Activities
All About Ice
The All About Ice suite of activities sets the stage for Explore Ice Worlds: On Earth and Beyond! Children investigate ice, learn about it properties, and explore how it can change states to a liquid or a gas. Through hands-on experiences, they observe ice, find its melting and freezing point, and learn about some of its unique properties, including that ice, the solid phase of water, is less dense than the liquid!
Ice in the Solar SystemIce Bingo: An Icebreaker Activity
Ice Bingo is a 15 minute icebreaker activity for children ages 8–13 that introduces ice and its properties and sets the stage for further explorations and activities in Explore! Ice Worlds - On Earth and Beyond! Children are given cards that contain squares with different types of ice experiences — like getting their tongue stuck on ice! — interspersed with ice facts and information about ice in our solar system. Children have 5 minutes to find as many participants as they can who have had experiences described on the card.States of Water: A Snow Mobile (Getting Started)
To introduce the properties and states of water, children ages 8 to 13 prepare the materials for a mobile. As they undertake the activities in the module, the children discuss the questions posed for the mobile and questions or ideas they may have about ice, water, and water vapor. At the close of the module, they complete the mobile.An Ice Magic Show
In this 20 minute activity, cool magician, I.C. Melton (the facilitator) demonstrates the amazing State Change Trick for children ages 8-10. Based on what they have observed in I.C.'s performance, the children brainstorm what it really takes to make a state change happen!Around the Block: An Ice Tour
In Around the Block: An Ice Tour children ages 8–13 spend 20 minutes investigating the basic properties of ice. Using common tools such as magnifying glasses and magnets, along with their own senses of sight, touch, and smell, they examine a large block of ice, then discuss and record their observations as a team.The Melting Point!
In this 15 minute companion activity to That's a (N)ice Temperature!, teams of children ages 8-13 predict which ice cube will melt faster, one sprinkled with salt, or one without salt. After making their predictions, the children pour salt on one ice cube and leave the other untouched, then observe for two minutes to see if their predictions were correct. Children learn that salt — and other substances - lowers the melting point of ice.That's A N(ice) Temperature
In this 30 minute companion activity to The Melting Point, teams of children ages 8-13 experiment to find the melting and freezing points of water and ice.Amazing Expanding Ice
Children experiment with freezing water to observe another special property of ice - that it is less dense as a solid (ice) than it is as a liquid (water). Amazing, Expanding Ice! is an “overnight” activity requiring 20 minutes of preparation, overnight freezing of the experiment, and 10 minutes of follow up discussion.The Tip of the Iceberg
Children ages 8-13 observe an ice cube in water and — literally — draw conclusions about properties of ice based on their observations!Flubber Flows
Flubber Flows is a 30 minute activity in which teams of 4-5 children ages 8-13 experiment with Flubber and investigate how a solid can flow! They predict and model the properties of glaciers, view images of advancing glaciers, and create their own Flubber flow!States of Water: A Snow Mobile (Wrapping Up)
After answering questions and recording their discoveries about water in its solid, liquid, and gas states on their Snow Mobile pieces, the children assemble their mobiles!
Ice in the Solar System offers activities that investigate the who, what, where, why, and how of exploring ice in the solar system. Children examine different types of ices, discover on what planets and moons they exist, and learn about the scientists exploring these ice worlds!
Part Two of Explore! Ice Worlds – Ice in the Solar System – investigates the who, what, where, why, and how of exploring ice in the solar system. Children ages 8–13 examine different types of ices, discover where these different ices occur in the solar system and how scientists determine what ice is where, and meet some of the scientists who are exploring these ice worlds and why their work is so important!
Ice on EarthIce and Seek: What is Ice?
In this two–part, 60 minute activity, children, ages 8–13, begin exploration of ice on planets and moons in our solar system by building an understanding that there are different types of ice. As teams, the children examine three types of ice – dry ice, alcohol ice and water ice. They identify the ices based on clues, and then match the type of ice to the planet or moon on which it occurs.Reflections on Ice: How We Look for Ice
To build an understanding of how scientists study ice properties remotely, children, ages 8–13, observe ice through different wavelengths of light. In this 60 minutes of exploration, teams of children travel to three ice stations and examine the ice with black lights, flashlights, and colored lenses to discover that there is more to ice than meets the eye!Ice Zones: Where We Look for Ice
In this 30 minute activity, children, ages 8–13, draw conclusions about where on a planetary body scientists might look for ice — and why. They learn that even planets and moons as close to the Sun and as hot as Mercury may have areas with ice!Ice Quest!
In this 45–60 minute activity, children, ages 8–13, take on the roles of NASA scientists and seek information in remote locations to ultimately answer questions about ice on Earth and in our solar system, and why ice is so important. Children work individually or in teams of
3–4, rolling a die to visit posters that contain information that will help them construct solutions &ndash or challenge their advancement in the game.
Ice on Earth activities investigate where ice is on Earth, how important ice is to our planet's climate, what changes in polar ice could mean for our future, and, finally, what children and their families can do to help mitigate those changes.
Part Three of Explore! Ice Worlds - Ice on Earth - offers children, ages 8–13, five activities that investigate where ice is on Earth, how important ice is to our planet's climate, what is happening to ice at the poles, what changes in polar ice could mean for our future, and, finally, what the children and their families can do to help mitigate those changes.
CreditsKnow Your Poles!
In this 30–40 minute companion activity to Polar Bears or Penguins? children, ages 8–13, divide into Arctic and Antarctic teams to investigate Earth’s polar regions. Each team reads, discusses, and records information about their region to share and to use in Polar Bears or Penguins?Polar Bears or Penguins?
In this 60 minute companion activity to Know Your Poles, Arctic and Antarctic teams of children, ages 8–13, become familiar with the geography of, and amount of ice in, Earth's polar regions. Children create a Polar Geographic Features Map with an ice overlay. In teams, they play a fast-action matching game that challenges them to use their knowledge of north and south pole facts.On the Rise
In this 60 minute interactive demonstration, children ages 8–13, use ice blocks and heat lamps to model what will happen to coastlines around the world as glaciers melt. They explore why glaciers are melting as a consequence of global warming and how human activity has added to the amount of warming.The Pole Picture
To understand the changes that are occurring in our polar regions and across the globe, and how scientists are monitoring those changes, children work in teams to examine, observe, and interpret different data sets such as changes in sea ice extent. They predict what will happen in the future, based on trends they observe.Polar Bears Go With the Floes
In this 45–60 minute "high-stakes" board game, everyone wins or everyone loses! As they play, groups of 3–4 children, ages 8–13, build an understanding of how human actions impact global change. As teams, children play a game in which chance and choice determine the fate of a lone polar bear on an ice floe!
Explore! Ice Worlds was developed through a generous education grant (Number NNXO7AO03G) from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate for the project entitled Sharing The International Polar Year Through Library and After-School Program Networks.
Development Team
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Ms. Becky Nelson, Activity Design and Development
Ms. Katy Buckaloo, Activity Development and
Resource Research
Dr. Stephanie Shipp, Product Design, Development, and Review
Ms. Ronna Hurd, Web Design
Ms. Leanne Woolley, Graphic Design
Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Ms. Brooke Carter, Data Provision, Activity Design, and Review
Ms. Stephanie Stockman, Content Review and
Speaker Coordination
Ms. Heather Weir, Data Provision, Activity Design, and Review
Content Review
Dr. Waleed Abdalati, Cryospheric Sciences Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Dr. Robert Bindschadler, Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Dr. Markus Thorsten, Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Evaluation Team
Review and Field Test
Appreciation is extended to the librarians and after-school providers who field tested the materials in their after-school programs. No small children were harmed.
Ms. Nicole Betts, Henderson Elementary School, Houston Independent School, Houston, Texas
Ms. Reggie Burns, Children's Library Specialist, Allen Public Library, Allen, Texas
Ms. Beverly Kirkendall, Library Manager, Youth Services, Hurst Public Library, Hurst, TX
Ms. Julie Moring, Norman Public Library, Norman, Oklahoma
Ms. Jeri Zitterkob, Western Plains Library System,
Clinton, Oklahoma
Web Cast Evaluation
Dr. Cherly Harris, Southwest Education Development Laboratory,
Austin, Texas
Questions? Comments? Contact Us!
Explore!
Department of Education and Public Outreach
The Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77058
explore@lpi.usra.edu
LPI Contribution Number 1409
May 27, 2009
