February 27th is International Polar Bear Day! What a wonderful time to discuss the Arctic, preservation and Arctic wildlife. Polar Bears are fascinating creatures.
Experiment with Blubber!
My children (and I) really enjoyed one experiment in particular – the Blubber Glove. In this experiment you use Crisco as “blubber” and test its insulation effect in ice water. At first I thought – Crisco – no way!! But I gave it a shot and it was awesome. You only need two storage bags, Crisco, duct tape and ice water! Now that is my kind of science project.
It was pretty quick to prep our Blubber Glove and the kids could not imagine what we were doing with it!! I love it when I can stump the kids. So, we discussed polar bears and how they live in such a COLD climate. We would never survive but the polar bears have a special layer of fat to help them endure the cold.
At first I was a little skeptical of how well it would work. Mara (pictured above) tried it first. Of course she is a very reasonable kid and easy to please so I immediately had to try it for myself. I was astounded at the difference a seemingly thin layer of Crisco made! Then imagine a thicker layer and no wonder polar bears are comfy. Definitely one of the most worthwhile experiments we have done.
International Polar Bear Day CLIP
What a neat activity to do with the kids – love that it is fun and learning all at the same time!
OKAY, I just love that and have passed this post onto my kiddos teachers – think it would be awesome for them to do as a class. Thank you
Hi Shauna,
Thank you for passing this CLIP and experiment along. What I love about it is that it is an EASY experiment too! The teacher can prepare 80% ahead of time and the kids will find it very memorable!
I hope your little ones have a great Polar Bear Day!
Victoria
What a neat experiment!
I did a similar experiment with my co-op class a few weeks ago, but I had the kids put on a latex glove before putting their hand into the bag of Crisco.
Love it, what a great way to spend polar bear day.
What an interesting experiment! My kids would love this, they are fascinated by hands on projects like this. We’ll have to try this with them sometime.
Well, tomorrow is grocery day….I think I just might have to add Crisco to my list
That blubber is so cool! Bookmarking this now!
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