Hellooooo Psyched to be in 2nd readers! This is Angi from First-Graders from Outer Space. I was very excited when Molly asked me to be a guest blogger and share some science experiments with all of you! Our first day back to school was on July 31st, so we have already done our first experiment. The kids loved it and I hope you do too!
Before I start, I have to admit that I completely stole this activity from the Exploratorium After School Activities webpage. I fell in love with the activity and modified it for our short, 25-minute, daily science block. You might want to go check it out on the Exploratorium site first, so you get an idea of what I’m writing about. (Psst...there’s videos there, so you can watch the whole process!) After reading here, go back and check out more activities on their website!
I’m very jealous of his balloons...ours never turned out that clear. :( Anyway, now that you’ve learned about the ice balloons, I’ll tell you what I did to modify the activity.
The activity has been split into three days. Each day I’ve split the class into six groups (because that’s how many flashlights we had on hand). The goal is to get the students to start asking questions, stating observations, and making predictions. I actually take paper with me during this activity so I can write down the great things I hear them say as they work. This allows me to tell a lot about my kiddos right at the start of the year. I can see who works well in groups, who is shy, who the natural leaders are, those who make good observations and who is comfortable taking risks.
Prior to doing the experiment, be sure to freeze your water balloons in the same fashion as in the Exploratorium video. I would say to give yourself more than two days of freeze time. We tried this last year, and one of the balloons that was in over the weekend fell and cracked open. One of the kiddos got splashed with ice cold water. He thought it was hilarious, but others might not! ;)
I stretched each activity to fill a 25-minute block of time. This was done by asking a lot of questions and stopping for good observations that were made. If you point out the great observations, chances are they will start dig deeper when they think about what is happening to their ice.
Day One
You will need:
a large tub for each group
frozen water balloons for each group
a flashlight for each group
toothpicks for each person
paperclips for each person
magnifying glasses
blank paper
pencils
- First, give each group a tub with a flashlight. Have them turn on the flashlight and point it up to the ceiling. Place an ice balloon on each flashlight.
- Students will take turns using the magnifying glasses to look closer at each ice balloon. After getting a close look, ask them to draw what they’ve seen. You may want to point out spikes, bubbles, frosty areas, or cracks they could draw. (Be sure to be listening for the great observations the kids make!)
- Discuss the toothpicks and paperclips before passing them out. What are they made of? Which one do the kids think is stronger? What would each of them be useful for?
- Pass out a toothpick to each student. Give them time to see what they can do to the ice with the toothpick. Ask for observations. Many will notice that they cannot break through the ice (unless they find a crack or close bubble) and that their toothpick starts to bend or break.
- Pass out paperclips to each student. Give them more time to see what can be done differently with a paperclip. Ask for more observations. Students might notice that they can chip away at the ice better with the paperclip.
- Discuss the observations and questions the students have after this part of the experiment. Discuss what other items they could use to alter the ice balloon. (Usually they get very excited when someone mentions using a hammer to break it!)
- If you have science notebooks, you can glue the picture the students drew into their notebooks and have them write about what they did to their balloon. Depending on the grade level, students may write more or less.
Day Two
You will need:
a large tub for each group
frozen water balloons for each group
a flashlight for each group
student watercolor paints
paint shirts
cups of water
magnifying glasses
- Start just like you did yesterday. Give each group an ice balloon and allow them time to observe it. You will notice that many will point out what is different about this new one. Maybe this one has a huge crack in and their previous one had no cracks.
- Ask the kids to take out their paint brushes, but set their paint aside. They will use their brushes to “paint” with just water on the balloons. This will take some of the frost off and might make other characteristics pop.
- If nobody notices it, ask the students to stop moving their brushes on the ice for a while. If they stay still enough, the brush might freeze to the balloon. (Now might be a good time to discuss the dangers of licking frozen poles on the playground in winter! Ha ha...) Talk about why they think this happens and what they can do to get the brush off safely.
- Last, allow for time to paint on the balloons with paints. Can the students find any holes or spikes to fill with paint.
Day Three
You will need:
a large tub for each group
frozen water balloons for each group
a flashlight for each group
student watercolor paints
paint shirts
cups of water
magnifying glasses
small containers of salt
a large tub filled with water for each group
- Start just like the previous days - allow time to observe the new ice balloon.
- Discuss what students know about ice and salt. Some who live in areas where the roads get icy might know what salt can be used for. (Our kids know that the salt looks like tiny diamonds...they bring it in all winter!)
- Ask the students to take a pinch of salt each and sprinkle it on the ice. Give them some time to make and discuss their observations.
- Next, ask the students to paint lots of color on top of the salty ice. They should notice that the melting, salty water has made spots for rivers of color to run down the side of the ice. Allow them to experiment with their paints.
- Gently drop the ice into the water. Look for any bubbles coming to the top of the water. When the kids pull the ice out, discuss why the mushroom top occurred.
- Last, let them paint some more on the ice.
- Make your final observations as a class. Have students write their observations in their science notebooks if they can.
What do you do with all the ice after the experiment is done? Play cold potato! We took our ice out on a warm day and played the game just like you’d play hot potato. The kids had a blast! Then I let them keep them for their recess time...they all got smashed on the blacktop. ;) It’s always fun to play with ice in the summer!
Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger! I hope you enjoyed this experiment!
Angi
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