Hi Chloe,
I’m afraid my brain gets tangled when I try to figure out how water wicks up a cloth.
It it is good at absorbing, it will soak up all the water in just a bit of the material and the line will be really small. (microfibre cloth or sponge)
It is not as good as absorbing, the water will go further up the material, since each bit of material can’t hold as much, so it keeps wicking up. (tissue or cheap paper towel).
If it is really bad at absorbing, none of the water will be taken up the material (plastic bag)
So the children will have to carefully work out what they expect to see for different absorbancy materials.