Note: This post contains affiliate links. You may read my disclosure here.
Last week I shared the fun activity, Learn about Water Density: Does it Sink or Float? It was one of two activities in my previous post from 7 years ago, 2 Ocean Themed STEAM Experiments for Kids. Today I’m sharing the second of the two activities from that post, Learn about Blubber: Can you Feel the Cold?, which teaches kids how blubber keeps arctic animals warm in frigid temperatures. Like Sink or Float, this experiment is so fun and interesting, I felt it needed its own post so it could be found more easily on my blog. And it was a good excuse to try it again with my 3 year old!
My kids have a huge collection of plastic animals. So before we started the experiment I asked my daughter to find all the arctic animals. We had fun looking through our animal collection and I helped her identify animals that may live in the arctic. We found a polar bear, seal, sea lion, and beluga whale. She lined them up on the table and I asked her to count the animals. I always squeeze in counting practice whenever possible!
I gave her the bowl of ice water and to be honest, she would have been happy playing with the animals in the ice water all day with or without the blubber. She had a blast playing make believe with her animals in the ice water. I eventually asked her if her hands were getting cold, and she said yes, and when I felt them they were frozen. I told her the arctic animals don’t feel the cold like she does. They have blubber to protect them from the cold.
What is Blubber?
Arctic animals can live in extreme conditions. Many of the warm-blooded marine animals who live in the arctic survive in theses cold temps thanks to blubber acting as an insulator. Blubber is a thick layer of fat beneath the skin. It covers the marine animal’s whole body except for fins and flippers.
The blubber insulates the animals from the cold water temperatures in the arctic waters, it increases their buoyancy, and it stores energy (made of proteins and fat) to provide nutrients in times when food is scarce. The blood vessels in the blubber constrict, reducing the flow of blood and reducing the energy required to heat the body, which conserves heat.
In this activity we use shortening to demonstrate the insulating effects of blubber. Shortening is fat that is solid at room temperature. It can be made of lard or vegetable oils.
I told my daughter we were going to give her a layer of blubber to protect her from the cold and she was excited to try it out.
I shared a video of the experiment on Instagram. You can check it out below and be sure to follow me there (@engineering_emily) for daily updates and more behind-the-scenes details on each experiment in my stories.
Can you Feel the Cold?
In this activity the child will learn how blubber protects arctic animals from below freezing temperatures. There are two options for this activity: the “no mess method” requires more prep work, but the child will stay clean and dry; and the “messy method” is no-prep required, but the kids will get messy and wet. This activity is recommended for children age 3+.
Materials:
- Toy arctic animals (optional)
- Large bowl
- Ice water
- Shortening
- Two sandwich size plastic bags (for the “no mess method”)
- Duct or packing tape (for the “no mess method”)
Safety:
Plastic bags are a suffocation hazard. Remind the child to keep the plastic bags (and all activity materials) away from their faces, and keep a close eye on them during the activity.
Shortening is a food product, so it is a safe material for the child to play with. Remind the child to keep the shortening (and all activity materials) away from their eyes and mouth.
Procedure:
No Mess Method (more materials and prep Required)
- Fill a sandwich size plastic bag about half-full with shortening.
- Place a second plastic bag inside the first bag.
- Duct tape the top of the two bags closed. Now you have shortening secured between two bags so there will be no mess.
- Push the shortening around so it covers all sides of the bag.
- Fill a large bowl with ice water. Add the toy arctic animals, if desired.
- Place the child’s hand inside the bag filled with shortening (similar to a large mitten) and see how long they can keep their hand inside the ice water. They should not be able to feel the ice water at all through the layer of shortening protecting their hand. My daughter used the blubber bag to rescue her arctic animals from the ice water.
- Ask the child to place their bare hand into the ice water. They will feel the cold and realize how well the “blubber” protected their hand from the cold!
Messy Method (less materials and No-prep)
- Fill a large bowl with ice water. Add the toy arctic animals, if desired.
- Cover the child’s index finger with a thick layer of shortening.
- Have the child place their finger covered in shortening into the ice water and see how long they can keep it in there. They should not be able to feel the ice water at all through the layer of shortening protecting their finger.
- Ask the child to place a bare finger into the ice water. They will feel the cold and realize how well the “blubber” protected their finger from the cold!
STEAM Concepts Learned:
When the child first touches the ice water with their bare hands it will feel very cold to them. When their hands are protected from the cold with the shortening, they do not feel the cold. The shortening simulates the protection blubber provides to arctic marine animals. The blubber acts as an insulator to keep in the body heat and protect the arctic animal’s internal organs so they can survive in freezing conditions.
The double bags in the “no mess method” keep the shortening from touching the child’s hand, but it still gives the same insulating effects of blubber. The “messy method” puts the shorting (or blubber) directly onto the child’s finger. It depends on the child’s preference which method they will like better.
When I did this activity with my older kids 7 years ago they both preferred the shortening on their fingers (they would not put their hands inside the bags). This time when we did the experiment, my 3 year old daughter did not like the shortening on her finger and preferred putting her hand inside the bag.
This activity was a hit with my big kids when they were toddlers 7 years ago, and it was a hit with my toddler today. It is a timeless, fun activity for toddlers who love playing in ice water (and who love arctic animals). It will keep them busy on a rainy or cold day when you’re stuck inside, and they will be learning while playing too!
Let me know if you try this activity and your kids love it as much as mine have!
You can have this activity (along with 24 other fun and easy water-themed experiments) in your hands or on your device at anytime with my printable pack! The Water STEAM Activities for Kids printable has 25 activities (including this one) in a concise easy to follow format. It’s a pdf file so you can store it on your device, or print all the activities to have them as a quick reference as you do the activity. Check it out in my Shop!
Water STEAM Activities for Kids
Water is essential to human life and it is a great way demonstrate many STEAM concepts. This is a collection of 34 water themed STEAM experiments and activities from the Engineering Emily blog. This printable pack also includes a Table of Contents, an Introduction with information about Engineering Emily, an explanation of the meaning of STEAM, What to Expect in each activity printable, Tips for Success, and an Overview of the water activities, followed by 34 two-page easy and fun water themed activities for kids.
