Water Ball Experiment
This is a great way to teach kids about what happens to water when you get it hot or cold. However, you’ll want to make sure that your kids are old enough to know that chucking a large ball of ice at somebody is a bad idea—or little enough not to be able to lift it.
Materials
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Helium balloon
- Round bottom bowl big enough to fit the balloon
Directions
- The night before fill the balloon up with water. It is easier to put the food coloring in the balloon before you fill it with water, instead of after. We thought it would be fun to put some glitter in there too, but it wasn’t. It was just a big mess when the ball started to melt.
- Tie the balloon off and stick it in the bowl. You will want to make sure it has a round bottom so that it maintains a little bit of the round shape. If you live where it is cold, you can freeze them outside nestled in the snow—that helps them retain their shape. But who wants to play with ice when it is cold? It is much more fun when it is hot outside!
- Let them freeze overnight. When you are ready to play with them, cut the balloon off.
- Hand them over to the kids and let them roll them around the yard. G— loves to lick hers. Yuck! It is also fun to watch it go down the slide or we set up some bowling pins and did a little ice bowling.
- Once the thrill wears off, hand the kids some spray bottles filled with warm (almost hot) water. Spraying the ball with warm water creates holes in the ice. You can build ice tunnels and bridges by spraying the ball in just the right places.
