Classroom activity Kindergarten Science
The Barleyfield Handwash Jug Test: A Kindergarten Water Station
A kindergarten station activity where partners wash hands two ways at a fictional school, pour the water they used into two clear jugs, and compare which jug holds more.
Objectives
- Students will pour water for a partner two different ways while the partner washes.
- Students will compare the two jugs and tell which one holds more water.
- Students will name one sink where they can use the tap-off way of washing.
Vocabulary
Key words: pour, soap, rinse, jug, more, less
Teacher overview
Barleyfield School is a fictional school where the kindergarten class washes hands before every snack, and a small pitcher stands in for the tap so students can see exactly how much water each way of washing uses. Partners work at two dishpan stations. At the running station the pourer keeps pouring for the whole wash, and at the tap-off station the pourer stops while the washer soaps and starts again only for the rinse. Every drop each station uses is poured into its own clear jug, so by the end of the rotation the class has two water lines to compare side by side. No numbers are needed, because the jug holding more water is the record of the habit that used more water, and the difference is visible from across the room.
This activity needs a floor that tolerates water and about fifteen minutes of set-up. Fill the two small pitchers before students arrive, keep a bucket of water nearby for refills, and keep a stack of paper towels at each station.
Activity Directions
Set up the two stations (4 min). Put a dishpan, a small pitcher, and the soap on each of two tables. Label one table with a tape sign reading "tap running" and the other "tap off." Stand one empty clear jug behind each table and mark both jugs at the bottom with a tape line so students have a starting point to compare against.
Show the two ways (5 min). Gather the class and demonstrate both routines with one student volunteer. At the running station, pour a steady thin stream into the volunteer's hands for a slow class count to twenty while they soap and scrub. At the tap-off station, pour for a count of five to wet the hands, set the pitcher down while the class counts to twenty for the soaping, then pour again for a count of five to rinse. Ask the class to watch the dishpan, not the hands.
Rotate the partners through both stations (12 min). Send pairs to the stations, one pair at each. Partners take turns as pourer and washer, and both partners wash at that station before the pair moves on. Every pair visits both stations. After each pair finishes at a station, an adult or a classroom helper pours what collected in the dishpan into that station's jug, and the pair dries their hands and returns to the circle.
Compare the two jugs (5 min). When every pair has washed at both stations, carry both jugs to the rug and stand them side by side where the whole class can see. Ask students to point to the jug with more water in it and to trace the two water lines in the air with a finger. Pass out the handout and give students time to draw both lines and circle the fuller jug.
Name a sink and close (4 min). Go around the circle once and ask every student to name one sink where they could use the tap-off way, such as the classroom sink, the bathroom sink at school, or the kitchen sink at home. Write the sinks students name on chart paper as a class list. End by asking the class which jug they would rather fill tomorrow, and why.
Student Handout
- Draw the water line on the tap running jug.
- Draw the water line on the tap off jug.
- Circle the jug that holds more water.
- Draw the sink where you will use the tap off way.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students the pourer job first, since holding and stopping the pitcher makes the difference between the two routines physical rather than visual. Stand beside them and count the numbers out loud with them so the stop and start moments are cued clearly.
Extension
Ask these students to run a third station of their own design, deciding how the pourer should handle the pitcher and predicting where that jug's water line will land compared with the other two. Have them explain their prediction to the class before the rotation begins and check it at the end.
ELL supports
Pre-teach pour, stop, soap, and rinse by acting each one out with an empty pitcher before any water is used, and post a four-picture strip at each station showing the routine in order. Accept pointing at the fuller jug as a full answer during the comparison, and provide the sentence frame "I will use the tap off way at the ___ sink."
Extensions
Repeat the comparison a week later using the classroom's real tap, catching each wash in the dishpan, so students can check whether the routine they practiced has carried over to the actual sink. Send home a folded paper strip showing the four steps of the tap-off routine and ask families to try it at one sink for a week, then collect what students report back at morning meeting.