Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the activity and exploration you just completed.

• Lesson Assessment and Answer Key
• Activity Extension: What happens if you add more salt to your Tiny Ocean?
• Readings: Learn about some of the saltiest places on the planet with readings!
  
• Videos: Explore Mystery Science Mini-lessons related to salt!
• Online interactive resource: This simulation demonstrates what happens when something dissolves in water and when water evaporates.
• Credits

Ask your students: What do you think will happen if we keep adding salt to the Tiny Ocean? Then try the experiment:

• Following the same steps you used to make your Tiny Ocean, add and mix in more salt, one teaspoon at a time.
  
• At some point, the salt will no longer dissolve in the water. A chemist would say that you now have a saturated solution.
• Predict what will happen if you let the saturated solution dry out on your Paper Bag Landscape.

Try the experiment and see if you were right!

The following readings are free with registration at Readworks.

• How did the Great Salt Lake in Utah become salty? (Grade 3)

• The Uyuni Salt Flat of Bolivia is the largest salt flat on Earth. (Grade 5)

The following readings are free from Wonderopolis.

• The Dead Sea is one of the Earth’s saltiest seas. (Grade 5-6)

• Ocean water is very salty, but why? Where does all that salt come from?(Grade 6)

Check out these Mystery Science Mini-lessons. Each has a 5-minute video with a bonus of 5 amazing visuals guaranteed to spark curiosity and discussion about salt.

• Why is the ocean salty? with Bonus Top 5 Amazing Things about Salt

• Where does salt come from? with Bonus Top 5 Amazing Artworks Made of Salt

This app from Smithsonian in The Classroom uses a model to explain what happens when sugar dissolves in water and when water evaporates.

• Open the app. You’ll start with an empty hummingbird feeder. To the right of the feeder, notice the circles that show particles of air and water. The air contains just a few particles of water.
• Use the button to add water to the hummingbird feeder and watch what happens in the circles.
• Add sugar, and you’ll see sugar particles in the water. Evaporate the water. Do you notice any changes in the air?