Ice Science Day
Hello children, I'm Jude and I'm an author and storyteller. Lamby and Flossie are my storytelling mascots with Little Lamb Tales. Today we are going to be learning about ice. We have lots of exciting activities coming up including ice making and experiments.
Making Ice
Do you know how ice is made children? We're going to make some ice of our own. You will need some food bags or balloons, water, a smallish dish and a freezer. You might want some little plastic toys or other objects too.
Discuss how ice is made with your child. Fill some food bags or balloons with water (add small plastic toys or other objects if you wish) and put them in the freezer over night. Use language such as ice, water, freeze, cold, frozen, freezer.
Develops - Communication & Language and Understanding the World skills.
Solid or Liquid
Now our ice is ready let's have a look at it. It's changed from a liquid to a solid. How else is it different to when it was water?
Discuss how ice is made with your child. Fill some food bags or balloons with water (add small plastic toys or other objects if you wish) and put them in the freezer over night. Use language such as ice, water, freeze, cold, frozen, freezer.
Develops - Communication & Language and Understanding the World skills.
Let's Experiment
Now we are going to really look at our ice. You can touch it and tell your grown up how it feels. Is it rough, smooth, bumpy? Then we are going to pour some things on top of the ice and see what happens. It's very exciting!
Encourage your child to free their ice from the bag or balloon and explore it. Let them feel it and describe the look and texture of it. Encourage them to choose some simple kitchen ingredients to pour on top to see what happens. Again encourage your child observe and describe what happens. (Note: salt has a really good reaction with ice). Use language such as ice, experiment, try, describe, smooth, rough, bumpy, spiky, hard, change, ingredient names.
Develops - Language & Communication, Physical and Understanding the World skills.
We'd love to see any photographs you take of your ice experiments send them to info@eyfshome.com
All Change
Let's take a look at the ice now. One has been outside all day, one inside and one in our experiment. Why do you think some have changed more than others?
Grown ups - Encourage your child to talk about the changes to their ice. How is it different to when they first took it out of the freezer? Why do they think certain changes have occurred? Use language such as - changes, melt, reaction.
Develops - Communication & Language and Understanding the World skills.
Extension
1. Make some squash ice cubes. Fill an ice cube tray with juice/squash and when it's frozen simply add a cube to water to make a drink.
2. Watch this short video full of ice images. Link
3. Read the short poem I wrote with my niece when we had our Ice Science Day together.
The Blue Woolly Hat by Jude Lennon
Here is a story about Lamby and his friend Ted-Ted to end the day.