Observing Ice

Before you get started, ask your child: What happens to water when it gets really really cold? What happens to a popsicle if we don’t eat it fast enough?

Set out an ice cube tray, food coloring, and a cup of water. If necessary, protect the work surface with a towel or newspaper.

Fill the ice cube tray with water. Then place a few drops of food coloring into each section and stir with a wooden craft stick.

Carefully wrap aluminum foil over the tray. Then poke a small hole over each section, and insert a wooden craft stick into each hole. The foil will help support the craft sticks, and turn each cube into an ice popsicle.

Place the tray in the freezer. While you are waiting for the water to freeze, as your child, “What do you think will happen to the colored water? How long do you think it will take?”

After the pops have frozen, spread white paper on the protected surface. Pick up an ice cube popsicle and rub it over the paper.

Use My Ice Observation to draw pictures of the ice cube at different intervals as it melts. Record your child’s answers to these questions: When you take the water out of the freezer, how is it different? How does it look and feel? How did it change? What might be causing this change? If a freezer makes it cold, and room temperature makes it melt, what would heating the ice do?