J is for Jumping Experiment

J is the next letter in our A to Z Science series for toddlers and preschoolers here at Inspiration Laboratories. J is for Jumping Experiment.

Jumping Experiment

In E is for Experiment, we talked about how experiments are all about testing ideas. For our jumping experiment we are testing how far each of us can jump and comparing different types of jumps. This is an easy experiment to set up. Here’s what you’ll need:

Materials:

• tape measure
• paper and pencil {or something on which to record your data}
• jumpers
• space to jump

This is a great outside activity, but you can also clear enough space inside. Roll out your tape measure. We used a really long tape measure and placed it across our entire back yard. {Aiden thought that was really fun.}

Have your jumpers start in a marked location. {You can start at zero or you can just record your starting point and count from there. Aiden didn’t want to start at zero. He wanted to start in the middle. It’s absolutely okay to let your child choose where to start.}

JUMP. Then, record the length of the jump.

Have your jumpers practice jumping. For younger toddlers, you might need to show them how to jump. For any age kid, you’ll need to talk about what kind of jump you’ll be measuring. {In science, we like to keep things constant. All jumpers need to jump the same way.}

When we told Aiden to jump, he just jumped up into the air. I had to explain that we were going to measure how far he could jump across the yard. I showed him what I meant.

First, we measured how may jumps it took Aiden to jump 10 feet. He started at the 10 feet mark and jumped towards zero. It took Aiden 8 jumps to go 10 feet.

Then, we talked about 3 different kind of jumps – a standing jump, a running jump, and a frog jump. I demonstrated each of these for him. We recorded how far I jumped each time.

I had Aiden make some predictions about our jumps. Do you think we will jump farther with a frog jump or a standing jump? He hypothesized that I could frog jump farther than my standing jump. This was shown to be untrue. My standing jump was indeed longer than my frog jump.

We also compared people – my husband, Aiden, and me. Each time, my husband jumped the farthest. Aiden thought this would be the case.

We had tons of fun jumping around our backyard and doing a little science in the process. I hope you’ll set up your own jumping experiment.

Share Your Experiments

Head over to the Science for Kids Community on Google+ and share pictures of your jumping experiment. Or stop by the Inspiration Laboratories Facebook page and share with us there.

More Experiments to Try

• Check out this list of toddler and preschool science experiments.
• Try this jumping game from hands on as we grow. Turn it into an experiment by recording data or making some predictions.
• Our gravity experiment is great fun for little ones.

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