Winter Science

We have had so many really cold days (-22 feels like -56 for example) that we haven't been able to be out playing in the snow that much. While we have had a few "nice days" (the sun is out and its above 0 degrees) most days have been gloomy and cold. While this is no fun to deal with there are a lot of cool things you can make, experiments you can do, and it provides more time for snuggling up to a good book.  Today I am going to share with you a few things we did with the kids. I don't have photos for all of them but the ones I do have will be shared here.

First up we have "How long will it take to melt?". We took a mug and scooped up some snow from the yard and placed it in front of a space heater. Both kids predicted how long they thought it would take(earlier that day I did a lessons on what it means to predict something). It took longer then all of us thought it would. 

Some of us got bored and moved on to an unplanned geography lesson with daddy.....

Took a look again to find it still wasn't done...

So we all joined in the geography lesson. Daddy makes this so fun! He is a great teacher. 

Finally it is done! I don't remember the exact amount of time it took but it was over 40 minutes. 

Next we did what everyone does in this extreme cold (or should do). We boiled some water in a kettle and then poured it into a few mugs and made snow by throwing the boiling water into the air and watching it come down as snow! It was so cool! The kids thought this was just the best thing ever. And since daddy was with us it got turned into a science lesson as he explained why and how this happens. I tried to get a recording of us doing this but we did it when it was dark out so with the lighting it just didn't work. But you can look on youtube and find many people who have done this. 

And last we have... water balloons! Yes we filled water balloons in the house and carried them outside. This took a lot of trust and self control for this momma who panics at the thought of doing yet another thing that will make a mess (especially a wet mess!).  We filled them up and placed them gently on our porch to see how long it would take to freeze! Since it was so cold out, almost as soon as they froze they popped and just had the shape. You can do this as simply as we did here or you can add food coloring to the water and when they freeze make a colorful path in the snow. As much as that looks great the truth is that you will have stained hands and that is just one more thing I wasn't going to do. Its not necessary. This is just as fun without it. 

(Roxas is the smart one in this photo who insisted on having snow pants on before we opened the door to put them outside. It was -20 at that point.)

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”