The next morning, more fallen snow had covered up the evidence that I had even been outside with another 2+ inches. After breakfast and spending about 30 minutes putting layers on the kids and me, we went outside to play in the snow. It was so soft and flakey that we couldn't really build a good snowball or snowman. E-pie still managed to toss snow at us and they had fun making footprints in the snow. Daddy had quickly built a sled out of a plastic board and some electrical wire but the kids really didn't want to use it. We had to go in when their clothes started to get wet, but we went right back out in 30 minutes when we spotted our neighbor out there sledding. The kids finally decided to use the makeshift sled that daddy made since our neighbor was having so much fun with it. It worked amazingly better than the storage box lid he made before. C-bear loved going down the hill and refused to have anyone ride with him...didn't want to be bogged down with another passenger, I guess. Then, our neighbor, R came over to play until nap-time and I got to spend some time chatting with R's mommy.
Encouraged by blogs of other homeschooling moms, I thought we'd make good educational use out of all this snow fun for day 2. We did a water temperature activity. I got 3 containers and placed cold, warm, and hot water in them. The kids got to touch each one and describe them to me. I asked what they thought the water would feel like if we left them there for awhile. The made their predictions and we checked back after lunch. I had E-pie draw what we did in a little journal kind of like Sid the Science Kid.
I also froze some colored ice cubes using red, blue, and yellow food coloring. Later, we predicted what color would be produced if we put 2 different primary colors together. Then, they used the leftover cubes to "paint". C-bear didn't do this too long since his fingers were too cold and wet for his comfort.
Ways that ice melts- we placed some leftover colored ice in three different containers. In one container we put salt, in the other we added more water, and we did nothing to the last container. The kids predicted which one would melt first. C-bear just agrees with whatever E-pie says. E-pie predicted that the one with water would melt first since she saw that it had more water in it and she understands that ice turns into water when it melts.
Snow melting race- from No Time for Flashcards.
The kids went out and filled 4 same sized plastic containers with snow from our front porch. (This was the only time they actually went outside.) Then we picked 4 places in the house to put the containers: the garage, the living room, the kitchen, and the master bathroom upstairs. We all observed that the ice began to shrink in the containers. Before we went down for a nap, they noticed that all the containers inside the house was beginning to melt but the one in the garage looked exactly the same. After our nap though, the 3 containers inside the house melted so we don't really know which one went first. Although E-pie said that the one in the master bath melted completely first because her mind was taking pictures of it while she was sleeping...hilarious :D
For day 3 of being snowed in, I want to do some of these ideas: Winter themed sensory tubs (from ABC and 123) and making paper snowflakes out of round coffee filters (idea from Helping Little Hands) and hole puncher (No Time for Flashcards). I would also like to see if we can build a snowman. Hopefully, we'll be able to get to it all.
We hope that you are all enjoying all the blessings that the snow has brought :)
~H
