How to explain to a 4-5 years old why things float and why sink?

Question

How to explain to a 4-5 years old why things float and why sink?

Answer 1

A child that age will not understand the concepts of density and displacement.

But they do understand heavy and light.

If its too heavy it sinks, if its light enough it floats

But then there are things that float when empty but then sink when filled with water.  Putting the water inside makes them too heavy to float, but when they are empty, they are light enough to float.

Answer 2

ahh, my neices asked me that. i told them ; well, the one that sinks is heavy, and the water says "oooh thats too heavy" and lets it drop. but the one that floats is light, so the water says "ha! i can hold that up" and keeps it up.

lol (:

Answer 3

Experiment with plasticine in the bathtub.  A ball of plasticine sinks but make a boat shape and it floats.  Depends on the shape and density of the object and what it's floating in too.

Answer 4

If an object is lighter than the weight of an equal volume of the substance it's in, it floats

If it's heavier, it sinks.