Using Old Bottle Caps: Preschool Summer Science

Bottle caps of all shapes, sizes, textures, and materials are something we typically find a lot of in our house. They can make great craft supplies and toys before getting recycled, so we are always looking for ways to use our stash. (We do have a collection of bottle caps that is a variety that we always keep too!).

In the past we have used bottle caps for an entire tot school unit on lids and fasteners, but this time we decided to make it a summer science experiment. It has been over 90 degrees Fahrenheit the past few days, so today we got out and enjoyed it with some water play.

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Before we went outside, we collected all types of bottle caps. We got all the plastic ones like milk jug lids, pouch caps, and others. We then collected the heavier, metal ones like from soda and beer bottles, spaghetti jars, etc.. We put them all into one big container to then dump in our tub. We also collected gadgets from the kitchen to play with and aid in our experiment and fishing game (Included were an Egg white separator and a Spider Strainer)

We dumped in our lids and bottle caps and watched to see which ones sank and which ones floated. Then, she used her egg white separator to skim the lids off the top and the spider strainer to retrieve the ones off the bottom. All of this fun lasted for almost an entire hour. She also built things out of the lids and just enjoyed her time in the sun. For me, this was a fabulous time of watching and encouraging without having to be super involved, and right now that’s a great thing!

Kara Carrero

Kara is an author and advocate for positive, grace-filled parenting. She is homeschooler to her 5 children living on a farm in New England. She believes in creative educational approaches to help kids dive deeper into a rich learning experience and has her degree in Secondary Education & Adolescent Childhood Development. She is passionate about connecting with and helping other parents on their journey to raise awesome kids!