Day Activities for
Year 2
Dear Parents,
It’s snowing!!!!!
Please choose an activity you would like to do with your child if you cannot make it to school because of the
weather.
We do not expect you to do all these activities. Allow your child to choose an activity that interests them. Some
activities require equipment like thermometers which we are aware some people do not have. Other activities involve
resources that are freely available at home. Please choose accordingly. We would love to see what you have been
doing on your snow day and see what fun you have been having so by all means take photos and allow your child to
bring them in to school.
Happy Snow Day
The snowy weather is a great opportunity for your child to carry out some exciting snow
experiments which will link in with our Polar Topic.
 Let your child collect snow and see if they can find ways to stop it melting. What could they
insulate it with? How could they record their investigation? Could they measure the snow.
 Find out the best methods for melting snow. How long did it take to melt?
Snowflake Observation
 On a snowy day, take a piece of black construction paper and catch snowflakes on it. Use a
magnifying glass to observe the individual snowflakes.
Ask the children to describe the differences between each snowflake
MELTING SNOW
MATERIALS:



a glass cup
thermometer
snow
PROCESS:
Fill the glass up with snow.
Place the thermometer in the glass filled with snow and take the temperature.
Write down the temperature on a piece of paper.
Bring the glass inside and wait until for about 5 minutes until the snow melts.
Now, take the temperature again. What happened?
EXPLANATION:
The temperature of the snow was much colder than the temperature of the melted snow or water.
Water freezes at 32 degrees. When the glass of snow was brought inside, the temperature
indoors was much warmer than 32 degrees and melted the snow. This is how the melting process
works!
Keeping a "snow journal"
The act of keeping a simple journal is a great way to introduce your child (of any age) to the basic
scientific tool of observation. A younger child may simply draw pictures of the kind of snowflakes
observed under a magnifying glass, while older kids can embark upon more detailed record
keeping.
Types of observations to record in your journal:
1. Date, time, and amount of snow fall;
2. Temperature of air and snow pack;
3. Kinds of snow crystals observed (needles, columns, plates, columns capped with plates,
dendrites and stars);
4. Weight of unit of snow. Using a small container such as a + cup measuring scoop, gather
enough snow to fill container (DO NOT COMPACT SNOW). Use a straight edge (like a
ruler or butter knife) to level snow to top of container and weigh it on a postage scale.
The idea is to keep the unit volume of snow being measured consistent each time. You'll
find that the higher the weight, the higher the water content.
Questions to ask:
1.
Is there a relationship between the type of crystals observed and the weight (water
content) of the snow?
2. How does the air temperature affect crystal formation?
3. What happens to snowflakes on the ground over night and after several days? Do they
change shape?
Measure the depth of snow in different places in your garden
Snow day activity
A Snow Enquiry
Equipment needed: ruler, pencil, paper
 Your task is to investigate the amounts of snow that falls in your garden.
 Task 1: Draw a plan of your house and garden (Hint – this is a bird’s eye view of the buildings
and main features of your garden like the example below. Include as many features as
possible as this will help to explain the varying depths of snow in your garden.
1
6
Driveway
8
10
4
Garage
3
9
House
House
Line of trees
North
Patio
2
Pond
Lawn
7
5
Task 2 – Choose 10 sites in your garden to collect snow depth data from and label these on
your map like the example plan above.

Site
number
Location of
site in
garden.
Time of
data
collection.
Depth
of snow
in CM
Observations / thoughts of factors that might
affect snow depth.
Date:
1
Eg Will the snow melt quicker on a paved driveway?
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Eg Sheltered by the tree line.
9
10
Total
 What did you find out?
 Where was the deepest snow?
 Why did some areas have very little
snow?
Make
own
your
Snow
Ice Cream.
What You'll Need:
Clean snow
Bowl
Sugar
Vanilla extract
Milk or cream
How to Make Snow Ice Cream
Scoop some freshly fallen snow into a big, chilled bowl. (Make sure the snow you take is clean
and white. If the snow is brown or yellow, it will taste yucky.)
 Nestle the bowl in the snow to keep it cold while you make snow ice cream. Add a little sugar,
a few drops of vanilla extract, and some very cold milk or cream. Stir together and eat.
 You might like to take your tasty treat inside to enjoy by a warm fire. Experiment with
different flavours of snow ice cream. Try adding some cinnamon or cocoa powder.
 Make a snowball and weigh it in kilograms. Wait for it to melt and weigh it again – is there
any difference between the weight before and after?
Make a bird feeder – those birds can really suffer in the cold winter months, so have a go
at this: Recycled Bird Feeder
You can make your own recycled bird feeder using just a simple used plastic squash or soft drinks
bottle, or a used plastic milk carton. Make sure that you thoroughly wash and dry the bottle
before use.
Then, leaving the bottle lid on, cut a small hole around half way down the bottle. The hole should
be just about big enough so that the birds can access the seeds, and the seed itself can flow
down, but not so large that the seed dribbles out at the slightest breeze!
You should also add in a few small holes at the bottom of the bottle, to aid drainage in case any
rainwater finds its way into the feeder. A few small holes at the top of the feeder will also
encourage ventilation, helping to reduce moisture that may encourage fungal
growths.
Then using garden wire, you can make a small hook and fix to the bottle screw cap.
The recycled bird feeder can then be hung out on a branch. Make sure that you
replace the feeder with a new bottle if it starts to go green or appears mouldy at
all.