We all know that hands-on learning is one of the best ways to help young children understand big science concepts, and reversible and irreversible changes are no exception.
With something as familiar and fun as Play-Doh, kids can explore how materials change through rolling, cutting, building, and mixing while clearly seeing which changes can be undone and which cannot. Here are 4 easy ways to demonstrate reversible and irreversible changes using Play-Doh!
How to Use Play-Doh To Demonstrate Reversible and Irreversible Changes
My Properties of Matter science unit is always a fun one, as it leads to so many hands-on learning opportunities!
The first few units help students to describe matter and understand the 3 types of matter (solids, liquids, and gases). After your students have a solid grasp on the three states of matter, you can dive into how matter changes.
Below, you’ll find four fun ideas to demonstrate reversible and irreversible changes with Play-Doh.
1. Changing Matter
To demonstrate changing matter, have each student roll their Play-Doh into a ball. Then tell them to create a snake. After observing and discussing how the Play-Doh changed, have each student cut the snake into pieces to see even more changes.
2. Reversible Changes
After each student has their snake cut into pieces, ask if they can ever get it back into a ball again? They will likely laugh and say, “Of course!” After they show you that it is possible, you can introduce the word “reversible” and brainstorm other changes that demonstrate this concept.
- Examples of reversible changes: Ice cubes melting and refreezing in a tray, stretching a rubber band, a sponge absorbing water (and squeezing it back out), and folding a piece of paper.
3. Smaller Parts Make Up Larger Objects
After demonstrating reversible changes, give each student some other colors of Play-Doh. Have them create an animal of their choice using all the colors they have (without simply mixing them all). Display a sample picture (like above) if need be.
NOTE! It’s important that they are not mixing the colors YET, as this step is to demonstrate that smaller pieces can make up larger objects.
After they have created their animal of choice, talk about all the different pieces they used to create one final product, and then brainstorm other examples of this around them.
- Examples: Parts of a pencil, a house made out of Legos, and playground pieces.
4. Irreversible changes
And finally, have students mix their Play-Doh animals altogether (every child’s dream, right?)
After they do so, I will tell them that now I need them to sort all the colors back apart. (If you have a class that likes to joke, you can offer a piece of imaginary candy to whoever gets all the colors separated.)
They will quickly realize that this is impossible, which is when you can introduce the word “irreversible”. After a few laughs, have everyone brainstorm more irreversible changes around them.
- Examples of irreversible changes of matter: paper burning, an egg cooking, paper shredding, a pencil snapped in half
Properties of Matter Full Unit
If you are looking for a one-stop shop unit to teach your students about the properties of matter, be sure to check out my complete 2nd-grade unit!
Inside you’ll find 8 ready-to-teach lessons AND 8 investigations for a super fun hands-on unit. In addition to the daily lesson plans, you’ll also find a teaching slides, science experiments, quizzes, vocabulary posters, student workbook, and an end-of-unit assessment.
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Check it out here (digital and print bundle!)
I hope you found these four ideas helpful in teaching reversible and irreversible changes with your students. Be sure to check out all of these properties of matter science experiments that your students will love!
Boost your students reading skills during science class! See how to incorporate science in your small group lessons, and whole group comprehension activities by using properties of matter reading comprehension passages and read aloud books about matter and it’s properties!
Be sure to save this post so you have it when you plan!
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