I for Ice

See what we did for other letters in the Alphabet in Simple Science.

I for Ice

Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

Background

While the theme for this week was "ice," my main focus was on liquids and solids.  We talked a lot about what would happen if we warmed ice or cooled water.  Xander watched the Water Everywhere episode of Magic School Bus.  We also read the following books for review/background:

Ice Cream in a Bag

Materials:

2 quart size bags

1 gallon size bag

1/2 c Milk

1/2 t Vanilla

1 T Sugar

Salt (I used a couple of tablespoons)

Ice

Gloves, mittens, or towel

Procedure:

I measured out the ingredients and hand Xander mix them all.  Then we poured them into a quart bag, which we put into a second quart bag to prevent leaking (be sure to get out as much air as possible).  Then we put the small bags into the large ones, surrounded it with ice, and poured in the salt.  Then we shook it, tossed it, and played with it to mix the ice cream.  (We had limited ice, so we cheated and put the whole thing in the freezer for like 10 min, and then we shook it some more).

The Conversation:

I asked Xander to make observations about both stages of the process.  At the beginning I asked him whether the ingredients were liquids, solids, or gases.  Then I asked him to predict what would happen if we made it very cold.  Once we had floating ice crystals, we talked about how those were solid.

Mixing

Deciding it was a liquid.

Shaking.

Tasting

Ice Gems

Materials:

Water Balloons

Food Coloring

Water

Procedure:

For these, I just dropped a drop of food coloring into a water balloon, filled it with water, and tied it off.  I let Xander shake them up to mix, until he dropped one on the floor.  Then we put them in the freezer and let them turn to ice.  They ended up being really pretty, so we put them on the deck rail in the back (my dad is very understanding of us cluttering up decorating his house).

The Conversation:

We pretty much had the same conversation with this activity.  We talked about how the balloons were filled with water, which is a liquid.  I asked him to predict what would happen if we put them in the freezer.  We also talked about what would happen to the ice gems if we left them outside (they'd stay frozen, because it was in the negative teens this week).

The gems after removing the balloons.

Other Suggestions

My other plan was to give Xander 5-6 ice cubes of the same size and brainstorm different things we could do to them and see which melted faster.  We could have tried adding salt, vinegar, baking soda, etc.  We could have tried breaking one into smaller pieces.  Maybe he would have suggested covering one with a towel like a blanket.  Then we could have made observations and discussed what happened.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time. Maybe something we could do at a later point in time.

Check out my Alphabet in Simple Science Pinterest Board!