During our recent winter weather our house developed large icicles which intrigued Bria. She asked if she could have one. I figured why not? So in came the icicles along with another container of snow.
The first thing they all wanted to do was eat the icicles. That brought up the question as to if the ice was dirty, so I set up a quick experiment, I placed some icicles in a coffee filter and used a rubber band to secure it to a cup. Then we just had to wait while they melted.
Once they finally melted we could clearly see dirt left behind in the coffee filter. Obviously icicles are NOT clean.
While we waited for the icicles to melt we also painted with them. The girls were amazed that they could draw on the paper with icicles even though the pictures disappeared when they dried.
Then they headed over to the snow.
I asked them what the snow was made of, and they knew it was water but they were a little hesitant about believing it after seeing the icicles which were clearly made of water. So it was time for another experiment. I asked them if they thought snow would make water beads grow. So we watched, and it did. They grew even before all the snow melted although by the time they were full size the snow was also gone.
After exploring snow for a little bit, I mixed some water and food coloring and got out some paintbrushes. I let the girls use the paintbrushes to paint the snow.
I asked them what the snow was made of, and they knew it was water but they were a little hesitant about believing it after seeing the icicles which were clearly made of water. So it was time for another experiment. I asked them if they thought snow would make water beads grow. So we watched, and it did. They grew even before all the snow melted although by the time they were full size the snow was also gone.
After exploring snow for a little bit, I mixed some water and food coloring and got out some paintbrushes. I let the girls use the paintbrushes to paint the snow.
The had a good time with this until Bria decided to stick an entire snowball into the water. I actually thought it would melt more then it did! Bria had made a colored snowball!
This quickly became the new favorite activity, and soon we had several balls of all the colors. Bria even started squishing the colored balls together to mix new colors.
Nadia tried dipping the icicles in to change them color, but it didn't work of course.
Nadia tried dipping the icicles in to change them color, but it didn't work of course.
So they just continued playing with the snow until it was all colored! I for one would love to only play with snow inside, but I think they would miss sledding and snowman building! It was fun while it lasted though!
