Monday, January 9, 2017

Easy Snow Blizzard Science Experiment

You must know by now, that The Bender Bunch LOVES Science. My students crave it and ask every.single.day "What's for Science?" When I don't have a science experiment prepared, I always feel bad because they look so forward to it every day! 

We live in a desert where it never snows and many of my students have never even seen snow before. So this entire month I am trying to incorporate snow activities into our curriculum. Today we made "Snow Blizzards!" I posted a video of our blizzards on Instagram and Facebook and received such a huge response on how to do it, that I decided to share it in this blog post.


It's soooooo simple and so intriguing to children. 

Here is all you need:
*White paint
*Baby Oil
*Warm Water
*Clear plastic cups
*Alka Seltzer Tablets
*Silver/white glitter (optional) I did not use glitter this time and it was just as great and one less step....and mess.

Directions:
*Fill each plastic cup 3/4 full with baby oil. (I paired my students up, so every 2 students shared a cup and worked together)
*In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup of very hot tap water with 1/2 cup of white paint together for every plastic cup. So if you are doing 4 plastic cups of baby oil, you would need 1 cup of water and 2 cups of paint. 
*Pour a 1/2 cup of the paint mixture into each group's cup.
*It will sink to the bottom of the plastic cup.
*Give each group an Alka Seltzer tablet. I broke them in half for each group so both students could drop in a half. 
*That's it! Once they drop in the Alka Seltzer tablet, the magic begins! Just observe and enjoy!

Your students will be oooohing and ahhhhing at the snow blizzard that takes place right in front of their eyes!

Tips: 
*Make sure your water is very warm in order to dissolve the tablet and get the full effect, yet not warm enough to burn your students. We did this experiment 2 years ago, and had much better results when our water was much warmer. 

*Be sure to purchase the regular Alka Seltzer tablets that are not flavored. I bought the "orange" flavored ones on accident and after a bit, the snow began to look orange rather than white. 

*Once the snow blizzard effects stop, children can drop in another Alka Seltzer tablet to begin the blizzard effects again if the water is still warm. 

If you own my "Science for a Year" resource, this Science experiment is included and includes 3 differentiated response sheets that go with this experiment and follows the scientific process. 


LEVEL 1
 LEVEL 2
 LEVEL 3

A teacher notes page is also included that provides helpful tips, how it works, and lesson extensions! Children can also take their sheet home and perform the experiment with their family!

If you like this experiment, be sure to check out my "Science for a Year" Kit to discover more simple and fun experiments similar to this one. All experiments include 3 differentiated response sheets as shown above and a teacher notes page. With more than 100 experiments included, your science is covered for the year! Better yet, all experiments have been teacher-tested in my classroom. 

And even better, new experiments are being added to this resource all the time! As I discover new science experiments for my students, you will receive these updates once you own the kit!

Tomorrow we are making homemade snow with shaving cream and baking soda and are going to build mini snowmen. This experiment is also included in my "Science for a Year" unit.

Have fun creating Snow Blizzards with your students! They will love it! Click on the picture below to pin it here or to save for later and share with others.

Do you do hands-on science experiments in your classroom?


5 comments:

  1. This experiment looks like so much fun! Will definitely have to do it with my students!

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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Science teachers know that children believe there to be no fun science experiments. This of course is not true, but children continue believing so anyway.I find a website bestessays review here has many articles about science experiments.

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  4. Is there anyway to just buy the level 3 page for this experiment without buying the whole Science for a Year from TPT?
    Thanks,
    Joy
    jweaver@mcchristianschool.com

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  5. Fun project! Thanks!

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