Winter is a wonderful season for family connection, and I’m not talking about Christmas. Winter weather brings hot chocolate, warmth by the fireplace, and best of all snow!!!
Its the perfect season for family science lessons and a front-row seat to one of the most fascinating scientific phenomena on Earth. Water, the molecule that makes life possible in all three of its physical states right outside your door.
After a snowstorm is the perfect time to experience the phases of water density. Somewhere between clearing the driveway and watching the kids launch snowballs at each other, we turned the snow into a full-blown science lesson.
From the falling rain and snow, to the melting ice, and finally the steam coming off the roof tops when the sun comes out. We watched for all the phases of waters recycling system.
The Water Cycle Lesson
My kids love to ask questions as soon as we step outside, and I’ll be honest I don’t always know the answer. But I love to hear their curiosity about nature. Mom, where do trees come from? Mom, where does the water come from when it rains? Mom, how do we get snow? I secretly love it!!!
After the snowstorm, it was the perfect moment to talk about the water cycle. And here is a fact that connects water to our Creator, all the water on Earth right now is the only water there will ever be. It can’t be created or destroyed. Water simply moves through a continuous cycle of transformation, recycling itself across oceans, clouds, rivers, and snowbanks (Pidwirny, 2006).
Watching Water Become a Gas
Water is an essential molecule for life. Water from the oceans, lakes, and even our rooftops is slowly heated by the sun and transforms into water vapor, an invisible gas. Because warm air rises, these water molecules drift upward into the atmosphere.
Water vapor molecules begin to slow down and cluster together in a process called condensation, and this is how clouds are born (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], 2020). The clouds we see are literally millions of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air.
This is the gas stage of water and as water accumulates its passes through the next stage transforming into a liquid. If the atmosphere is warm enough, we get rain. If it’s cold enough all the way to the ground, we get snow.
Water As A Liquid
The water molecules of the storm will become to heavy for the atmosphere and rain will fall. This is the transformation of water from its gas form to its liquid form. Water molecules are attracted to each other through hydrogen bonds, which gives water its ability to form droplets, flow downhill, and support the surface tension that lets insects walk on ponds (Ball, 2008).
When rain falls onto soil, some soaks in to replenish groundwater. Some flows across the surface into streams and rivers. Some evaporates again and starts the cycle over. In winter, if the ground is frozen, water has nowhere to go. It sits on the surface and waits for the temperature to decide its next form.
Water as a solid
Winter is the season that really shines in teaching the water cycle. When temperatures drop below 0°C (32°F), water molecules slow down enough to lock into a rigid crystalline structure and we get ice or snow (Libbrecht, 2005).
Snow forms when water vapor in the atmosphere freezes directly into ice crystals around tiny particles. Each snowflake is a unique six-sided crystal (because of water’s molecular geometry), shaped by the exact temperature and humidity conditions it traveled through on its way down (Libbrecht, 2005).
Ice forms when lots of liquid water freezes, such as when a puddle or a layer of wet snow on the ground solidifies overnight.
The difference between snow and ice showed up beautifully in our own driveway. After two feet of snow, we went outside where the top of the snow pile was light and fluffy, while the bottom was dense, heavy, and compacted into ice. The weight of all that fresh snow above had pressed the lower layers together, increasing density.
Another activity that causes snow to become dense is walking through deep snow; your boots are actually compressing the snow crystals beneath you into a slippery layer of ice. The pressure of your weight causes a phenomenon called pressure melting. It’s the act of briefly melting the snow and then refreezing it into denser ice (Hobbs, 1974).
When the storm provides enough snow and the temperature outside is cold enough to prevent the snow from melting we are able to manipulate the water as a solid and do things like sledding, building snow men, or building a snow fort. Only solid water can be manipulated this way.
The Science Project: Water Density
After answering all the questions about where snow comes from and how water turns into snow. We put the science to work with a hands-on building project.
Dad shoveled the driveway with some homestead tips from Grandpa. All his hard work gave us two distinct types of building material: compact, dense ice chunks from the bottom of the snow pile, and soft, fluffy snow from the top.
We used the ice chunks like bricks because they are dense enough to hold their shape and stack on top of each other. Then we use the soft snow like mortar, pressing it into the gaps to seal and stabilize the structure. The kids had to make decisions: Which chunk fits here? Which side should face outward? How do we keep it from collapsing?
This isn’t just play — it’s engineering. Snow forts and igloos have been built on these same principles for thousands of years. This is where family fun, becomes a survival lesson. Traditional Inuit igloos, for example, are engineered structures that use the compressive strength of snow blocks and the insulating properties of trapped air to maintain interior temperatures well above freezing even when it’s bitterly cold outside (Handy, 1960).
Fun Fact, the water our kids are playing with may have once been part of a glacier, an ancient sea, or a rainstorm over a prehistoric forest (United States Geological Survey [USGS], 2019).
Tips for Your Own Winter Science Day
You don’t need a two-foot snowstorm to explore water science with your family. Here are a few simple activities:
Snowflake observation — Catch snowflakes on a piece of dark fabric or chilled paper and observe them with a magnifying glass before they melt. Look for the six-sided symmetry.
Density comparison — Fill one cup with fluffy fresh snow and another with packed snow. Let both melt and compare how much liquid water each produced. The results are often surprising!
Evaporation watch — On a cold, sunny day after a snowstorm, look for steam rising from dark rooftops or pavement. That’s sublimation and evaporation happening in real time.
Build something — Let the kids experiment with what kinds of snow pack together and what kinds don’t. Wet, heavy snow makes great snowballs and snow bricks; dry, powdery snow falls apart. Ask them: why do you think that is?
Other Fun Project Weather Activities from Amazon: Weather Station, Build a Water Cycle Model, Toddler Water Science, or Frozen Earth Science
Homestead Learning
Winter makes science especially visible and tangible. When your kids see steam rising from a rooftop, walk or crunch through icy snow, or watch a snowball melt in their warm hands, they’re witnessing molecular chemistry in action.
So next time your having a family snow day, don’t just see it as something to shovel. See it as a science lab delivered right to your doorstep and enjoy every minute of it.
References
Ball, P. (2008). Water: An enduring mystery. Nature, 452, 291–292. https://doi.org/10.1038/452291a
Handy, R. L. (1960). Engineering properties of the snow igloo. Highway Research Board Bulletin, 257, 1–13.
Hobbs, P. V. (1974). Ice physics. Clarendon Press.
Libbrecht, K. G. (2005). The physics of snow crystals. Reports on Progress in Physics, 68(4), 855–895. https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/68/4/R03
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2020). The water cycle. https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/freshwater/water-cycle
Pidwirny, M. (2006). The hydrologic cycle. In Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd ed.). PhysicalGeography.net. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8b.html
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. (2021). Snow science. National Avalanche Center. https://www.avalanche.org/snow-science/
United States Geological Survey. (2019). The water cycle. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-cycle
Photos by Tara Vester, Majid Hajiloo, Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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