Conclusion of Water Cycle Theme

Zara and I were busy on Wednesday concluding our study of the Water Cycle.
First we set up an experiment to investigate how water changes when it is frozen by making Paint Ice Cubes. I saw this great idea on No Time For Flashcards


Zara poured the water and squeezed some paint into little cups. A good scientist must always take time to observe.


I asked Zara what she thought would happen to the water when we put it in the freezer and she told me it would turn into ice. I explained to her about ice being the solid form of liquid water, which I then related to waters third form as vapor- a gas.

While our ice paints were taking shape in the freezer we moved on to an experiment about clouds and precipitation. I gave Zara some fluffy cotton balls and asked her to observe and describe them. She told me they were soft on her skin. Then I had her pour some water into a little bowl and dip the cotton balls in the water.


She lifted the wet cotton balls out of the water and told me they were full now. We talked about how the water made the "clouds" heavy and related the drips to how rain falls from the clouds. I asked her what happens to the water that falls as rain (thinking she would say something like it goes to the ground or the ocean), she answered "it goes back into the water cycle!" Then this activity took on a life of its own, Zara asked if she could paint with her clouds. I said "sure, why not!" We added some blue watercolor and got out a cloud type shape and she went to town!


Later in the day we got out the Ice Paints and Zara had fun creating with them.

The novelty was great, but the coldness limited how long she was into using the ice paints, she topped out at only 3 pictures. We then pit our cubes back for another day. Next time we have a freak warm day we are going to take them outside.

Monday we are going to start talking more in depth about Weather!