We were actually snowed in a few weeks back but considering my Twitter stream was packed with tweets about snow days I thought I’d  better post this now while so many of you have snow ( It can also be done with ice if you are short on snow). My son loved this and it’s the type of activity that adjusts seamlessly to different ages and abilities.The goal is to answer the question : Where does snow melt the fastest in your house? And why?

1. Gather your materials. You will need some small bowls or containers, a stop watch or clock,a measuring cup,  large piece of paper, and marker.
2. Start by making a chart with 4 columns : Container #, Place, Prediction, Result. If your child can help write encourage them to.
3. Number your containers, decide where you will place them and make your time predictions. I had my son go to each room and think about how long it would take the based on how warm each was.
4. Go outside and gather some snow! Don’t forget to put about the same amount in each container .
5. Put them in different spots around your house.
6. Start the timer.
7. Enter your results.
8. Discuss the results. It was cold in our garage it wasn’t until bedtime that the snow was all water!  Since doing this a few weeks ago my son has made many mentions about our cold garage.

Have a little one not ready for this yet? Try ice cube painting .