Salty Winter Experiments

By Sara Thompson

Special to Enterprise

Image by Sarah McClelland

If you need some fun activities to entertain children during school break, then look no further. This simple craft and experiment can be done as many times as you’d like and only need a few supplies that are easy to find.

Making a salty snowflake:

Supplies needed: paper, glue, salt, and food coloring and pipette/dropper optional.

Print out a snowflake template or make your own design, remember that snowflakes have six points. Trace the design with glue. Sprinkle salt over the glue while it is lying flat, then gently tip it upright over a tray or a trash can for any non-stuck crystals to fall. The salt crystals will stick to and dry with the glue making an easy and sparkly snowflake. If you want to make colorful snowflakes, put liquid food coloring in a shallow dish. Use a pipette or other dropper to suck up some of the color and slowly drop the color drops onto the salt before they dry. The salt will absorb the liquid and remain that color.

Make frost on a can:

Supplies needed: tray or plate, tin can, ice, water, and salt.

Place the tin can on a plate or tray. Fill it as full of ice as you can. The smaller the pieces the better they will fit, so break apart or crush as needed. When the can is filled with ice, pour some water in until it reaches halfway up the can. Sprinkle some salt over the ice to start it melting and give the can a gentle shake. The melting ice will cool the rest of the water to its freezing point, also resulting in the cooling of the can. Any condensation on the outside of the can will start to freeze and make frost. Be careful with touching the frost, as the super cold can and frost can damage skin if not handled carefully.

These activities are quick and easy to do for all ages, but we recommend all activities have an adult present for safety. For more family fun, please join us for any of our extended public hours December 23 10am-4pm, December 27-29 10am-2pm, December 30 10am-4pm. Or celebrate Noon Year with us on Saturday, December 31 10am-2pm. Admission is $5 per person, Members and children under 2 free.

Explorit will be closed December 24-26 and Sunday, January 1

Explorit's coming events:

• A Membership to Explorit grants the recipients free visits to Explorit’s regular public hours, discounts on events, camps and workshops, and gives you ASTC benefits to visit other museums throughout the world. To purchase or for more information visit https://www.explorit.org/membership or call Explorit at 530-756-0191.

• School Programs are available to schedule. We have educational programs that travel to schools and options for field trips at our facility. Please call 530-756-0191 for more information or to schedule.

• Now is a great time to donate and help Explorit continue to educate and inspire the scientists of tomorrow: https://www.explorit.org/donate.