ingridscience

Ask the students to sled down the mini hill on their plastic sleds to make the run smooth. Describe and practice walking up the side of the hill to get back to the top without walking up the area they are sledding on.

Distribute squares of other sledding materials. Ask the students if they think they will sled down on each material faster or slower than on their plastic sled.
Students sled down the hill multiple times, to get an accurate impression of whether the provided material is faster or slower than the sled. They many want or need to do the run on their sled again to compare.
Students exchange sledding materials until they have all tried all kinds.
Students can record results on the suggested worksheet, though we reviewed from our memories to avoid the complexities of writing in the snow.

Sit as a group in the snow, and material by material hear the results the students found, then look at the material and discuss why it is faster/slower than their sled.
Common results (though if your cloth type is different, your results may be different - then discuss according to your results):
The rough felt-like cloth should barely move at all. It has a very bumpy surface which gets caught up in the snow, generating a lot of friction (the surfaces get stuck in each other and stop them from moving past each other so easily).
The smooth fake-leather cloth will move a little, but not as fast as the sled. It has more ridges on it than the sled, which get stuck on the snow, generating some friction which slows it down.
Snow pants vary a lot as they are not so rigid. In interpreting results, you might want to discuss the folds in the pants, the smooth material that they are made of, the bumps of the seams in the cloth - in general more bumpy (little or large bumps in the cloth) slow things down i.e. make more friction.
Some magic carpet sleds have a rough and a smooth side. Students should be able to predict which side will go faster, then can test this out when they return to the main hill.

Students add a spoon of soil to a tube, then fill the tube 3/4 of the way up with water. Shake, then let it settle.
A few seconds of settling gives some instant generalized results, and settling over a longer time gives more detailed results.

Organic matter/dead living things float.
Tiny clay particles ('mineral' component) are suspended in the water column.
Heavier sand and gravel particles ('mineral' components) sink to the bottom of the tube or jar.

Discuss the relative amounts of different components in the different soil types.
For the soil types we tested:
forest soil is almost all organic
beach soil is a mix of organic and mineral components although by volume the mineral component is larger
garden soil is a mix of organic and mineral components, with a lot of tiny mineral particles suspended in the water.

If this activity is done in a larger mason or jam jar, and left to settle over days, the mineral layers of clay, sand and gravel separate out more clearly, and their relative heights can be measured for an accurate breakdown of the mineral (rock) components of the soil.
See the image at https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cdecce138275f0001d2fd9b/…
and "Soil texture jar test' at https://bcfarmsandfood.com/three-simple-ways-test-soil/

Students work in groups, ideally 4 students or less, each group with a set of sieves, and one or more soil samples.

If using one sieve, the students can separate the large and small components:
Scoop a small amount of soil into the sieve. Shake the sieve over a clean tray so that the small components fall into the tray and the large components remain in the sieve. The separated components make it easier to study what the soil is made up of.

If using a series of different mesh sizes the students can do several separations of components:
Dump the soil onto the large mesh sieve laid over a tray. Shake the sieve and tray simultaneously until soil stops falling through the sieve. Transfer the large soil components trapped by the sieve onto a sheet of white paper. Dump the contents of the tray onto the next smallest sieve size (sitting on a tray), repeat the shaking, transfer the trapped components to a new white sheet of paper. Repeat for the smallest sieve size. Transfer the soil remaining in the tray after the third and final sieve to its own sheet of paper.

Clean the sieves then repeat the soil component separation for the other soil types.
For each of the soil types, lay the separated components side by side to show the change in the soil components between soil types and from large to small.

Play-Debrief-Replay format:
This activity was run in a free-experimentation lesson using two soil types and one sieve size. Students were allowed to explore as they liked (though were requested to keep the soil types separate and in the trays). They took notes on what they found. We gathered as a class and heard what the students had found. Then students chose a particular aspect of the activity that they wanted to pursue further, then returned to the materials to investigate this further, partnered with students that had a similar interest.

Thank you Exploratorium for this activity: https://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/sites/default/files/Instructions/sc… and https://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/scribbling-machines

For drawing jiggly lines: (photos 1-4)
Tape some pieces of popsicle stick together, or cut a piece of glue stick. Popsicle sticks need to be taped firmly after pushing the motor shaft through them. For the glue stick, use a skewer to make a hole in it, then push it onto the shaft. Other weights can be used too, but make sure they are attached firmly. The lop-sided added weight will "offset" the motor and make it shake.
Tape the offset motor on a top edge of the plastic tub, so that when it spins the added weight does not hit the tub.
Tape the battery to the top of the tub, and attach the motor wires so that one of them is easily removable with a flap of tape (see close up photo).
Tape three marker pens as legs to the tub.
Start the motor and place the scribbling machine on the paper.

For drawing smooth circles: (photos 5-7)
Tape the motor to the plastic tub so that its shaft is pointing down, making one leg.
Tape two marker pens around the tub to make two other legs.
Tape the battery to the top of the tub, then connect it to the motor with masking tape.
Start the motor and place the circle-drawing machine on the paper. The marker pens may need to be moved around a bit until it is stable.

Students find the flowers in the images, count the number of petals on several of the flowers (e.g. 5), and record the numbers.
Students can add their numbers to a class chart, to see how there is a common number of petals for each type of flower, but there is also some variability.