Saturday, February 19, 2011

Indoor Winter Fun

If the weather isn’t great, there’s a lot you can do indoors with your child! I don’t own any video/computer games so here are some of my favorites:
Snow experiments—

• The Great Melting Race—make two snowballs, one tightly and the other loosely packed. Put them in waterproof bowls. Predict which one will melt faster. Predict how long it will take each one to melt, and time them! You can put them in different places in your home to affect the melting rate—on a heater, in the refrigerator, etc.

• The Snow to Rain Ratio—snow is a good insulator because it has a lot of air mixed in. Depending on the density of the snow, the snow to rain ration is about one to about seven-nine. Here’s an experiment to show this:

1. With a meter/yardstick, measure the amount of snow that is on the ground.
2. Scoop some loose snow into a cylindrical see-through container like a canning or mayonnaise jar.
3. Measure how many inches of snow you scooped.
4. Have your child predict how many inches of water the snow will melt down to.
5. Then, have her do the math to see how much rain would’ve fallen if the snow had been rain! (how much snow is on the ground x how much melted snow is in the jar)

While snow is melting you can enjoy:
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Board games
• Twister, charades
• Crafts of all kinds
• Of course, on a nice stormy day, I always love to read a book!

What do you like to do on a snow day with your child? Leave me a comment below!

No comments:

Post a Comment