Water Science for Kids - Evaporation

What happens to salt water when it evaporates? Simple water science for kids

It's been awhile since I'v shared one of our fun water science experiments for kids. We love water science and do little experiments and demonstrations regularly. This simple water evaporation demonstration is perfect for children of all ages to learn about the water cycle.

How to Set Up a Water Evaporation Demonstration

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Supplies:

container
water
salt
spoon

This demonstration can be done with or without salt. I chose to do it with salt this time for a fun twist. First, I had JZ (6) pour water into a bowl.

Next he added some salt. Only a little amount of salt is needed, but we used 1-2 tablespoons for a more dramatic effect.

JZ mixed the salt and water together with a spoon. While he was mixing I asked him what he thought would happen to the salt water. We have done this water evaporation demo several times without salt, so I knew he knew that the water would evaporate. When I asked him what he thought would happen to the salt water he said he thought it would all evaporate. We also used this time to talk about the water cycle and how it rains.

The next step is the hardest part of this demonstration. It requires a lot of patience. We put the bowl behind our kitchen sink and waited. It took almost a full week for the water in our bowl to evaporate. For a faster turn around, use less water.

When all the water had evaporated JZ was surprised to see that all the salt remained in the bowl. Another fun twist on this simple water evaporation demo would be to fill several bowls with water and leave them in different places: one inside, one in the shade, and one in the sun. Your child can record the water levels every day and see which bowl full of water evaporates the quickest.