As we head into the chillier months of December and January, I remembered a fun activity that my children and I worked on one frosty winter day in New Hampshire. Southern Oregon doesn’t get quite as cold, but this frozen suncatcher is still a lovely way to spend some time exploring the properties of water, experimenting with what floats and what sinks, and, of course, how and why things freeze.
Creating a frozen suncatcher requires a few basic items:
A pie tin or cake pan, or you can experiment with all different kinds of containers from coated paper plates to the lids of containers. (Just remember, the bigger and deeper your container the longer it will take to freeze!)
A pitcher or cup to hold water
About 15 to 18 inches of jute, yarn, or string
Once you’ve found a container that seems suitable—I chose to re-use an old pie tin that once held a store-bought quiche—it’s time to gather the items you’d like to include in your frozen creation. I was fortunate to still have Gaillardia blooming in my garden, and I also happen to have fresh cranberries and an orange on hand. Everything else I was able to gather on a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. I wanted to focus on natural items that would have very little environmental impact or be a treat for the birds or a wandering squirrel.
When you have all your decorations gathered and in front of you, this is a great time to take a minute and talk about what might float and what might sink. Spoiler alert: I didn’t really keep this in mind when I artistically arranged the items in the bottom of the pan!
When I was done arranging all the bits and pieces, I laid my jute string across the entire width of the pan and “weighed” it down with an orange slice. (Be sure to let at least half of your string hang off one side of the pan, this will be what you use to hang your creation up when it’s finished.) Feeling happy with my design, I placed the pie tin on a cutting board for ease of transportation.
And then I added the water.
I gently started pouring water into the pan a little at a time and…. wait for it…. EVERYTHING STARTED TO FLOAT!
Of course it did, because unlike you, I didn’t take the time to think about what floats and what sinks. My beautiful creation dispersed like flotsam on the ocean.
There really is no way around this eventuality. So again, my recommendation is to turn this step into a scientific experiment with the idea of discovering an answer to the questions:
1. What do you think will happen when you add water to the pan?
2. What do you think will float and why?
Hopefully your child will be so curious to see what happens, the design they created will become less important.
If you want to explore some of these ideas further, visit Science Experiments for Kids: Why do things float in water?
The next step can be a bit tricky. If the temperature is going to dip below freezing, then by all means leave your creation out overnight. If that doesn’t seem likely, make some room in the freezer and let modern technology take care of the rest. Before I left for work in the morning, I put the pie tin in the freezer and by the time I got home 8 hours later, it was frozen solid.
Here is another great opportunity to explore the idea of a liquid becoming a solid and some of the science behind it. For a more in-depth but thoroughly understandable explanation behind this principal visit the Science Learning Hub website.
Now it’s time to find a place to hang your suncatcher! I definitely don’t recommend hanging it inside the house, but if you have a tree or a bush somewhere near your home, I’m sure the whole neighborhood will be thrilled to see your beautiful creation!
To take all this a step further, visit our Library of Things catalog and check out a microscope. Have fun taking a close-up look at water in its liquid and solid forms.
Meanwhile, enjoy this cute wintery storytime short featuring the book Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep! by Maureen Wright.
Last but not least, Rogue Reads starts this month, and one of the books being featured is We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom. Over the next several months, many of our branch libraries will be offering interesting Take and Make kits and other activities around the theme of water conservation and science, so check out our event calendar and see what’s going on at your local library.