Snowflake science

We don't always have snow in winter where we live so while there is snow, we make the most of the learning opportunity presented right at our doorstep.

First we learned that the amount of snowfall looks more than it actually is, because snow contains trapped air.  Tiger filled a glass with the top layer of snow, before levelling the top off with a ruler.

We started the experiment with a cup full of fluffy snow.

At the start of the experiment.

45 minutes later.

90 minutes later.

The difference between the water level at the end of the experiment and the amount of snow at the beginning of the experiment shows that snow contains mostly trapped air.

We also did a quick, low-tech review of the different states of matter and the corresponding processes that occur to make the changes, with Tiger giving me examples of materials in each state.

The next experiment is to demonstrate the difference in rate of fall between a snowflake and a raindrop using two balloons -- one inflated, the other not.  Tiger dropped them at the same height, then explained what caused the difference in rate of fall, which he thought was due to different air pressure caused by different amount of air contained within each balloon.

I thought he might have a point there, but the explanation given in the book we use says that the difference is due to different surface areas exposed to friction in the air.

The movement of snowflakes in the air and other interesting points about how snowflakes are formed can be found in the following clip:

No study of snowflakes is complete without mentioning Snowlake Bentley.  We had read the book before when Tiger was in his preschool years, but now we are relooking at it again to recap:

We also watched a short film about him:

I dug out a set of snow crystal prints that I had printed off and laminated into cards years ago.  We admired the intricacies of each snowflake and noted certain mathematical characteristics: symmetry, hexagonal patterns.

We then attempted to cut out some paper snowflakes with the same hexagonal patterns.  To make the folding easier, we decided to cut out circles first.  It took Tiger a while to get used to handling the mathematical compass to draw different sized circles on the coloured papers:

The folding and cutting were quite simple, once Tiger figured out the instructions to fold the circle into sixths.

We played with the online interactive Make-A-Flake game for a while but decided that we prefer to cut real papers.


This post is linked up to:
1) Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop #40
2) Homeschool Mother's Journal: December 7, 2012
3) Collage Friday
4) It's a Wrap
5) TGIF Linky Party #57
6) Weekly Wrap-Up: The Busy One
7) Sunday Showcase
8) Science Sunday
9) Christmas Science
10) All Year Round Blog Carnival: Winter

First snow this winter

We woke up to snow this morning.

The first snow of winter never fails to cause chaos in transportation.  We tried to go out this morning, but the roads were iced over so we had to stay at home.  However, that did not stop Tiger from having fun in the back garden for most part of the morning.

We didn't get enough snow to make a snowman, but the first snow nonetheless inspired me to introduce Tiger to an English modern Christmas classic, The Snowman.  It's an interesting book in that it has no words.

The story is told in a frame-by-frame illustration style which lends itself very suitably to film animation.

We watched the animation of the story after Tiger has looked through the book, so that he can relate better to how 2D illustrations can be transformed into animations -- something that is being taught at the weekly film animation class that he attends.

This year a shop in England has come up with a snowman-themed Christmas advertisement:

This post is linked up to:
1) Enchanted Thursdays Blog Hop #40
2) All Year Round Blog Carnival: Winter

Advent: Christmas cards

Compared to last year's cards which were made mostly using stickers, this year's card-making process seems to be significantly more complicated, involving more steps and numerous different techniques and materials.

The materials used were:

• watercolour
• Christmas-theme stencils
• poster paints
• glitter paints
• toothbrush
• Christmas-theme foam shapes
• Christmas/winter-theme stickers
• gel pens
• markers
• stamp pad
• glue stick
• salt
• masking tape
• watercolour paper
• white cards

My job was to lay out the materials, and to give Tiger some suggestions on the different ways he could make his cards.  Six lucky friends are going to receive the following cards this year:

This post is linked up to:
1)  Hip Homeschool Hop - 12/4/12
2) All Year Round Blog Carnival: Winter

Advent: Christmas Lanterns

Today's advent activity is to make Christmas lanterns, which is a variation of the Halloween lanterns that we made in October.  The materials used are:

• clean glass jars
• silver poster paint
• glitter paints (green, purple)
• art tissue papers (red, Christmas-theme, gold, white, green)
• Christmas-theme stencils
• Star-shaped confetti
• diluted PVA glue
• paintbrushes
• garden wire
• pliers

I put all the supplies on the table and explained to Tiger about the different ways to decorate the lanterns.

The completed lanterns:

They look even better with the lights off.  With long winter nights approaching, we sure can do with having these cozy lights around!

This post is linked up to:
1) Homeschool Mother's Journal: November 30, 2012
2) Collage Friday
3) It's a Wrap
4) TGIF Linky Party #56
5) Weekly Wrap-Up
6) The Sunday Showcase - Holiday Fun for Kids
7) Hip Homeschool Hop - 12/4/12
8) All Year Round Blog Carnival: Winter

Plans for the advent calendar

I have tried to do advent activities previously but for one reason or another we never managed to do all of them.  This year, having had more experience and more realistic expectation of our abilities, I am going to attempt it again.  We might just succeed, given that we are only going to do one manageable activity each day.  My plan is to have the academics done by lunch time in December, so we will have the afternoons to complete each activity and have time to get the house ready for Christmas.

These are our advent activities, in no particular order:

1. Make the advent calendar
2. Read The Nutcracker
3. Make Christmas cards
4. Post Christmas cards
5. Visit a Christmas market
6. Choose recipes for Christmas
7. Make mince meat
8. Listen to Christmas music
9. Make Christmas lanterns
10. Do some activities related to The Nutcracker
11. Make nature-based Christmas crafts
12. Learn about Christmas story in great art works
13. Watch a performance of The Nutcracker
14. Make Christmas cookies
15. Attend a medieval Christmas party
16. Put the tree up
17. Make mince pies
18. Learn about the history and traditions of Christmas
19. Visit friends in the neigbourhood to deliver Christmas gifts
20. Drive around the neighbourhood to see Christmas lights
21. Christmas food shopping
22. Make Christmas treats for our birdie friends
23. Make paper chains
24. Make garlands

Today being the first day of December, the logical activity to do is to make the advent calendar!  I gave Tiger a pack of pre-cut card baubles and some art supplies, and he spent a long time decorating each one differently.

Tiger decorated 19 baubles while I had some fun and did five of them.

The next step is to paint the numbers at the back of the baubles with two layers of gold paint.  I had three small wooden clips that I painted in gold and glued Christmas-themed foam shapes on them.

Finally, gather the strings, ribbons and clips to hang the baubles up.

Tiger helped to put the baubles up.  We have decided to place them in random order, just for the fun of it.

Since our advent calendar does not have compartments to store messages, I have written the list of activities onto gift tags, which I will stick onto the back of the relevant bauble each evening to be ready for Tiger the following morning.

This post is linked up to:
1) Homeschool Mother's Journal: November 30, 2012
2) Collage Friday
3) It's a Wrap
4) TGIF Linky Party #56
5) Weekly Wrap-Up