
(For lessons and resources on reading and using graduated cylinders, please see my related blog entry)
Materials:
- 2 graduated cylinders per group of 4 students
- 1 container of water per group
- 1 plastic tray per group
- 1 plastic spoon per group
- this is used to stop item from falling into the container and to fish out items if needed
- paper towels or cloth towels
- green or blue food coloring – a few drops per 500 mL
- adding food coloring helps the students to make accurate readings since it easier to see the water, plus it is fun to work with 🙂
- I don’t like to use red or yellow, they tend to stain more than the blue and green food coloring
- an assortment of small objects such as pennies, rubber stoppers, marbles, pebbles, etc…
- Water Displacement – Volume Lab Handout (pdf)




Additional Resources:
- Measuring Liquid Volume Practice Sheet (pdf)
- Common Core – Graduated Cylinder Worksheets (link)
- Volume by Water Displacement Worksheets (pdf)
- Finding volume using an overflow can (pdf)
For more lessons related to Properties of Matter click here (link)