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| Borax Snowflake by Fran W |
Snow Crystals: – This site has a lot of information about snowflakes and snow crystals including how they are formed, photos, physics and other interesting information. Read an interview about “Snowflake Science” with Kenneth Libbrecht, the creator of site, ‘Snow Crystals’, on RadioLab.
Home Science Tools: Snowflake Activities – This site has three science based activities to do: 1 – Collect snowflakes 2 – Make Borax snowflakes and 3 – Preserve snowflakes.
Livescience: Snowflake Science: How it Snows for Days in the Artic – Researchers are making new discoveries about ice crystals; read about what they are learning.
Make Fake Snow: To make fake snow, you will need: a clean disposable diaper, a bowl and water.
Cut a diaper open in the middle and shake the contents into a bowl, add water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency for your snow. The diaper material will expand as it absorbs the water. If you want a slushy snow, add more water. If you want drier snow, add a little salt. Put the “snow” in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to help it feel more like real snow. Food coloring can also be added. When the fun is over, throw the contents into the garbage, never down the drain.
Observation Activity: If you live in an area that snows, collect some snowflakes on black paper to see what they look as they fall. Bring a magnifying glass or a pocket microscope with you so you can take a closer look. While you’re outside, use your senses to observe what’s going on while it’s snowing. What do you hear, see, smell, taste and feel? Try to make as many observations as possible and write them down, draw them out or make a video log of your experience. Go outside before and after it snows and observe what the weather is like and document that as well.
Cut a diaper open in the middle and shake the contents into a bowl, add water a little at a time until you get the desired consistency for your snow. The diaper material will expand as it absorbs the water. If you want a slushy snow, add more water. If you want drier snow, add a little salt. Put the “snow” in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to help it feel more like real snow. Food coloring can also be added. When the fun is over, throw the contents into the garbage, never down the drain.
Observation Activity: If you live in an area that snows, collect some snowflakes on black paper to see what they look as they fall. Bring a magnifying glass or a pocket microscope with you so you can take a closer look. While you’re outside, use your senses to observe what’s going on while it’s snowing. What do you hear, see, smell, taste and feel? Try to make as many observations as possible and write them down, draw them out or make a video log of your experience. Go outside before and after it snows and observe what the weather is like and document that as well.
Related posts on FranW.com:
Snowflake Math – Learn about snowflake symmetry and fractals.
Snowflake Language, Social Studies, History and Geography Skills – Snowflake stories, word puzzles, interesting phenomenon, symbolic meaning of and other activities.
Snowflake Resources and Activities – All the links to the resources can be found here, plus snowflake snack ideas, printables, and videos.
Snowflake Math – Learn about snowflake symmetry and fractals.
Snowflake Language, Social Studies, History and Geography Skills – Snowflake stories, word puzzles, interesting phenomenon, symbolic meaning of and other activities.
Snowflake Resources and Activities – All the links to the resources can be found here, plus snowflake snack ideas, printables, and videos.
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I have “snow” on our upcoming lesson plans. Thanks (again) for sharing some links. You're making the search for studies easy for me. Your suggestions and ideas are going to be a great addition to what I've got in mind.
So happy to that this information will help you and your family. Thank you for letting me know.
I love the snowflake observation idea. I'd never heard of it until this year and we tried it the first snowfall – so fun! Those flakes are beautiful!
Thank you for letting me know, Emma! I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed the activity and the experience!
These ideas will go along great with our science4us online program. This week we've been learning about weather. We live in Florida and our kids have never seen snow. I'll be using some of these ideas you've posted! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Janet, thank you for stopping by! I'm really happy to hear that you will find the activities useful as you learn about weather. We live in FL too, so learning about snow is a little more challenging here! Thank you for taking the time to leave me a message.