Alaska - Part II

Miss Yates came back today to teach us about animal adaptations in the cold Arctic climates.  She did a great experiment showing the children how blubber and fur keep Arctic animals warm in harsh storms and subzero windchills.  For the first experiment, the children wore gloves and then stuck their hand in a bag full of Crisco, which acted as our "blubber".  The children then put their blubber hand into a cold bath of ice water.  The blubber insulated their hands so they didn't feel the chill. 

 

Jemima is putting her "blubber coated" hand into the ice bath.  She noticed that her hand couldn't feel the cold water at all!

Here's the ice bath!

 



 

Everyone is patiently waiting their turn to try the ice bath!

 

 

In the second experiment, Miss Yates had each child put their arm in front of a blowing fan, which simulated a raging winter storm. They could each feel the wind when their arm wasn't protected.  Then she wrapped their arm in fake fur and put their arms back in front of the fan.  They couldn't feel the wind at all because the fur insulated their skin!

 

Ryan is putting his bare arm in front of the fan with no protection.

 

Andre has fake fur wrapped around his arm to protect it from the wind!

 

 

The students loved these hands-on activities and really started to understand how blubber and fur can keep an animal warm.