Today we investigated the properties of dry ice and were left amazed by what happened when we added it to water. We touched the blocks of dry ice with tongs, learning that we must not touch the dry ice as it is even colder than ice made from water. Then the children thought I was a magician as they watched the dry ice react with water to create a big cloud of smoke. Magic!
We have been exploring air over several weeks so the children they made the connection that air was escaping out of the dry ice as smoke. We then wondered what would happen if we put a few pieces of dry ice into some bottles and tried to trap this escaping air with balloons. To our amazement we watched the balloons blow up, bigger and bigger, until they eventually POPPED! Through this active learning, the children could see that dry ice turns from a solid to a gas on contact with water and that the balloon traps all the carbon dioxide gas
