Unidentified Objects

Objective:
Child will understand that materials have a variety of properties and that these can be used separately or together to identify them.

Essential Question(s):
What are some attributes of bricks?
How can we think about attributes of other materials by understanding these bricks?

Special Materials:
Something to sort bricks into

Bricks Required:
All

Project Structure

Engage/Explain:

1. Ask child about some properties of items in the house.
   1. Encourage child to describe features of household objects. Perhaps there are squishy couch cushions, bookshelves, shiny counters, etc.
2. Explain that all matter and materials have various properties that scientists use to classify them, such as hardness, thermal conductivity, solubility.

Explore:

1. Ask child about the various properties of SOHO bricks.
   1. Child may point out color, size, type (brick, plate, tile).
   2. Ask about the functionality of these properties: Color is for design, type is for purpose, etc.
2. Ask child how they would rank these classifications in order of significance. For example, is it more important to sort by type or by color?
3. Make a list on the board with child’s input about the agreed-upon categories for sorting (for example, by size and type but not by color–so all the 2×2 bricks would go together).
4. Ask child to sort the bricks.

Elaborate:

1. After sorting the bricks, connect the brick properties more closely to materials: powders, metals, etc.