5 things to do in a blizzard - revisited

A while back, I posted about some fun things to do in blizzard. You can read them here. There are some fun ideas there but with temperatures hovering around 5' here, time outside with a little one is limited.

What is a simple and fun thing to do inside on a snow day?

Magnets - this is such a classic fun science topic. Magnets are one of the unseen forces of nature we can really explore with preschoolers. There are rule to learn like magnets have poles and you can only put opposite poles together. They have force meaning they can push or pull something without touching it. And we can learn these rules because they don't change.

You probably have more magnet toys than you realize. (These photos are from Amazon and Fatbraintoys.com)

• Thomas and other wooden trains are magnetic. So are some Bob the Builder toys from the same company.
  
• Magna doodles 
  
• Magna formers 
  
• Guidecraft - better builder sets - this is one of my favorites with kids
  
• Melissa and Doug - magnetic paper dolls - they have both girls and boys to dress
  
• Magnetic fishing games - wind up travel sized and battery operated larger versions
  
• Magnetic maze games
  
• Wooly Willy - this uses a magnet to move around contained iron filings
  

5 things to do in a blizzard

One of my favorite MF devotees, C., wants to do somethings in the snow falling here in New England. Because Hurricane Sandy wasn't quite exiting enough, now we have a crazy N'or Easter pummeling us! Rather than whine, let's do some fun science.

Sadly, there is no where near enough snow yet to make a decent snowball but here are a few ideas to bring a little science to this snowstorm.

1. Snowflakes.  Put some black construction paper in the freezer, or just leave it out to get cold. Once it is cold you can catch snowflakes on it and look at them with a magnifier.

2. Tracks. The squirrels and birds are leaving lots of little tracks in the snow. What sorts of stories are they telling?  Can you leave a snow story with just tracks?  How do your tracks change as you run or jump?

3. Ice Cubes. Put out two ice cubes in cups or containers. Put one where you think it will stay frozen and the other where you think it will melt. Let them sit for a period of time, an hour or so. Then check your predictions. Did your predictions (guesses) turn out correct?  What do animals do to keep warm in the winter?  They usually add layers of fat and fir to stay warm and they make some sort of den to retain heat. Can you do that for your ice cube?  Did it help it melt faster?

4. Measure it!  Put out a can or cup with straight sides and wait for it to fill with snow. Using a ruler or stick, mark how full the container is by putting one end of the ruler in the container until it touches the bottom and marking how high up the snow went. Now let the snow melt. How much water was really in the snow?

5. What is in snow? Scoop up some snow and put it in a container to melt. Pour it through a coffee filter and see what was in it. Now try again with the cleanest snow you can find. How clean was the snow really?  Snowflakes usually form around some little tiny piece of dirt so no matter how clean the snow looks, the center has a speck of dirt.

Experiments with Ice

Today we are going to do some experiments with ice at the Millbury Public Library at 1pm. We are going to be doing lots of predicting, observing and data collecting and having fun while we are at it. Just to get you warmed up (or should I say chilled out...) for the program, here are some other simple experiments to try at home.

Juice Pops – have kids mix frozen juice concentrate with warm water. Mix it until it is no longer frozen. Pour in to cups, add a popsicle stick, and pop into the freezer. Check on them every 15 minutes or so and describe what you see.

When it is completely frozen, peel off the paper cup and look at the ice crystals. What do they look like? How do they taste?

If you liked this, try freezing other edible things like grapes and bananas. Try some frozen and at room temperature.

Watercolor Snow - Grab your water color paints and go out to the snow. You can use melted snow for the water or wet the paint before going out. As you paint on the snow, the water will meld the colors and wick the paint away. After a few minutes, you will have a new canvas. You can also do with food colored water in a spray bottle or regular water bottle.

Ice Balloons - Fill balloons with water and freeze. Only fill them so the balloon is about six inches in diameter. Suspend with a close pin from a shelf in the freezer so the balloon will freeze round. Remove the latex and you have an ice ball. Put the round ice balls in a bath tub or wash tub and see how they move around. You can have races with ice balls.

Snow Flakes - Put a black piece of paper in the freezer. Next time it snows, take the black paper out and catch snow flakes. You can use a magnifying glass to observe them closely.

Fun winter books:

The Mitten by Jan Brett – discuss how different animals live in the winter, use ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.), and repeating patterns. Check out her website here for more mitten activities and pictures of the animals that you can use to make patterns or reenact the story.

Thanks to the Friends of the Millbury Public Library for their continued support of Messy Fingers!

Try This TODAY

We decided to see if we could replicate the video of the woman in Canada who threw a cup of hot water into the air and watched it turn to snow.

It worked!! While our temperatures were not the -45' temps seen in the video, it is certainly cold enough to see this sudden change in water - turning from liquid to solid nearly instantly.

Here is a nice article with a link to the original YouTube video.

Today is a one day serious cold snap in New England - so today is the day!

5 Fun Things to do in the Snow

Here in New England we just had a lot of snow and I know we are not alone - lots of other places in the country have plenty of the white stuff on the ground! While it is too cold to spend a ton of time outside, there are plenty of fun things to do. Here are some older posts with ideas:

1. Blow bubbles! The weather is cold enough now to try blowing bubbles in the cold. Blow the bubble and catch it on your wand. What might happen?

~I posted a challenge last January here.

~Check out my results here.

2. Grab some snow and melt it in a coffee filter. Take two snow samples, one clean and one dirty. Melt them in separate containers. How long do you think it will take? Once melted, pour the water through a white coffee filter. Was the "clean" snow really clean?

3. Paint the snow. Grab some water colors and a big brush. You can paint the snow. The snow will seem to absorb the painting. What is really going on?

4. Track. Check out the animal tracks in the snow. At my house, there are tons of tracks under my bird feeders. There are small birds, big birds, and two kinds of squirrels. The other tracks are my mom's from when she fills the feeders every day!

5. Have fun with Ice. Where does ice melt better? There are some really fun ideas here.