SCIENCE MAGIC!! Share The Action

I've recently been sharing virtual Skype visits with schools. Part of my visit is a science magic show so I've been getting requests to share my secrets. I'm happy to do that because the truth is that discovering how the world works is the real magic--and what science is all about. So here goes. Follow the steps for each activity and you can make science magic too. Just be sure to check with an adult before you start. Even better ask an adult to be your partner and have fun exploring science magic together.

Make Air Pressure Hold A Plate

This could get messy so work over a sink. Even better try this outdoors.

You'll need:

A study plastic plate

A paper towel

A sturdy plastic glass (juice size works best)

Fill the plastic glass nearly full of water. Fold the paper towel into fourths and place it on the middle of the plate. Next, turn the plate and towel over the cup like a lid. Hold the plate against the top of the cup with your fingers while you turn the whole system over.

Now the glass is on top. Be sure it is straight up and down. Hold on to the cup with the hand that isn't pressing up on the plate. Then--slowly--take your hand away from the plate. The plate won't fall and the water will stay inside the glass.

Air pressure makes this work. Even though it's invisible, air has weight and takes up space. Air is also al around you so it exerts force on you and objects and other people from all directions. As gravity pulls down on the water inside the glass a partial vacuum is created in the air-filled space inside the glass. Now the downward force of the water and air inside the glass is less than all the upward pushing force of air on the plate. You can see how much larger this surface is than that covered by the water inside the glass. The wet paper towel helps by making a tight seal between the glass and the plate. This keeps any air from slipping inside the glass. If that happened, the air rushing into the glass would push the water out. Then there would be a flood and you'd get wet.

Use Air Pressure To Plug Leaks

You can poke holes in a bottle full of water without it leaking--with the help of air pressure.

You'll need:

an empty 1 or 2 liter plastic soft drink bottle with a screw-on cap.

3 pushpins (the kind used to display things on a bulletin board)

Work outdoors or at the sink. Fill the bottle to the very top with water. Screw on the cap, making sure it's tightly sealed.

Next, stick the pushpins into the bottle, one at a time. Then have your adult partner hold the bottle by its cap while you carefully twist and tug out the pushpins.

Surprise! If water leaks out at all, it quickly stops or slows to a tiny trickle.

Did the bottle magically plug the holes? Of course not. Squeeze the bottle to prove it. Water will spurt out the holes. But when you stop squeezing the water will immediately stop flowing.

The magic is that air pressure is at work again. Air doesn't simply push down, it exerts force in all directions. The force of the air pushing in on the water at the holes you made is greater than that of the water inside the bottle pushing out.

What do you think will happen when you take the cap off the bottle, letting air push down on the water inside the bottle? Try it--just be sure the bottle is over the sink.

Make Air Vibrate and Create Squawky Cans

Want to make strange sounds? You can with a little help from science.

You'll Need:

two cans of different sizes (cleaned and dried)

Sturdy packaging twine

2 paperclips

scissors

tape

a piece of clean sponge (about 1 inch by 2 inches)

Have an adult partner use a nail and hammer to punch a hole through the bottom of each can. The hole should be just big enough for the twine to slip through.

Next, cut a piece of twine about twice as long as the can's height. Thread one end of the twine through the hole and tie to a paper clip. Rest the paper clip on the can bottom and tape in place. Repeat these steps with the second can.

Now, wet the sponge and squeeze out the water.

To make your can squawk, hold the can in one hand. With the other hand, pinch the sponge against the string and give it a jerk. This makes the metal-can bottom vibrate. That in turn creates waves of air. When those waves reach your ear and your brain interprets the signals it hears, you hear the spooky noises.

Can you think of some other things you could make vibrate to produce squawks and weird noises? You'll probably think of lots more but here are three to get you started:

A balloon--Blow it up and grip it between your legs so you can use both hands to stretch its neck Then control how much air escapes.

A comb--Hold it in one hand and run your fingernail back and forth across its teeth.

An empty glass soda bottle--Put the rim next to your lower lip and blow a strong blast of air across the opening.

Use Fast Moving Air to Float A Ball In Mid-Air

A blowdryer makes this science magic trick happen.

You'll need:

A blow-dryer

A Ping-Pong ball

Hold the blow-dryer with the nozzle aimed straight up. You may want your adult partner to do that for you. When the dryer is switched on to "high", place the ball in this column of fast-moving air so it's about 5 inches above the nozzle. Let go of the ball and quickly take your hand away.

As long as the air current iss shooting striaght up, the Ping-Pong ball will float suspended above the dryer's nozzle.

This "magic" happens because fast-moving air has less pressure than more slowly moving air. So the Ping-Pong ball is trapped inside the column of fast-moving air. Here the ball is pushed upward by a jet of air with enough force to keep it from falling, but not enough to blow it any higher.

What you've discovered is also the basic law of nature that helps airplanes fly. When viewed on edge the upper surface of an airplane's wing is curved and the lower surface is flat. Air slips over a curved surface more quickly than it does over a flat surface. So there is less air pressure on the upper surface of the wing than there is beneath the wing, giving the airplane lift.

Can you guess why airplanes take off into the wind?

DON'T THROW OUT THE TRASH!

It can be a lot of fun to help keep the earth healthy. One way you can help is by taking a second look at everything you think is trash. Maybe instead of sending it off to a landfill, your trash can become art, a toy, or something to help your local wildlife. Here are some ideas to get you started. You'll definitely discover that recycling and using up things instead of throwing them out can be FUN!

From What Happens Next: 2 by Sandra Markle (Longstreet Press, 1996).

Turn Old Newspapers into A Birdhouse

Just follow these steps and birds will soon be moving in. First, blow up a balloon and tie the neck. In a plastic bowl (or a milk jug with the top half cut off) mix a half cup white glue with a half cup of water.

Use scissors to cut strips of newspaper about 2 inches wide. Start with about 50 strips.


Check with an adult to see where it's okay for you to work because the next step is going to be messy. And definitely wear old clothes. Then, one-by-one dip strips of newspaper into the glue, wipe off any excess by squeezing between your fingers, and press the strip smoothly onto the balloon. You'll need to cover all of the balloon, including the neck so you may need to take time out to wash up and cut more paper strips. Let the balloon dry completely. Then repeat. Do this until you've built up four layers covering the balloon.

Now, find out what small birds commonly live in birdhouses in your area. Check on-line or in bird books to find out what diameter hole you'll need to have in your birdhouse for your local guests to move in. Have your adult partner use a utility knife to cut a door that's just the right diameter about 3 to 4 inches above the bottom. That will pop the balloon. So remove the balloon pieces from the inside. Then have your adult partner do one more thing.

Working outdoors, have your adult partner spray a coating of water-based enamel inside the house. (This paint is available at home supply stores). This will help make the house waterproof. Dr. Mimi Shepherd, an avian veterinarian, reports water-based enamel is safe for birds once it's been allowed to dry for several days).

Also have your partner use pointed scissors to drill three drainage holes in the round bottom of the birdhouse. And they'll need to attach a toggle bolt to the pointed end and twist on a wire loop to hang the birdhouse.

Finally, back indoors you can use a paintbrush and acrylic paint to decorate the outside of the birdhouse. Top that with a coat of varnish to make the house waterproof.

From Exploring Winter by Sandra Markle (Atheneum, 1984)

Make A Bottle Diner For Birds

Invite the birds to your house for dinner. To make this bird feeder, you'll need a two liter soft drink bottle with a screw on cap, ball point pen, scissors, string, three wire garbage bag ties (or pipe cleaners), and an aluminum pie plate.

Cut off the bottom of the bottle. Set it on the middle of the pie pan and draw around it.

Cut four large scallops along the cut off edge of the bottle. This will allow a flow of bird seed.

Poke holes in the pan on two opposite sides of the circle you drew.

Poke holes in two opposite sides of the bottle.

Attach the bottle to the pan with the ties. Twist the third tie to each of the other two ties on the bottom of the pan. This will securely anchor the bottle to the pan.

Cut off a piece of string 18 to 36 inches long. Poke two holes in the neck of the bottle. Loop the string through the holes and tie the ends in a knot. That will form a loop you can use to hang the bird feeder.
Pour seed into the bottle through the bottle mouth until the feeder is about half full. Put the cap on the bottle.

Once your bottle bird feeder is ready, ask an adult to hang it in a tree or somewhere you can easily watch from a window. You'll also need your adult partner to help you add seed to the bottle feeder as needed. Once you begin to feed the birds, they will depend on you to keep the food coming. If the weather gets cold and snowy in the winter where you live, your bird feeder may be the best diner in the area.

As you watch your bird feeder, see if you can discover the answers to these questions:

• What time of day do the birds most often come to eat?
• Do the birds come more or less often if the weather is stormy?
• Do the birds usually feed one at a time or in groups?
• Which birds chase others away? (You may need to search on-line or in bird books to identify the birds that come to your feeder.)

From What Happens Next: 2 by Sandra Markle (Longstreet Press, 1996).

Shoot Water Blasters
You can turn empty plastic bottles with screw-on caps, such as water or soft drink bottles, into a kind of squirt gun--a water blaster.

First, take the cap off the bottle. Have an adult partner help you put a hole in the center of this cap. Using an oven mitt, they'll need to hold the tip of a slim steel nail (a fourpenny nail) in a candle flame for about ten seconds. Then, working over a stack of old magazines, they'll need to immediately press the hot nail tip straight down on the center of the inside of the cap. That will make a small hole in the cap.

Then you can fill the bottle with water and screw on the cap to create your Water Blaster. Take your Water Blaster outdoors and squeeze to fire. Refill as needed. Build up your blasting skills by aiming at plastic cups set on something that is about waist high.

• How far away can you be and still strike your target?
• Does the amount of water in the Water Blaster make a difference to its blast power?

From The Kids' Earth Handbook by Sandra Markle (Atheneum, 1991)

Play A Game of Jug Ball

This game will turn empty milk jugs into a great game. Collect six milk jugs and rinse them out. Use scissors to cut the body of the jug, transforming it into a scoop (like the one in the picture). Next create a ball. Use an old dishwashing sponge. Dampen it so it's bendable. Bend it in half and anchor this shape with several recycled rubber bands.

Now, to play jug ball, stand in a circle. Stand close together. Then take three steps back. Toss the sponge ball from player to player. Start by going around the cirlce. Then have the player doing the tossing call the name of the player who must catch the ball. Any player who fails to catch the ball collects one letter of the word "Oops." When all four letters are collected by the same person, he or she must drop out of the game. The winner is the person remaining when everyone else has spelled "Oops."

Just remember, for the earth's sake,

conserve, recycle, and use it up!

PLAY BALL!

Spring isn't far away and with that comes BASEBALL.  So here's a bunch of activities to get you ready to throw out the first ball of the season.

Do Cold Balls Bounce Less?

In 1965, the Detroit Tigers accused the Chicago White Sox of refrigerating the balls used by their pitchers.  Should a team care if their batters are pitched ice-cold balls?  You can find out.

Slip at least three baseballs  (five is even better) into a plastic grocery sack to keep things clean and chill them in a refrigerator for an hour.  While you're waiting think about how chilling changes other things, like pancake syrup or butter.  Then conduct this test to find out the cold facts.




Work outdoors on a paved area or indoors on a smooth, hard surface (after checking with an adult). Have someone hold a measuring stick straight up with the starting end of the scale on the floor.  Drop the balls one at a time from the top of the stick.  Be sure someone is watching closely to check exactly how high each ball bounces.  Write down each ball's bounce height. Divide by the number of balls tested to find the average bounce height.

Next, spend five minutes warming up the balls using anyway you can think of to do the job safely, such as holding the balls in warm hands or even setting them on a hot water bottle.

Then repeat the bounce test with the warmed balls.

Were the warm balls better bouncers?  They should be.  

How far a baseball travels when a batter strikes it depends on two things: the amount of energy transferred to the ball by the bat and how quickly the elastic material making up the ball snaps back, pushing away from the bat.  When a bat strikes a ball, it compresses the baseball to about one half of its original diameter. Wow! Think about that the next time you watch a batter connect with a ball.


For all those inquiring minds who'd like to know how this historic event effected the game, here's the rest of the story.  Before this event, Major League home teams used to supply game balls to the umpire one at a time throughout the game. So the home team's pitchers could be given chilled balls. Worse, according to the White Sox, the Tigers baked the balls given to their team's pitchers. That meant the Tigers were slugging hot balls.  To end the squabble, today, Major League rules require the home team to supply all the baseballs to be used during the game two hours before game time.

The Balls Have Changed--But Not Much

In the past 100 years, baseballs have only changed in one way. In 1974, cowhide replaced horsehide as the baseball's covering.  Otherwise a baseball is exactly the same, today, as it always was.

There's a cork core inside a rubber ball surrounded by nearly a quarter mile of woolen yarn, a winding of cotton/polyester yarn and a leather jacket sealed with 108 stitches (not one more or one less).

The finished ball must weigh between 5 and 5.25 ounces (141 and 148 grams) and be between 9 and 9.25 inches (22 and 24 centimeters) around.

This CT-scan lets you peek inside a real baseball to see its parts.
Don't you love the unique way technology lets us look at things?

Find The Sweet Spot

You'll need a wooden bat and a hammer (either a real hammer or a wooden mallet) for this activity.  Your job is to find the one special spot on the baseball called the sweet spot.  It has that name because striking a baseball with exactly that spot on the bat will make it travel farther than striking it at any other point.  That happens because striking the ball at the sweet spot causes the least amount of vibration within the wooden bat.  And that means the greatest amount of energy will be transferred to the ball.  So where is the sweet spot?

Have a partner grab the end of the bat's handle and let the bat hang straight down. Use the hammer to tap the bat gently near its fat free end.  Then repeat tapping the bat gently at points closer and closer to the handle.  Usually striking the bat at the sweet spot will produce a slightly different sound.  The person holding the bat should also feel less vibrations when the bat is struck at the sweet spot.

To be precise, measure about six inches (15 centimeters) up from the fat end of the bat.  That's where the sweet spot is usually located.

When a Major League player strikes the ball at that
spot, it's not uncommon for the ball to leave the bat
traveling 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour.








In the past, Major League ballplayers tried to make balls travel farther by swinging heavy bats.  Home run hitting king Babe Ruth regularly used a 42 ounce (1,190-gram) bat. Sometimes, he even used one that weighed 52 ounces (1,474 grams).

Today, though, players have decided they can knock balls farther by swinging faster. So they are opting to use lighter bats--ones weighing 32 or even 28 ounces (907 or 793 grams).

Play the Original Game

This is a photograph of a game of rounders being played in 1913.

Before there was baseball, people in England played a game called rounders.  Follow these directions, to play a game of rounders. Then decide how it's similar to today's game of baseball. And how it's different.

To play rounders, first vote on how many players to have on a team--any number will do.  It's not even necessary for the two competing teams to have the same number of players.

Next, vote on whether to have three or five bases.  Once outdoors, space out the bases in a circle. They can be as close together or as far apart as you choose. The pitcher will stand in the center of this circle. The batter from the opposite team will stand at one of the bases. The other players on the pitcher's team will be in the field to try and catch the batted ball and tag the batter before he circles the bases.

Now, play ball.  Each player gets only one chance at bat.  The winning team is the one with the most players to have rounded all the bases.  By the way, in the original game, runners weren't tagged out. They had to actually be struck with a ball tossed at them.

You might be interested in knowing that in the very early days of baseball, players were given four strikes before they struck out.

Check out these websites for even more baseball fun.

The Baseball Hall of Fame   Great information about the Hall of Fame players, trivia about baseball, and Frequently Asked Questions about the game.

Black Baseball League  A place to explore the period of baseball's history when black players had their own league.

Atlanta Braves  A site to find tips from pros, interviews with players and much more. I shared this team's site because I lived in Atlanta for many years and still cheer for the team.  However, you can find information about your own favorite team at MLB.com

ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS!!

It was an exciting moment as the names of all the schools that sent entries went into my favorite sun hat to be well-mixed.  Then the winners were drawn out, one-by-one.  

I’m delighted to list the following schools as the 2012 Markle’s Book Explorers.  As you’ll see, it’s, delightfully a group representing lots of different parts of the United States.  I’m definitely looking forward to connecting with each school’s representative to send books, schedule my virtual visits, and more.

         The 2012 Markle's Book Explorers

• Beacon Cove Intermediate School, Jupiter, Florida
• Conway Elementary School, Fredericksburg, Virgina
• Dunlap Elementary, Battle Creek, Michigan
• North Elementary School, Noblesville, Indiana
• Oakdale Elementary, Omaha, Nebraska
• Marshall W. Errickson School, Freehold, New Jersey
• Maplewood Heights Elementary, Renton, Washington
• The Ravenscroft School, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, Utah
• Woodrow Wilson Elementary, Denton, Texas

So Book Explorers get ready to launch. It's time to start exploring with me.  But never fear.

There will be lots of fun activities for everyone. Just put this site on your favorite's list and keep checking back!

 

Waiting For Ice--The Inside Story

Waiting For Ice (Charlesbridge) actually started, as many of my books do, while I was doing research for another book and--WHOA!--I discovered a special story.

I live and write by the rule that 99.9 percent of my research information must come directly from experts who are working firsthand on the subject.  That sometimes takes me to very interesting places, like the South Pole.  Or, at the very least, it lets me talk with experts on the phone--sometimes via satellite while they're in remote places.

So while writing Animal Predators: Polar Bears (Lerner),
I had the chance to talk to Dr. Nikita Ovsyanikov.

 Since 1990, he's spent every Arctic summer on Wrangel Island, studying polar bears.  That's no easy task. Let me set the scene for you.

This is an aerial view of Wrangel Island during the summer and during the winter. 

Wrangel Island in winter.

Wrangel Island in summe

It's never an easy place to live. The island is North of the Arctic Circle.  It's a rugged, windswept, storm-scoured island about half the size of Rhode Island surrounded by frigid seas and miles from anywhere people would find comfortable.


It's no wonder the island has features with such names as Unexpected River and Doubtful Spit.  Check out this website to find out more about Wrangel Island.

So why go there to study polar bears? It's because that's the place hundreds of polars bears are stranded every summer.  All winter long, polar bears roam solo or a mother travels with her cubs. The bears take advantage of icebergs and raft-like ice floes to rest in between hunting seals, beluga whales, and other sea creatures.  Polar bears are good swimmers, but they can't swim indefinitely. So when the sea ice melts, they haul out.  They're stuck wherever they land until, once again, the sea crusts over with ice.  Because Wrangel Island is one of the few available land masses in prime polar bear territory, as many as 600 bears are stranded there every summer.

Imagine the fights that break out as the bears compete for wind-sheltered resting spots and food.  Finding something to eat isn't a big problem while the island is also home to colonies of migratory birds, such as black bellied plovers and red knots, raising their young or walruses stopping by to rest.  However, those animals leave around September.


Normally the sea ice returns in September so the polar bears leave the island about the same time as their prey.  However,  global warming has delayed sea ice formation to as late as November.  Then the polar bears are trapped, waiting for ice.  Eventually, the only food source on the island is scraps, like the remains of a whale that washed ashore and dead birds.

Nikita shared the amazing story of what happened in 2002, a year when the polar bears had to wait until well into November for the sea ice to return.   He said, "One day, I spotted two young cubs alone on a narrow spit of land.  The cubs were small, undoubtedly only born that year, but no mother bear arrived to feed or protect them."

Nikita watched the cubs on the spit for six days. Each day, they screamed for their mother, paced nervously, and bravely lunged to drive away adult bears that came too close. The mother bear never returned, though.  On the sixth day, Nikita discovered there was only a single cub, a young female, stood alone on the spit.  Adult polar bears will attack and kill orphaned bears so Nikita guessed that's what happened to the one cub.  He also worried what might happen to the survivor.

The orphaned cub left the spit and Nikita searched for it each day as he studied the polar bears.  He watched her bravely fend off attacks from adult bears and steal a few bites of dried walrus skin.  One day, she managed to get a dead bird all for herself.  Seeing her fight to stay alive, Nikita nicknamed the cub Tuff.  Watching Tuff became his favorite past time.  Then one day Tuff surprised him by coming to the cabin where he lived on the island. His rule was to only watch the animals, but when he caught Tuff peering longingly into the window of the storage room where he kept his supply of reindeer meat his heart melted.

Nikita said, "To me it was like watching a child suffer.  I couldn't do it. I thought I'd give her a few happy moments in what would surely be a very short life."

 Then he kept on feeding her from time to time because the sea remained ice free that year until 

well into November. 

When the ice finally returned. Nikita packed up to head home too. The day before he left,  he gave Tuff a farewell gift--a whole reindeer carcass.  So she ate and ate.  Then, very full, Tuff waddled out onto the ice, lay down, and fell asleep.

In the morning, Nikita looked for Tuff one last time but couldn't find her. Because the ice was broken up, he guessed Tuff must have ridden out to sea aboard a floating ice raft.  He was sure that was the last he'd ever see of the polar bear cub.  What chance could she possibly have of making it through the winter without a mother to teach her to hunt or to catch food for her.

What a shock he had, when he came back to Wrangel Island that next summer. 

He'd barely settled in when a young adult polar bear plodded up to his cabin.  Nikita said, "I'd spent so many hours looking her in the face and taking her picture, I knew at once this was Tuff."

Tuff seemed to recognize Nikita too. All that summer, whenever she ran into him on the island, she came close and didn't run away.  She also didn't come looking for a handout. She'd learned to survive on her on. Nikita happily watched Tuff growing bigger. When the ice returned that year, she left healthy and strong.

The rest of Tuff's life remains a mystery because Nikita has yet to see her return to Wrangel Island again. He says, "I like to think Tuff's alive and well and raising cubs of her own."

I like to think she is too.   

It's Time For Winter Fun

Here I am with my books that were published in 2011.

I'm excited to announce I'm launching a special new way to connect with readers. Each year, I'm inviting a few schools from across the U.S. to become part of Markle's Book Explorers for the year. Everyone can enter before February 29th. Just use the post option on this blog to enter your school's name and contact information. The names of all entries will go into a hat and I'll select ten. Throughout the year, I'll give each of the Markle's book Explorer Schools a copy of any of my books published during that year. That will start with Waiting For Ice (Charlesbridge) that's soon to be released. I'll also share any books that receive special awards. I'll provide a free virtual visit to the school (via Skype) and respond through the year to up to six emails from students (as shared by their teachers.

Of course, everyone can still join me and share special activities, like this one, on my blog. So don't wait another minute to start having some wintertime fun.

If it gets cold where you live and even if it doesn't, you can enjoy the activities from my book Exploring Winter.

Start with a winter scavenger hunt. Go outdoors and try to find one item for each category listed below. No fair using the same item for more than one category. This is great fun for groups to compete.

You might find maple seeds like these.

Try to find:

Something older than you are

Something younger than you are

A seed

Something rough

Something smooth

Something that will change in the spring

A bird feather

How wet is the snow? Find out. In an average snowfall, ten inches (25 cm) of snow melts down to one inch (2.5 cm) of water. How much drier or wetter is your current snowfall.

You'll need a can at least ten inches (25 centimeters) tall with straight sides. Try to collect your snow sample shortly after the snow stops falling. Fill your sampling can, but don't pack the snow.


Next, take the can indoors and let the water melt.

Try keeping a record of each new snowfall for the rest of the winter. Which months had the wettest snow? If you keep your tracking going, find out how one year's snowfalls compare to another.

By the way, I spent one winter at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. I'd always heard that, if temperatures were below -60F (-51C) boiling water thrown into the air would freeze before it hit the ground. I had a chance to test it because that winter the temperatures dropped as low as -129F. The boiling water immediately turned into tiny sparkling ice crystals.

This is a great winter time read--don't miss it.

The Winter of the Blue Snow

Have you ever heard of Paul Bunyan? He was a giant of a man--and I mean a real giant, so the stories go. There are tales about the lumber camp he ran in the far North.

One of those is about the winter of the blue snow.

Nobody knew why the snow was blue that winter. Some say it was because it was so terribly cold. How cold was it? It was too cold for thermometers to measure. The men each had sixteen blankets to sleep under, but they still couldn't keep warm. Shot Gunderson, the head woodchopper, slept under forty-two blankets one extra cold night. There were so many blankets he got lost trying to find his way out from under that huge pile. In fact, it took him three whole days to uncover himself. The poor fellow nearly starved to death before he made it to the cook shake.

Not that eating was easy once you got to the table. When Hot Biscuit Slim, the cook, set coffee out to cool, the steaming brew froze so fast that the ice was hot. The men had to eat with their mittens on because the hot biscuits froze solid before they went the distance from plate to mouth.

Conversations around the bunkhouse were slowed down mightily that super-cold winter. Words froze as fast as they were spoken. Piles of icy words had to be heaped behind the stove because nobody could tell what had been said until the words thawed out.

About the time summer was due, the weather got even colder and the blue snow kept on falling. Snowdrifts piled up two hundred feet (60 meters) deep. Elevators were built just to carry the men from the bunkhouse to the surface. To log the trees, Paul had to scoop out holes and lower his men down to the forest.

What you don't believe this wintery tale?

Make up one of your own packed full of all the things that might happen if it was super cold and the snow was super deep.

One of the most famous blizzards ever recorded was during the winter of 1888. Thirty to forty inches (75-100 cm) of snow and ice was dump on the Northeastern United States. That was before snowplows and entire cities were helpless for weeks. Before the blizzard was over four hundred people had died.

Collect Snowflakes

While no two snowflakes are ever exactly alike (as far as anyone knows), they are all hexagone--six-sided crystals. Snowflakes take several main shapes.

If you want to catch some snowflakes, chill a clean glass slide or a small mirror in the refrigerator. Take the cold glass outside and allow a few flakes to collect on it. You may need a magnifying glass to see the snowflakes if they are very small.

To preserve snowflakes so you can even take them inside with you you'll need a can of plastic spray--the kind artists use on chalk drawings.


Chill the spray along with the clean glass slide. Carry the glass slide outside on a piece of cardboard. This keeps your body heat from warming the glass. Spray the glass lightly with the plastic coating. Let snowflakes collect on the glass. Take the preserved snowflakes inside and let the plastic coating completely dry (about fifteen minutes).

Check out this book about Wilson Bentley.
His photos of snowflakes became world famous.

Now you can examine the snowflakes with a magnifying glass or a microscope if you have one. No need to rush. These snowflakes will stay crystal-clear forever.

Go Tracking

Duck Tracks

Rabbit Tracks

When the ground's covered with snow, it's the perfect time to collect animal tracks like these.



Take along an adult partner and a digital camera. Snap photos of any animal tracks you find. Back home, look on-line to match the prints you found to the animal. Google images is one good source to check out.

While you're at it try to decide what the animal might have been doing at the time it left its tracks. Was it running or walking? How do you think you could tell? Try making tracks of your own running and walking and observe the difference. It's even more fun if you find overlapping sets of tracks from different animals. Now, make up a story for what might have happened. Was one animal there first? Was one animal chasing the other? There's a new story in every set of snow tracks you find--even if they're people footprints.

Watch Birds Share A Treat

You can get a good look at birds that spend the winter in your neighborhood, if you invite them to dinner. An easy treat to make is a peanut butter pinecone. Loop a string around the top of a pine cone and tie a knot. Next, smear peanut butter on the cone and roll the cone in birdseed. Then have an adult partner hang the pinecone where birds will be able to perch and eat.

Now, keep watch. Use bird books and search on-line to help you identify the birds visiting your bird diner. Also, answer these questions:

1. What time of day do the birds come to eat?

2. Do the birds come more on stormy or sunny days?

3. Do the birds take turns and feed one at a time? Or do they compete to eat?

4. Which birds usually chase other birds away?

Create a colorful bar graph to share the data you collect about your dinner guests.

Remember, to replace your pinecone with a fresh treat from time-to-time to keep the dinners coming back for more.