Melting Ice Cubes

Have a melting contest using a tray of ice cubes.

On a warm day, along with your child, place ice cubes outside on different objects. Try a rock, a wooden or brick step, the grass, or pavement. Watch closely and encourage your child to notice signs of melting.

Then, place some ice cubes on the same surfaces, but at different locations.

Do some ice cubes melt faster than others? Do they melt in different ways?

For some added fun you can keep a record of what happens. One way to do this is to begin the activity by numbering the ice cubes using sticky dots. After you put each ice cube on a surface, write down on a piece of paper the number of the cube and where you put it. After each ice cube melts, your child can put the dots in order from which one melted first to which one melted last. This way you have a record of what happened and your conversation about melting ice cubes can continue even though the ice cubes are gone!