal, plastic, and cloth.  I made a grid, but Briana wanted to write hers out herself so she made her own.

The kids went and found things that fit into each category and put them in the appropriate box.  That was actually easier for them than I thought and took all of a minute, so I quickly decided to ramp up our lesson.

(Here’s Bree taping a spoon, paper, and a plastic bracelet to her quadrants, before retrieving a scarf and then refusing to tape it down to cloth because she needs it to play pirates later.)

I grabbed another sheet of white paper and wrote the four types of materials down the left side, leaving room to add additional materials as we thought more about it.  I told the kids that we were going to chart out how we knew what the properties of the materials are.  I described “properties” as “how you know what material you have by looking at what it looks like and seeing what it can do”.  Then I asked the kids what was one property of a material on our list.  Briana said “you can sew it” because she has learned this week how to sew on a button and is very proud of that accomplishment.  So I used “can be sewn through” as our example and asked the kids if you can sew through paper (yes), metal (no), plastic (no), and cloth (yes). 

Then I asked for another property and Abby said “You bite it!”  I wrote bite through and made the first column on our sheet.  Here’s the final sheet just so it makes sense as I describe it:

We stickered a heart on paper because it was the only material that the kids thought they could bite through.  Then we tested our hypothesis.

I added “see yourself in it”, and the girls correctly guessed that metal was the only material with that property.

While Abby tested, Briana checked and rechecked the chart.

We added, “You can crinkle it up.” and discovered that plastic things were harder to crinkle than previously thought.  Then we added, “It can hold liquids”.  There was much debate about whether paper could hold liquids.  I reminded the kids that there were paper cups and bowls and plates and so she conceded that we (Briana only!) can sticker paper, but only if I added “only thick paper" to the box, so I did.   Then we added “It can hold solids, like a pencil” to the chart.  Bree shouted “Bingo!” because it was the first, and only, property shared by all materials. 

Abby wanted to add “Can be made into a car.” So we did.  I contested that paper can’t be made into a car, and Briana crumbled and squished and folded paper into something resembling a car so I opened my thinking from a car we could drive in to a car something could sit in.  Cloth, on the other hand, wouldn’t hold it’s shape long enough, so no Bingo this time.  

I told the kids that we could do one more property.  I wanted to do something more scientific, but Briana noticed and lamented that cloth was losing because it can’t do anything.  I was happy that she understood how to read the chart, so we added “You can wear it” as the final property of a material.  We decided that paper dolls didn’t count and you can’t wear paper.  I think Briana didn’t want all of the other materials to get one that cloth got.  Metal (earrings) and plastic (bracelets) also got a yes/sticker. 

Finally we added one more material (rubber) and took it through all of our properties.  As it turns out, you can crinkle rubber, hold solids in it, and wear it.

So now when the kids cry, “Mommy!  What is this made of?”  I can say “What do you think and why?”  We are living in a material world after all.

<3 Pedigreed Housewife