Magnets and Water

The children have enjoyed our Magnetic/Non-Magnetic activity for some time and I knew they would be intrigued by a new way to explore magnetism.  I asked the children, "Do you think magnets will work in water?"  After some discussion, I showed them the following tray:

Tray with small bowl for magnetic shapes; tall vase with water, empty bowl; magnetic wand; next to this is a smaller tray with a towel.

To complete the activity, the child places one to three magnetic shapes into the vase.  Next, they use the wand to retrieve the shapes from the outside of the vase and transfer them to the other bowl.  Lastly, the items are dried and readied for the next person.

Here, the child is taking the magnetic shape out of the vase using the wand.

As you might imagine, this has lesson has been in perpetual use and has been the source of numerous follow-up questions.  The children are loving their experiments with these materials and I'm looking forward to watching them make more discoveries!