Actually we learned about several different bears this week, but polar bears were the only ones that lent themselves easily to experiments.
When we read about polar bears one of the things that stood out to us was all of the unique things about when they’re swimming.
Okay, the boys also found the more gross elements of their hunting interesting.
First, we learned that polar bears have webbed toes to help them swim better, so we had to see the truth in that.
I filled a tub of water, and we all tried running our hand through the water. It didn’t move very much.
Then we tried it with a plastic bag on our hand that could act as webbing. Immediately they noticed they could move more water as they moved their hand through it.
I asked them to think of other examples of things that used the same principal. They came up with frogs, and whales, then they thought of the paddles of boats.
So, we decided to use some “paddles,” or spatulas.
We discovered the bigger spatula works better just like a wider paddle works better.
It was a fun lesson. Then I tried to see if they remembered anything else. They did.
Here’s what they remembered:
Polar bear fur sticks together when they get wet to help keep them warm.
Polar bears eat fish, seals, whales, and whatever else they can catch.
Polar bears wait at holes in the ice to catch animals coming up for air.
After we did all of that we watched, “Nature: Bears,” which was about Brown Bears in Alaska. The kids were intrigued by someone living among the bears and studying them.
Let’s see what others did this week:
Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously. Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.
Source: thefantasticfive-hockmana.blogspot.com via Ticia on Pinterest
Fantastic Five has a fun and gross model of a cell. Would your kids eat it?
Frugal Fun 4 Boys shared an electro-magnet. I’ve always thought these were cool, how about you?
I loved the moon unit for both preschool and elementary over at Finding the Teachable Moments.
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