Hi everyone!
A bit of a fun snow themed post is coming your way today as the United Kingdom is experiencing some delightful snow courtesy of the ‘Beast from the East’.
I know for many of you, snow is a normal part of winter but here in the UK, we rarely have snow for longer than a week and we have had LOADS of snow this winter. Since a lot of schools have been closed and some work places temporarily shut, many of you with children will be no doubt getting bored of being stuck indoors. I get it, it’s boring, it’s monotonous, but don’t you worry, I have a bit of a solution.
Winter and colder temperatures are the perfect time to try out some really awesome science tricks and experiments. I’ve suggested a few of my favourite activities below, and I really would encourage you to give them a go. They’re super easy and fun to do, and will at least keep the kids entertained for an hour or two at least!!
Frozen Bubble Balls
For this trick use the bottle and wand kits that you can get to make bubbles or create your own with fairy washing up liquid and water. Warm the solution up a bit in a bowl of hot water first and then take the kit outside. Blow some bubbles and try to catch them on the end of your wand, if it’s cold enough, the bubble will freeze into a ball.
Grow Your Own Ice
So this one requires a tiny bit of prep. Take some bottles of water and put them in the freezer for around 2 to 3 hours. Your water should NOT be frozen, just very very cold. Try not to shake your water around too much as this will cause it to turn into ice before you need it to. Take a large bucket outside and put some ice in. Take your water bottle and pour it over the top, the ice should begin to grow. If you want to make it nice and visual, you can eaten use some food colouring in the water. Maybe use some blue so your kids can feel like Elsa…
Snow Volcano
Add 2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, 1 tablespoon of washing up liquid and a few drops of food colouring into a water bottle. Build a mound in the shape of a volcano around your bottle, make it as tall as you want, just make sure that the top of the bottle is exposed. When you are ready, add around 25-35 ml of vinegar to the bottle and watch it erupt! If you want a bigger explosion, add some more washing up liquid and vinegar. This looks really cool and is sure to create some gasps and cries of wonder!
Fishing for Ice
Fill a large bucket with water and empty in some ice cubes, take it out into the garden and give the kids a long piece of string. Let them dip the string into the water to see if they can ‘catch’ the ice. After a few minutes, add some salt to the water. The salt will lower the freezing point of the ice so that it starts to melt, but better yet, it will cause the ice cubes to stick to the string, so when the kids pull out the string, there will be ice attached. Whoever has the most ice cubes attached at the end of a few minutes wins!
I hope you all give some if not all of these experiments a go, they’re a really great way to keep kids entertained in the colder weather and are something just a bit different to do.
I hope you all have a fabulous snow day and if all else fails, just make a snowman… I know I will!
Until next time,
M x
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Can I try these with our parent support group? They do have sensory issues – would they be okay?
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Hi – of course, all of the experiments are safe and some of the activities such as blowing the bubbles would even help with their oral motor skills I imagine. Hope they have have some fun with them!
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