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Shaping Materials with Heat
Objectives
- To understand and investigate the effect of heat on a range of materials.
- To compare hard and soft materials.
Resources
Bowl | Salt | Flour | Water | Oven
Today's Lesson
Main Activity
With your child, make a batch of modelling dough (salt dough) as follows:
Ingredients:
1 cup salt
2 cups of flour
¾ cup of water
Method:
- In a large bowl mix the salt and flour together.
- Gradually stir in the water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
- Turn the dough onto a bench or table and knead with your hands until smooth and combined.
Encourage your child to play with small lumps of dough and to look at the different ways in which the shape of the play dough can be changed. Bend the dough, twist it to make different shapes. Make as many different shapes as you can. Does the material retain its shape when just left on a surface, or does it flatten out with the force of gravity? Divide a piece of paper into two. Write as many words as you can to describe the dough (e.g. soft, smooth, sticky, unbaked, elastic, firm, raw). Use a thesaurus or internet if required.
Place the salt dough models into the oven at 180°C. The amount of time needed to bake depends on the size and thickness of the salt dough creations. Check regularly. Baked creations will sound hollow when tapped. Once the models have cooled, feel the dough. How has it changed? Note down the words to describe the dough now (e.g. hard, baked, cooked, shiny, rigid, stiff, inflexible etc.).