While I prefer to stay inside by a cozy fireplace during the freezing cold days of winter, our students prefer to be outside digging up chunks of ice. So after zipping up coats, struggling to put fingers in the right holes of their gloves, and putting on boots, the children are ready to go outside and hunt for ice.
On this day, the ice was kind of slim pickins’ because it had warmed up a bit and much of it was melting. But the children managed to find a table that had chunks of ice just right for exploration.
Before heading back inside, the children gathered up as many chunks of ice they could carry with them.
The children set their ice on trays and went to work melting the ice with their own mixtures of salt and water.
Some of the ice had small pieces of leaves or sticks frozen in the middle which created additional interest and conversation as the children studied their ice.
The children poured salt on the ice, dipped their ice in cups of water, and chipped away at the ice to see what would happen.
How the children chose to examine and explore their own ice was entirely up to them. The children had a lot of questions and observations in the process – “Does water melt the ice?” “Mine melted faster because it’s the smallest.” “This ice floats in the water!”
For our young scientists, the exploration of ice was an engaging and fascinating process!
Available on Amazon
