It has been very cold here in the SLV lately. We're talking twenty-below, freezing, frigid cold. For our home school co-op this week we talked a little about how we, and other creatures, stay warm in the icy cold.
This is what we did today:
As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.
Arrival
Instead of shaping our usual bread this morning we made gingerbread! I had all of the ingredients measured in separate bowls so we could easily do all of the mixing and stirring together. As we mixed the wet ingredients together, all the children took turns stirring. Everyone had a little taste of molasses and we said our gingerbread rhyme:
"Mix a batch of Gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown,
roll it with the rolling pin, up and up and down.
Cut it with the cookie cutters, lots of little men,
Put it in the oven till half past ten!"
As we mixed the dry ingredients the children passed around little bowls of the individual spices... cinnamon, ginger, and cloves...to smell. One child anointed herself with cinnamon so she could smell like that. We used hands to feel the spices and flour and add them to our bowl.
We had another smell as all of the ingredients came together in the bowl. Then it was into the pan and into the oven!
Circle Time
Then it was to the rug for circle time. We introduced a couple of new winter verses and songs this week...
I always try to have a verse that takes us from standing/moving to sitting in our circle. This one is fun to act out and brings us from standing to sitting in a fun way:
"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,
Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall.
Then the sun it melted, melted, melted,
Then the sun it melted him small, small, small."
We talked a little about how cold it was outside, and what we humans do to keep warm in the winter. The kids thought of fires, warm drinks/foods and warm clothes. We sang this mitten song:
"Thumb in the thumb place, fingers all together,
This is the song we sing in mitten weather.
When it is cold it doesn't matter whether,
Mittens are wool or made of finest leather.
This is the song we sing in mitten weather,
Thumb in the thumb place fingers all together."
I had a few other verses, but some of the group was a little restless, so I moved on to our story. (I'll add them all to our Verse and Rhyme page.) I thought it would be fun if we learned a little about how animals that live in the super-cold arctic regions stay warm, so we read Little Polar Bear and the Whales from the well-loved Little Polar Bear series by Hans de Beer.
After the story we talked about how amazing it is that some animals can live in such cold places. We talked about thick fur coats and blubber, and then I told them that we were going to do a little science experiment today to learn how blubber works. I pulled out a few of the Nature's Children books about whales, seals and penguins for them to look at while we set up the blubber experiment.
Activity
I have been wanting to try out this blubber experiment for a while now, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it. I got the idea from the book Nature in a Nutshell, which has lots of simple ideas for exploring the world around us.
This is how we did it:
I got my big bowl out and filled it with water. This went into the middle of our round table. The little ones were already playing in it when we began to add the ice. We added ice cubes from a couple of ice trays, but that wasn't quite cold enough. We wanted it really cold. So, Melissa went outside and came back with bowls and shovelfulls of snow and added it to the water. The kids were able to feel the water get colder and colder.
Then I brought out the "blubber glove", which was essentially a closed gallon sized bag of shortening placed inside another gallon size bag. This way we could mold the shortening around each child's hands, while, in theory, keeping hands clean from the greasy fat. It worked OK, but at some point a the shortening bag came open a little so a few hands got a little messy...but really it wasn't too bad.
We went around the circle and each child put his/her hand in the blubber glove and we helped them place it in the water. We also had them put their other hands in the water as well, to feel the difference. They were attentive and interested, and everyone tried out the experiment, agreeing that the blubber hand was very warm, while the other hand in the water was very cold.
Playtime
After our fun with blubber science experiment, the little ones played while our snack finished baking. Under the stairs became a special cave, where much time was spent.
Snack time
For snack we had our wonderful gingerbread the kids made, some fresh whipped cream from cream skimmed right off of the top of our milk, and little clementines. Snack time conversation included how the spices in gingerbread are warming to our bodies, and where whipped cream comes from.
And the gingerbread was delicious.
We had clean-up time, closing circle and said goodbye...
Another fun day with our co-op friends!