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Presents... 3 Check It Out! 4 June in Winter 8 Bringing Home the Gold 10 10 Fun Winter Things 12 What’s Your Winter Name? 13 Snowball Cookies 14 Puzzles 16 Find the Perfect Snow 19 Draw a Snowboarder 20 Bathtub Chemistry 21 Ice Bubbles 22 Frozen Fun 24 The Sledding Challenge 26 Cowboy Clark & Larry 27 Facts About Flakes 28 28 Ziggy’s Mail Zone 29 29 Kids Corner 30 30 Puzzle Solutions 2
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Playing in the snow is a favorite winter activity. Imagine waking up in the morning and finding everything outside covered in white. Maybe it snowed so hard that school has been cancelled. That gives you an entire day to play outside. What do you do first? Once you’ve had breakfast and are dressed, go out and build a snowman. If there is a lot of snow, you might ask your mom or dad to take you sledding. It doesn’t matter what you do. The important thing is to head outside and have fun! Catch snowflakes on your tongue. Lie down in the snow and make a snow angel. Invite some friends over and have a snowball fight or build a snow fort. Just enjoy all the fluffy white stuff before it melts. And when you come inside, be sure to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.
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Do you enjoy taking warm bubble baths when it’s cold outside? Try this unique and unusual science project the next time you soak in the tub. In this experiment, you will be a chemist, and you will mix chemicals to make something you will find useful and fun.
WHAT YOU DO: • You must mix the three chemicals together in the right amounts, and carefully mix them together. • Put 3 spoonfuls of baking soda in the cup. • Add 3 spoonfuls of cream of tartar. • Add 1/2 spoonful of cornstarch. • Stir the chemicals together until they are well mixed. The better you mix the chemicals, the better your new chemical will work for you. What is this new chemical? You have made yourself a BUBBLE BATH with chemicals you found in the kitchen! Fill a bathtub with warm water, and add a little soap to the water. Get undressed, and get into the tub. Now mix in your bubble bath powder, and get ready to see all the bubbles your chemicals will make for you! Have fun soaking in your science experiment!
THE SCIENCE SECRET
WHAT YOU NEED: baking soda cream of tartar cornstarch a spoon a paper cup
PARENTS’ NOTE: THESE THREE CHEMICALS ARE ALL USED IN COOKING. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY HARMLESS.
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When these three chemicals are put in the water, they make a gas called carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide bubbles up through the water and, if your water is soapy, gets caught inside the soap. It makes bubbles that stay all over the surface of the water. The bubbles are fun to scoop up and wash yourself with. When they break against your skin, they make you tingle and feel nice.
I bet you have blown bubbles outdoors. I also bet that you blew those bubbles on a nice, warm, sunny day in summer. But have you ever blown bubbles outdoors on a freezing, cold day in winter? If you haven’t, this will be a super, amazing experiment for you to try. You won’t believe what happens to bubbles when they meet the freezing cold of winter!
What You Need: • a piece of paper about 3 inches wide and 8 inches long • a rubber band • soap solution – Gently stir together 2 cups water, 1/2 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid, and 2 teaspoons sugar. • a winter day that is below freezing with no wind
What To Do Roll the paper into a tube 3 inches long, and slip the rubber band around it to hold it. Put the soap solution in a paper cup. Put on warm clothes and go outdoors. Practice blowing a bubble by dipping one end of the tube in the soap and blowing into the other end. You should be able to blow a bubble about the size of a small ball. If the bubble sticks to the end of the tube, shake the tube to set it free.
Two Science Experiments to Try 1. Warm air rises. Hot air balloons “fly” because they are full of warm air, which causes the balloon to rise. YOU are warm inside. Take a big breath of air and HOLD YOUR BREATH as long as you can. The air will warm up inside your lungs. Now use your warm breath to blow a bubble. The bubble will be filled with warm air, and it will float UP in the cold winter air! Bubbles you blow in the summertime float down because the air inside and outside the bubble is warm. Bubbles ONLY float UP in the wintertime when the air is cold! 2. Your bubble will only float up a little way. Then, the air inside will get cold, and it will float back down. When you can reach the bubble, HIT IT GENTLY WITH YOUR FINGER. Guess what will happen? Because the soap solution is made with water, and the bubble is so thin, it will SHATTER as if it were made of glass! In freezing weather, bubbles do not POP – they BREAK! Try it and see.
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by Karen Holtz
The sun was setting over the snowy landscape, bouncing its final rays of orange across an almost deserted hill. Only one remained. One solitary figure stood poised atop the hill, sled in hand. Accompanied only by the echoes of laughter and delighted screams of sledders already warming by the fire, he stood ready to challenge the sun’s rays to one last run. He felt a strange wave of calm come over him as he stared out across the frozen ground. He had planned his route carefully. He lined up his sled, aiming it toward the trail that would bring him home. It was a time-old challenge. Could he beat the setting sun? Would he make it home before the last traces of light seeped out of the darkening winter sky? Climbing aboard his newly polished sled, he hunkered down as low as he could. Only his eyes and the top of his hat peeked above the front of the old wooden toboggan. It was the same one his father had used to race down that very hill. The moon was already in the sky, as if to bear witness to the challenge. Its faint light was straining to enliven the snow crystals on the chosen path. He nodded to the moon, his co-pilot on the night’s last run, and pushed off.
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His stomach lurched as he crested the hill. The sled slowly picked up speed, faster, faster, until all he could do was to hold on. His watering eyes, wild with excitement, were victim to the icy wind as tears froze upon his rosy cheeks. His nose was assaulted by the scent of pine as he sped past the giant trees, now only silhouettes against the orange sky. As if one with the toboggan, he leaned one way, swayed another, hurtling down the hill toward the finish line. Closer to the bottom he flew. He ducked his head down completely, trying to get every last ounce of speed out of the hill as he bounced up out of the valley and started to slide across the flat ground that led home. As soon as the sled slowed, he jumped off and started running down the winding trail. He headed toward the lights twinkling at him from his back porch. Down the trail, round the bend, through the gate. He leaned his sled up against the shed and took the porch steps two at a time, encouraged by the warming smell of hot chocolate. He was met at the door by his mother, her face stern as she pointed to her watch. His father glanced up over his newspaper with a questioning look. He didn’t need an answer. The look on his son’s face told it all. With a wink, his father went back to his newspaper. With one last look outside, he smiled as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. He nodded at the moon and shut the door. Champion for one more day.
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