Today’s science investigation is a fun one! We’re going to waterproof a boot. Not a real one as hopefully your boots are already quite waterproof, but a paper one! The idea is you print off the sheet, colour it in, cover with different materials and then spray with water to find out which materials are the most waterproof!
Which materials are the most waterproof?
What you’ll need
Felt tip pens
Different materials to test – kitchen foil, paper, cloth, felt, wax crayon etc
Masking tape
Scissors
Boot Printable – or draw your own pictures
Water sprayer or you can just drop the water over the top
INSTRUCTIONS
Colour in the boot with felt tips pens. Make it as crazy or as simple as you like.
Next, ask an adult to help you cut out small squares of the different materials.
Spend some time feeling and looking at the different materials. Which do you think will be the most waterproof? It might help to think about what each is used for?
Carefully tape the squares over the boot until the whole thing is covered. The tape needs to peel off easily.
Spray the boot evenly with water.
Look at the surface of each material, do they look different? If the material is waterproof the water will be visible in beads on the surface.
Carefully peel off the squares of different materials to check if the colours are wet.
Which material is the most waterproof? Was it the one you expected?
Extension tasks
Use your findings to design and create a sandwich bag that will keep a sandwich dry on a wet day.
If you enjoyed this, I also have a dinosaur waterproofing experiment!
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Don’t forget to check out our FREE science experiment instruction sheets too!
Last Updated on April 28, 2022 by Emma Vanstone
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