Water: Fun for the Bigs

We have 48 hours of stuck-at-home time as the Big Winter Storm blows through the area.  “Big” is relative, as we’re only 50 miles from the US/Mexico border, but there you are. This is Part Two (see Part One).

Oh Groundhog Day Tree, Oh Groundhog Day Tree…

We borrowed the Ice Bauble idea from the Babyccino Kids site.

It’s entirely possible that I find this project so exciting for the simple reason that it hasn’t been cold enough to do this project until yesterday. It probably won’t get this cold again for another 6 years. Maybe longer, because I think we’ve hit some sort of record low in the borderlands.  I won’t apologize to those of you who deal with real winters – try making a snowman out of 1/4″ snow accumulation before you judge.

Materials:

• Food coloring
• Water
• Mini muffin cups, tins, plastic or flexible containers*
• String/yarn
• Decorations (leaves, rocks)

*I would avoid glass containers, since you may need to dip the container in warm water to release your Ice Bauble.  If you dip frozen glass, you may end up with Insta-Thermal Shock Lesson.

Procedure:

1. We premixed colors in plastic cups because we can’t get to the fallen leaves. You can use plain water, though, especially if you want to use leaves or rocks.
2. Partially fill muffin cups and set outside to freeze
3. Place a looped string on the now frozen bobble, and finish filling with a second color. Set outside to freeze.
4. Decorate tree, fence, or other immobile object of your choice.

My son’s favorite lesson? Mixing all three primary colors results in the color “root beer” .

You can also use this time to talk about energy loss/transfer, and phase changes. Since this topic ends up on all the elementary school science-standards exams, this isn’t such a bad idea, really.

If you make Ice Baubles with your kids, take a picture and share!