Experimenting With Rain

According to famous Danish landscape architect Carl Theodor Sorensen, whose work was recently featured in Carnegie Museum’s exhibit on the evolution of playgrounds, "Children are happiest when playing with junk." Any parent who has witnessed the hours of play generated by an empty appliance box can attest to this.

Put junk to great use outside by making a vertical water wall to help kids explore the physics of water. Attach plastic containers, bottles and tubes to a wall or railing to create a course for water to flow through. (You can drill them in, use zip ties and chicken wire, or just string and nails.) Then start experimenting: Add food coloring and see what happens when colors are mixed together. Track the rainfall by measuring the amount of rain in each bottle. Explore how water levels change with the shape of each container. The possibilities are endless!