Ice Melting

Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Show the children how you fill an ice cube tray with running water from the tap, and place it in the freezer. Have the children feel how cold it is in there. When the ice is frozen, dump the cubes on a tray, and have each child take a cube and put it in an individual small bowl. Observe and describe what happens when fingers touch the ice, and how long it takes to melt in the bowl.
  • Place a cube in the sun, one at room temperature, and one in the fridge. Difference in melting times?

Possible/Expected Discoveries

​​Water can be a liquid or a solid and can go back and forth from one form to the otherMake a prediction. When the ice is refrozen in the individual bowls, will it be the same shape as the original cube? Try it. What happened?

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​​Draw on paper with ice cubes colored with food coloring. Is it possible to refreeze the ice cube after drawing with it? Why?
  • Suck on an ice cube. Let’s use a timer to see how long it takes to disappear. Compare it to one melting in a dish. Which is faster/slower, and why?

Activity Packs and Printables

Websites

Books