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Ice Cube Race

What you’ll learn: This activity is all about heat energy and light energy. It’s a great way to teach kids about concepts such as light absorption, light reflection and the transition between different states of matter (solid to liquid)

What you need:

  • A white piece and a black piece of construction paper (cut into 3 inch squares)
  • Two ice cubes
  • One tray (cookie tray works well)
  • Two flashlights

What to do:

  • Place two ice cubes on a tray
  • Cover one ice cube with a white piece of paper and one ice cube with a black piece of paper
  • Hold a flashlight over each piece of paper (equidistant) and “race” to see whose cube melts first

After the race:

  • Reflect about the effect of light energy on the ice cubes (what happened to the ice cube and why?)
  • Reflect on why the ice cube under the black paper melted first (because white reflects all visible light, while black absorbs all visible light)
  • Discuss applications in the real world (buildings, clothing on a hot day, etc.)  

Go back to rainy day activities

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