5 Fun Science Activities For Snowy Days
Winter brings a whole new season of exploration! When it snows and you find yourself and your family stuck inside, here are some great ideas to keep the kids busy for an hour or all day long!
Make A Snowman Measuring Stick!
Want to measure snowman in real-time? Create this cute snowman measuring stick to leave outside and watch him get covered! Find paper towel rolls, paint sticks, or anything else you can find for the body! Decorate your snowman and do not forget to add the measurements! Go outside and pick a place to leave your snowman. Check the snowman's measurements every half hour to calculate the rate of snowfall!
Snow in a Jar
Grab a jar or two from around your house and get your kids to pack them all the way to the top with snow. Make sure to pack the snow down tightly and leave no space! Mark where the snow is filled to then set it down and time how long it takes to melt. If you have ice cubes you can fill a jar with them and compare how much water is in the different jars at the end! In the end, there should be more water in the jar with the ice cubes than the snow. How does this happen when the ice cubes leave more space? It has to do with the water molecules themselves! When water solidifies into ice its water molecules pack tightly together. Snow, however, is frozen precipitation! When the water vapor/precipitation freezes into snowflakes they leave a lot of air around their structure so no matter how tightly you pack down your snow there will always be space in between the snowflakes!
What melts snow the best?
For this experiment, we’re going to see what melts ice or snow the best! Gather varied materials around your house to experiment with. Grab salt, sugar, food coloring, and whatever else your kids want to try! First, have them make predictions about what is going to melt the ice or snow the best. One at a time experiment with the different substances! Explain that ice and snow freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Salt melts the snow and ice best by changing its freezing temperature. Salt lowers the freezing temperature of the water so that the water can no longer stay frozen. You can tie this into why people put ice on the roads and sidewalks when it snows.
Pinecone Experiment
Why do pinecones open? In this experiment, we are going to figure out the science of why pinecones open. Go outside and find some pinecones! Once you have them inside, observe them. What color and shape are they? Draw or take a picture of what they first look like to compare for results! You need 3 different pinecones and three jars. You are going to place one pinecone in each jar and then to the first you will leave just the pinecone in, the second pour in cold water, and the third add hot water. Observe what happens with each pinecone, draw, and take videos of each! You should find that when the pinecones are damp or in the water they close! This is because Pinecones are hygroscopic which means they absorb water from their environment, like when it rains or snows, and that moisture pushes the scales up to close.
Hot Chocolate
DIscovery
Once you're done playing outside for the day come inside and warm up with this hot chocolate experiment! Explore with your family the perfect temperature to dissolve your hot chocolate mix! You can make this as complicated or simple as you want! For a more complicated process add in what the hot chocolate dissolves better in, water or milk? For the simple experiment, just test at what temperature does Hot chocolate powder dissolves most efficiently. Have your kids make a prediction to see what temperature they think. Also, pick their brains with what would make the dissolving process easier, is it better if you stir it or shake it? If you try the experiment with milk and water: water will always heat up faster than milk because its boiling point is lower. Add some marshmallows to the mix and see how quickly they dissolve as well!
