Use science to find toy in box of cereal

It's something my 4- and 5-year-old boys do each time we come home from the grocery store. They grab the box of cereal, rip it open and pour out the cereal to discover the hidden toy inside. The good news, you can use science to move the toy from the bottom of the box to the top.

Materials

• Box of cereal with toy

Instructions

STEP 1: Holding the cereal box upright, shake it up and down several times.

STEP 2: Open the box of cereal and discover the toy at the top of the box.

Explanation

The pieces of cereal experience more friction due to their weight and size. This causes the pieces of cereal to move under the toy until the toy pushes to the top.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website "Hooked On Science" at hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindsey@hookedonscience.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.