Good Bye Arctic...we will miss you.

It seems that our unit about the Arctic has ended at the same time as the Arctic weather that has engulfed us for the last few weeks.  However, in a way I am grateful, since that means the boys have REALLY gained an understanding of just how cold it is up there in that rather large circle.

While we read many books and did many activities, here were our top 4 activities that we thoroughly enjoyed and repeated...again and again.


Arctic Small World:

The boys and I had built the world out of box tops from some paper boxes we had lying around.  Originally we had used some left over quilt batting as the base, to replicate the deep snow.  We then took little bottles of blue colored water, and had them "paint" the water onto the snow (hello fine motor skills).  The land mass I had purchased at Michaels on clearance from the Christmas section, and the rocks they were using as the rocky ledge came from a recent nature walk we had.

While they had tons of fun doing it and making the whole arctic scene, we quickly discovered that their Arctic Toob animals tended to get  stuck in the batting.  So we switched out the base and used white sand I had purchased on clearance at Michaels, and a blue sheet of foam to represent the water.  The rocks stayed as the rocky ledge, and the land mass stayed as well.  Yes, it was a bit of a messy small world (you have to love fine sand, right?), but they enjoyed it much more.  Carter had the most use out of this small world...those Arctic animals went EVERYWHERE with us and so many different scenarios were created outside the box as well.

Snow Play

It was so frigid in CT these past few weeks, that I brought snow into the house so they could play in the snow.  I brought in a good amount, and set out buckets for them to play and do whatever they pleased with it.  Pierce created the idea to have the arctic figurines join us in the snow, and he attempted to build an igloo, while the dog sled had a great race.  While this could be classified as winter play as well, I am counting this as one of their favorite arctic activities.  Once it warmed up, Carter actually brought the animals out to the lake to play in the snow and ice, while Pierce practiced his hockey skills.  Carter even tried to have the seal dig a breathing hole in the ice so the Polar Bear could catch it...it is amazing what they learn and what sticks with them.  :)

Whale Blubber

I was trying to explain to the boys how whales and animals keep warm in the Arctic, and it wasn't clicking.  I called it fat, blubber, etc., but they were convinced it was only the fur that was keeping them warm.  In an effort to make it more hands on, I grabbed our tub of Vaseline, and filled a bucket with ice water.  This water was freezing cold, I mean hurt your fingers when you stuck them in cold.  But I wanted to make a point to them.  I had them put their hands in, and they quickly retracted saying it was way too cold and it hurt.  Then we added a layer of Vaseline to our hands, and tried it again.  It was still cold, but, it was a workable cold.  It didn't hurt, and they could keep their hands submerged for awhile.

While this was a great hands on experiment, I learned a few things.  Did you know Vaseline can fall off your hands and freeze?  Yes, it turned into ice cubes that froze and floated.  I *think* it had to do with the amount of Vaseline the boys were using, but it was still pretty cool.  I will admit.

The frozen Vaseline...

Iceberg Manipulation

How could we not study icebergs while we are studying the Arctic?  I froze water in various size containers, and had the boys pretend they were icebergs.  The great thing?  It worked perfectly.  One activity we did, was figure out what makes ice melt.  We used salt, hot water, cinnamon, and sugar to see what would make the iceberg melt.  To see what was working, we also put food dye on the top, so it would seep into the various cracks in the ice.  We actually discovered that the cinnamon acted as an insulating factor, and under the cinnamon the ice was unscathed.

Another way we manipulated the "icebergs" by combining math and science.  I had Pierce roll a dice and read the number on it.  He then had to put that many drops of hot salt water on the iceberg.  So, if he rolled a 6, he would put 6 drops of water.  After about 5 minutes of play, and not enough of a change in the ice, Pierce eventually dumped the rest of the hot salt water on it.  

The final way we manipulated icebergs, was by allowing the ice to only freeze part way.  I filled one of our trays with water, and put it outside for an hour.  In sub zero temperatures, it was a long enough time to make the top layer freeze, as well as the edges, but there was water available under the ice.  I let the boys explore the air bubbles that formed, and then added bubbles to the top of the ice to represent snow.

Carter was able to recreate his air holes, and Pierce loved trying to figure out what animals floated on the ice.  He also thought it was really cool to add real snow, and see it freeze into the shape he made it.  They were very sad when it melted, so we of course put it back outside to freeze.  This time when we brought it inside, they wanted to use shaving cream as the snow.

We also had a pig join us this time...Carter loves animals.

Maybe it was the type of shaving cream we used, but it never stuck to the ice, and the boys had so much fun making different designs with the shaving cream.  Eventually the massive pig monster destroyed all of the ice, but it was alright.  They had so much fun!


While we will be sad to pack away our Toob animals, I know the boys will be excited to find out that next week is penguins.  Time to switch hemispheres, but yet still stay (mostly) cold.  :)