Winter Pond Study

With all this snow and ice, I thought it was the perfect time to take the boys to do their winter pond study, as I really wanted them to see the pond frozen over. We packed up their explorer kits, which in itself is exciting for them. They love choosing what to take with them, who's bag it is going to go in and what they're going to use their bits and bobs for.

We headed out after lunch and walked down to the pond, Bear trying to ice skate on the ice with every step. The Cub did extraordinarily well not to fall over despite being trussed up in multiple layers to keep him warm.

Bear was fascinated by the fact that the whole pond was frozen. He took to throwing pine cones at it for a couple of minutes trying to break it but it wasn't happening!

I was obviously tasked with fishing the ice out of the pond for them to look at and their faces were a picture when it came out in big pieces. They were quick to get out their magnifying glasses and their mini microscopes to get a better look. 

They had some water in a tube to look at, and we discussed how cold it was and I decided that I need to buy them some sort of thermometer so that they can check the temperature of it next time for more information to add to their knowledge and something else that they can compare throughout the seasons.

We discussed the ice and Bear remembered that it was cold water that had frozen, and that when it warms back up it will melt again. In The Cub's words, it was frozen freezing. 

They wanted it to melt in their magnifying pot and sat wand watched it for at least three minutes, but obviously in -1 degree weather, there was no way it was going to melt any time soon, and they agreed to throw it back.

We will be printing some of the photos and doing a nature journal page in the next few days while the experience is fresh enough in Bear's mind and in the next couple of the weeks, we will be going out to do our winter tree study too.

Mama Bear x