Robert Frost once said, “You can’t get too much winter in the winter”. So why not go all out and do some fun winter-themed science lessons? Winter is a great time to teach topics like snow, ice, insulators, thermal energy, and extreme weather. There are some simple and engaging winter science activities that third-grade students will love!

explore SNOW AND its HAZARDS

To be sure, not everyone experiences snow in winter, but for many people, winter and snow go hand-in-hand. For some people, blizzards are a regular occurrence during the winter.

To teach about snow and its hazards, there are plenty of great activities. Some of them include reading age-appropriate materials about the topic, doing snowflake art, and creating a plan to prepare for a blizzard. Another fun snow activity is to design a device that will launch a snowball (cotton ball) across the classroom.

For more details on these snow activities, click HERE.

learn about ICE AND its HAZARDS

Ice is another phenomenon that many people experience during the winter. There are some fun ways to teach about ice.

Read about ice and its hazards, then create a city safety plan. Experiment with melting points to see which substances will melt ice the fastest. Complete a STEM challenge using matchbook cars, sandpaper, and ice to teach how slippery ice is. Don’t forget to incorporate art by creating colored ice cubes so students can paint with them.

For more ideas and details about these activities, check out this blog about ice and its hazards. 

what are insulators?

Whether it’s watching a YouTube video, reading nonfiction passages, or doing a STEM challenge, there are plenty of ways to engage students while learning about insulators.

Plus, students can study polar bears and learn how insulators help these arctic animals. Be sure to conduct the experiment where students pretend to be a polar bear by covering their finger or hand with some lard and plunging it into ice water.

Check out this blog for more details and science lessons about insulators.

thermal energy in the winter

For a deeper look at insulation, radiation, and conduction check out this blog all about thermal energy.

Drink a cup of tea or hot cocoa with your students and talk about how the heat transfers from the mug into their cool hands (conduction). Sit around a space heater to get warm (radiation). Make ice and have students melt it in their bare hands so they can experience heat transfer.

There are many fun and budget-friendly options for teaching thermal energy. 

wintertime extreme weather

For many places around the world, winter brings extreme weather. This could take the form of extreme wind, rain, snow, or hail. There are plenty of activities for teaching extreme weather.

Research extreme weather and how people prepare for it. Have students construct a weather-resistant bridge in a Tupperware container and test it to see if it will withstand water being poured around it.

Challenge students to design a weather-resistant shelter that you will “attack” with your hairdryer to simulate extreme wind.

For more details and ideas click HERE and read about Extreme Weather activities for 3rd grade. 

These topics feel natural to teach in the winter since students will likely be seeing these phenomena happening around them. Winter science activities are fun! Enjoy!

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What do you think about when you see snow in the forecast? Snowflakes falling from the sky? Children building snowmen? A snow day closure at school? Back pain from shoveling? Terrible driving conditions? Snow has its ups and downs for sure! Regardless of your thoughts about snow, there are some awesome science activities about snow for third grade!

What is Snow? Why is it Hazardous?

Snow is made from water vapor (a form of gas) in clouds high in the sky. When temperatures in a cloud drop below freezing, the water vapor freezes to form crystals. If the cloud gets too heavy, these crystals will fall as snow.

While snow is beautiful and fun to play in, it also creates hazards. These hazards include dangerous driving conditions, damage to homes and powerlines, and whiteout conditions.

Ways to prepare for these conditions could be staying inside, dressing warmly, having flashlights handy, and having a supply of non-perishable food and bottled water. 

Snow Science and Literacy

Learn all about snow with this easy-to-teach lesson set.

Scripted lessons… check!
Nonfiction Reading… check!
Hands-On Science Experiment… check!
Assessment… check!

grab the lessons

Videos about Snow

Here are a few videos about snow and snow hazards:

1. Peekaboo Kidz - The Dr Binocs Show “SNOWFLAKES”

2. SciShow Kids - Where Do Snowflakes Come From?

3. SciShow Kidz - What is a Blizzard?

4. FreeSchool - What Makes it Snow?

Snow and Blizzards Nonfiction Reading

Reading about snow and blizzards is a great place to start. Check out these grade-appropriate reading passages on Snow & Its Hazards, and Blizzards.

Each passage also comes with comprehension questions. The blizzard passage comes in two reading levels and two versions of the reading comprehension activity. 

Art Integration -Snowflake Art Projects

There are some amazing snowflake art projects that you could do with your students. Here are a few ideas:

1. Wax Resist Snowflakes: This is a simple project that has radical results. Have students use a white crayon or oil pastel to draw a snowflake on a white piece of paper. They will have to press hard to get the best result.

   After they’ve finished drawing the snowflake, use watercolor paint to paint over the crayon. The oil from the crayon or pastel will resist the paint and the snowflake will pop. If you look up Wax Resist Snowflake Art on Google, there will be dozens of examples. 

2. Catching Snowflakes Art: This is a classic art project where students draw themselves catching snowflakes.

3. Pattern Block Snowflakes Art: This is a great way to combine science, art, AND math,

Snowball Fight STEM Challenge

In this snowball fight STEM challenge, students are challenged to design a device that will launch a cotton “snowball” the furthest distance. Students will design, test, and execute their launch in this fun take on a snowball fight!

weather-related hazards, BLIZZARD PREPAREDNESS activity

A fun way to engage students in determining ways to prepare for a blizzard is to create a shopping list and a To-Do list. You could do this as a whole group or have students create their own lists by using the snow preparedness To-Do list template in this resource. 

These are just a few of the fantastic ideas out there for teaching snow and its hazards. Have fun!

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When someone says the word ‘ice’, I can’t help but think about Elsa’s “Let It Go” song as she builds her ice castle. Am I the only one? Maybe I’m unique in that, but that’s OK. Ice is an exciting topic for kids to explore, and there are some awesome science activities for third grade to teach about ice and its hazards.

What is Ice? Why is it hazardous?

Ice is the solid state of water. Water will freeze when temperatures reach 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Black ice is a thin layer of transparent ice and is a hazardous form of ice.

To help negate the effects of ice, trucks can sprinkle sand, dirt, or salt on the roads. People can also put snow tires on their vehicles to keep them from slipping as they drive.

The Easy & Fun Way to Explore Ice

Ready to explore the hazards of ice AND meet science and literacy outcomes? In just a few clicks you can grab everything you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension, and an engaging  science experiment.

check it out

Ice, Icicles, and Frost - Videos for Kids

Here are a few engaging videos to help spice up any lessons about ice!

1. Where Do Icicles Come From? by SciShow Kids is a fun video about icicles and how they form when snow melts and refreezes.

2. Where Does Frost Come From? by SciShow Kids

Reading about Ice

Reading about ice is a great way to incorporate literacy into science. Students will read about the science of ice. They will also read about some of its hazards and ways to stay safe when the conditions are icy.

After reading, they will have the opportunity to answer comprehension questions.

Integrating Art - Ice Cube Painting

For a way to incorporate art into science lessons about ice, Thimble And Twig has a fun idea for making colored ice. Add food coloring to water and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Make sure to add a popsicle stick before freezing. Then students can paint on paper using the frozen cubes.

science experiment - Melting Mayhem

Experiment to see which substances help ice melt. Use substances like salt, baking soda, hot water, etc. Or have students brainstorm things they’d like to try.

While experimenting, review states of matter and have students record their findings. For step-by-step instructions and templates, check out the resource linked above. 

science experiment - Slick as Ice

To teach students how slippery ice can be, experiment to see how far an object will slide. The night before the experiment lesson, freeze water on a long cookie sheet. Collect materials like a piece of carpet, cloth, and sandpaper. Gather straws and a small car.

To execute the experiment, lay the cookie sheet, carpet, cloth, and sandpaper on a flat surface. Have students take turns using the straw to blow the car across each surface. They will see that the cars travel more easily on the ice than the other items.

This isn’t a ‘proper’ experiment because there are uncontrolled factors like students using different-sized breaths while blowing through the straw, but this will help demonstrate that roads can be slippery when icy. 

How Cars Lose Control on Icy Roads

The UCAR Center for Science Education has a similar experiment, focusing on cars losing control on ice roads.

City Safety Plan

Plan for a weather-related hazard in a fictional city with this quick and fun activity.

After learning about the hazards of ice, have students imagine they are in charge of a community that has never experienced a cold snap. Their job is to create an ice safety plan for their city so they can demonstrate their understanding of the topic. To save you time creating the template, check out the template in the resource. 

The topic of ice can be quite exciting for our students. Have fun teaching about ice to your third-grade students!

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