Science Experiment: Ice Hearts

Teach your kids the wonder of science with this heart experiment and watch their love of science grow. Learning through play is fun and a great way to share learning and science with your little ones. This activity shows how salt interacts with ice to fuse the string and helps children understand science through play. MATERIALS:⠀ - Glass of water⠀ - Red food colouring - Heart-shaped ice tray - Plate or tray - String that can absorb water - Salt INSTRUCTIONS:⠀ (1) Add a few drops of red food colour to a glass of water and mix⠀ (2) Transfer water to the heart-shaped ice tray.⠀ (3) Put the ice tray in a freezer until the water is completely frozen ⠀ (4) Take ice hearts out and place them in a row on a plate. (5) Soak string in water thoroughly (6) Lay the string over the row of ice hearts (7) Add a pinch of salt to each heart where the string and the ice meet (8) Wait 5 seconds and then lift the string to see how it fused with ice hearts. SCIENCE EXPLANATION What happens here is that salt dissolves in a thin layer of water the ice has. Salty water has a lower freezing temperature than fresh water, so it makes ice to melt, absorbing the heat in the process. Ice takes some of that heat from water causing water to freeze back again trapping our string.