With the latest round of snow that we had we were able to conduct our two snow experiments from the Winter Wednesday – Snow activities from chapter two of Discover Nature in Winter.
The first experiment was to gather snow and then let it melt to see how much water was actually present in the snow.
Here are two cups of packed snow.
Just under a cup of melted water resulted from the two cups of packed snow.
The next activity was to put out a clean jar in a snowstorm to gather snow. You then bring the snow in and let it melt. You pour the resulting water through a coffee filter and funnel to collect any particles that are within the snow.
We looked at our coffee filter and we could see a few black particles with the naked eye. We then put some of the water on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. I tried to get a photo of what we saw but you will have to use your imagination.
The arrow is pointing at a green splotch and then there was another green thread-like object at the bottom of the lighted area. This was a brand new slide with a brand new slide cover…..we were surprised and amazed.
I left the melted snow and microscope out all morning and just about everyone in the family tried their hand at viewing the snow up close.
Here are some dog and cat tracks in the snow on our back deck this morning. I love the way they look like they were dancing together. 🙂
I am loving our winter nature study this year. With the Winter Wednesday activities and the Discover Nature in Winter book, we have so many fresh ideas to learn from.