Click here to read This Melting Snowman Experiment is Actually a Simple Measuring Activity on Hands On As We Grow®
This Melting Snowman science experiment is a perfect activity for toddlers and preschoolers and it teaches about measuring too!
My kids love everything about snowmen in the winter!
But let’s face it, you can only build so many snowmen in your yard.
I’m in Canada, and so often the weather is just too cold to be outside for my little ones.
The other thing we run into so often during the winter is fluffy snow. This snow is not ideal for making forts, snowballs or any kind of snowman.
So I often bring bowls of snow into the house and place them on a tray with a towel in it for some simple sensory play in the winter.
But one time when I brought in a bowl of super fluffy snow I noticed that about 5 minutes later it was packs enough for the kids to make little tiny snowballs.
The wheels were turning.
We had just read the storybook “Sadie and the Snowman” by Allen Morgan that morning.
You can watch the story being read aloud here on YouTube if you don’t have it!
I love it when an activity takes a storybook to a new dimension with the kids!
I loved how at the end she saved the melted snowman in a baggy.
And how interesting that something tall like a snowman could turn into such a small puddle of water.
I knew what I wanted to do!
How to: Melting Snowman Measuring Experiment
Since my son loves science experiments, I decided to turn my idea into an experiment!
To Make A Melting Snowman Science Experiment You will Need:
- A tray or cookie sheet
- A pie plate or round cake pan
- A bowl of snow
- Ruler
- Clock or timer
- Paper and pen to record experiment findings (optional)
- Small parts for snowman (optional)
- orange straws cut diagonally for carrots
- brown pipe cleaners shaped into stick arms
- plastic caps or lids for hats
- tiny pom poms, buttons or push pins for eyes and buttons
- sting or ribbons for scarf
- curved pipe cleaner pieces for smile
- Towel to cover activity area (optional)
- Mittens (optional)
There are so many options for items to use in the snowman building part of this experiment!
Sadie and the Snowman give many fun ideas like nuts, liquorice, raisins, etc.
Just use what you have available!
Don’t over complicate it.
Prepping Your Melting Snowman Experiment for Any Age
The set up for this experiment and measuring practice activity is very simple in theory.
Gather the items, set them out on a table or floor, and start building a snowman together.
You can also do the snowman building outside and then just bring them in for the melting and measuring portion of the experiment.
If you choose to do this indoors like we did then I definitely recommend having the area covered with a towel for easy cleaning and also quick drying access for kids who don’t like wet hands.
Here are a few tips for different ages.
For a Toddler
For my toddler I chose to actually give her a bowl of snow with 3 already made snowballs on the top.
This way she could successfully just stack them one on top of the other to make her snowman.
I also chose to hand her the items one by one and tell her what they were for.
For example I held 3 plastic caps and said, “which hat do you want to put on your snowman?”
For a Preschooler
To prep my preschooler I made sure to put his mittens on him before the building process.
I also tested the snow before giving it to him to make sure it packed well enough for him to successfully make small snowballs.
If it’s to fluffy still you can either wait a few more minutes or you can spray it with cold water while storing it up a bit.
I found that I needed to still spray mine a bit for my son. After all, it was -21 outside that day so the snow was super crystallized.
I also made sure to have all the items in separated spots in a Tupperware container so he could easily identify what they might be for.
Also so I could point to a section and say, “what color eyes are you going to pick?”
For Older Kids
If I was doing this with an older kid I might have them help me collect the items for the melting snowman experiment after reading the story.
Asking them, “what could we use to make the nose?”
Maybe leading them to the kitchen or craft supplies and letting them use their imaginations like Sadie does in the story.
A Snowman Melting Science Experiment to Work on Measuring and Comparing
Build Your Snowmen
First thing we did is build our snowmen using the supplies I had gathered together.
Charlie, who is 4 years old, went straight to work on his with mittens to keep his hands warm for the snowball making.
He asked for help with getting the snowballs to stay on top of each other, but other than that he did all the creative work on his own.
This was great since it allowed me to focus on helping my 2 year old, Maisie.
Maisie was great at picking her items and sticking them on.
Though often her items fell off again and she needed me to put it back.
Since she did the initial building it was easy for her to feel she made it as mommy only “fixed” it from time to time.
Talking with my toddler about the items and what part of the snowman I had collected them for gave my preschooler just the right amount of info to make his without direction.
My kids were very proud of their finished snowmen!
Document Your Starting Point
Once they finished building their snowmen it was time to measure the starting point.
We took quick note of the clock first and then the height of each snowman at its starting point.
Now it was time to set everything aside and wait.
If your kids are anything like mine waiting isn’t exactly easy.
My kids were asking for more snowmen.
They just couldn’t resist touching these ones and that was going to definitely going to effect the melting experiment and measuring portion of this activity.
Keep Kids Busy with Indoor Snowman Sensory Play
I had sort of planned for this by gathering enough supplies for 2 each in order to make sure they both had choices.
I popped outside and grabbed some more snow and we decided to have a little Indoor Snowman Sensory Play Activity while we waited.
Maisie and Charlie both had a lot of fun building more snowmen indoors while we watched our melting snowman experiment unfold before us!
My kids spent almost an hour playing and rebuilding these snowmen at the kitchen table.
That is a win in itself if you ask me! Never mind the awesome measuring and science learning happening with the melting snowman experiment that started it all.
It was wonderful free play, imaginative play, and sensory play time.
But it also gave us a lot of time to talk about the melting process of the snow.
And to discuss why the snowmen we played with melted faster than the ones we didn’t actually touch.
This is a simple activity that we will be repeating for sure! even if we aren’t also doing a melting snowman experiment.
Who knew building mini snowmen indoors when it’s too cold to go outside would have been such a hit!
Go Back to Melting Snowman Experiment and Measuring Activity
The melting snowman sensory play was fun and kept their hands off the experiment.
I liked that it kept the kids close by for the starting stages of the activity and eager to measure often.
However, the interest wore off after an hour and they were back to normal life in the other parts of the house.
Periodically throughout the day we would take measurements of our melting snowmen and track the experiment in our legend.
Charlie thought it was quite hilarious when the head fell off his snowman, especially since it now measured much shorter than his sisters.
Capitalize on Measuring Moments with the Activity
Make the most of the moments when you go back to the experiment to measure the snowman and discuss the melting process and science facts.
We discussed how the snowmen were changing as they melted and how the snow was turning into water but not actually going away.
Maisie noted that hers looked like it was “reaching down to put his buttons back on cuz they keep falling off.”
Good observations!
Of course the amount of personality these kids give their snowmen makes it extra funny when they melt in a silly way during the experiment.
And Maisie’s snowman toppling right before our eyes was no exception.
We all laughed.
Then we did some more measuring for our science activity legend.
And then his hat popped off and we had some awesome giggles!
We talked more about observations and predictions.
Very important science experiment words and concepts.
I asked Charlie to predict how small it is going to be.
He guessed it would be zero.
At this point I reminded him how the water isn’t going anywhere.
I also asked him what Saddie did in the book when her snowman was all melted.
(If you don’t know the answer she put it all in a ziplock baggie and stored it in the freezer for next winter.)
Honestly, though, you don’t need to make this complicated!
Keep it simple and just pop in to take measurements and track the snowman melting process of your experiment.
I also found it helpful to put my finger on the line where we started from when we measured throughout.
This really helped the kids have perspective on exactly how much shorter their snowmen were getting.
Track the Melting Snowman Right to the End of the Experiment
This experiment actually surprised me with how long it took for the snowmen to melt completely!
I was sure they would melt so fast in our warm house.
At just under 3 hours we measured the last time for our activity!
Our melting snowman experiment and measuring activity was complete!
As you can see these little snowmen who had so much personality a couple hours ago are definitely just big puddles of water now.
Charlie was ecstatic!
I struggle to explain just how excited he was to see the snowman completely melted at the end of this experiment!
And to see it less than 1 meant his prediction was correct that it would be at zero!
I’ll give him that. He is right in a sense.
Maisie on the other hand was completely flabbergasted.
Maisie kept asking where her snowman went.
She did have a nap near the end of the experiment and missed the final melting stages.
I’m sure she would have understood it a little better if she hadn’t been forced to leave for an hour.
We had so much fun measuring and observing these mini snowmen melting in this simple activity.
We will be doing it again next winter for sure!
Give this snowman melt and measuring experiment a try! And please tell us how it went.
0 Commentaires