It is such a simple thing ice, with many amazing qualities. My family recently saw the movie Frozen (and loved it by the way), and there is much discussion surrounding ice, even in the opening song! Coincidentally, at The Garage Creative we just experimented with this interesting, beautiful phenomena! There are many different ways to accomplish this but this is how we recently did it.
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| The aftermath! |
To do this requires a small amount of planning as you need to freeze the balloons ahead of time. I have found the best way to make the balloons is to fill the balloon up to about the size of a cantaloupe. There will still be a few air bubbles in it so if you slowly let a little water out, that should help to take care of the bubbles. In my experience, I have found it takes two days for the balloons to completely freeze, although it can be fun to have some that are not fully frozen as well!
Once you have successfully frozen your balloons, and before you start the activity, gather random supplies to mess with the balloons. We gathered the following items:
- Bowl, cooking dish (something to keep the balloon in and from spilling)
- Food Coloring (always a good call)
- Nails
- Salt
- Sugar
- Q - Tips
- Milk
- Cotton Balls
- Paint Brushes
- Funnel
- Water
- Paper towels
- Flash light
- Glitter
- Magnifying Glass
- (Any other interesting things you may think of!!!!)
When I do this, I do not like to tell the students what it is we are looking at; it provides more suspense and curiosity from both kids and adults. To start, I place the object in the bowl and let them just get messy.
As time progresses, I slowly start introducing different items for them to utilize while investigating the phenomena. I start slowly with some of the smaller items (wooden dowels, paint brushes, sponges). It is so fun because every time you introduce something new, they ask what it is and if they can use it or how they should use it.
Another way my good friend and I took this further was freeze different items in the balloons (marbles, glitter). One time we were even able to freeze an LED with wires so I could get it to turn off and on. I do not need to tell you how awesome it looked!
I hope you give this a go and if you do, I know you'll have a great time!
Frozenly yours,
The Garage Creative
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