As an educator, I am well informed, as I am sure you as a parent are too, of the time spent in the public school classroom on testing and giving one on one attention. Sadly, especially in the primary grades, science is put on the back burner, as literacy and math take control of the majority of the day's time. However, asking questions (inquiry), curiosity, making messes, touching things, and experimenting are integral to the development of young children, so it is too bad that less time is sometimes devoted to this favorite subject during the school day.
Luckily, as mothers, we can support this instruction through awesome hands on discovery at home, with seasonal tie-ins. So on the next snow day, give these simple snow experiments a try and fill your time together with learning and fun! Our children will not even realize they are learning while we get to spend time with them, nurturing their natural sense of discovery. Double win!
1. How much water in snow?
Measure how much water is in snow.
- Fill a clear bowl or cup with snow and mark on the outside how tall it is with an S (for snow) using a dry erase marker. Then talk about melting and why snow melts, and record your child's guess for how much water there will be when the snow melts by marking a line and a G (for guess). Go outside and play, and when you come back see how close the guess was! You may be surprised and you just encouraged a valuable science skill: making predictions!
2. How clean is snow?
Observe how many particles or sediment there is in snow after it melts.
- Collect snow into a clear container and bring it inside to melt at room temperature. Once it melts, observe how clean the water is or how many particles or sediment there is in the water. You can also expand this experiment by gathering snow from different locations into individual containers and hypothesize whether there will be a difference in cleanliness of the water depending on the location where it was collected.
3. Colored Snow
How does color disperse through snow?
- Fill glasses with snow. Ask your children if they predict the color will stay where it is or if all the snow will change color. Let your children choose their choice of food coloring; add a few drops and watch the color spread through the snow. It really is a beautiful experiment!
4. Sun vs Shade
Will the snow melt at different rates?
- Fill two containers with equal amounts of snow. Place one container in a shady spot in the room and the other in a sunny spot. Ask the kids to predict whether the snow will melt at different rates. Check back after a while and see which is melting faster. Discuss the outcomes; have the kids stand in the shady spot then in the sunny spot and tell you if they feel the difference in temperature.
5. Bring it Inside
Are you tired of bundling those littles up time and time again to play outside? Bring the snow inside!
- Fill your sandbox or water table and let the kids go at it building snowmen, snow faces (Potato Head parts are good for this), and more, all while warm in their PJs! Let the kids get creative and use their imaginations while building and playing.
