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Try this winter experiment for soapy fun. Using soap bubbles, you'll turn them into frozen bubbles.

How to Make Frozen Bubbles

What You'll Need:

Measuring cup
Soap powder
Sugar
Hot water
Bowl
Spoon or whisk
Bubble wand

This is an activity for a cold, cold (below freezing) day when there is no wind in the air.

Start by making a strong bubble solution. Mix 1/2 cup soap powder, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 cups hot water. (This mixture will help the bubbles last longer.)

Take the bubble solution and a bubble wand outside. Blow a bubble, and catch it on the wand.

Let the bubble sit resting on the wand in the cold air. In the below-freezing chill, the bubble will soon freeze into a fragile crystal ball.

Frozen Bubbles

Another fun science and art activity that you can try involves modeling how salt lowers the freezing point of water. Just why do those trucks drive around in the winter throwing salt all over the icy roads? The addition of salt to the ice creates a solution that can actually lower the freezing point of water from 32°F to 15°F or even more. To demonstrate this try the following ice art project.

Materials needed are:

· Large ice balls (can be made by filling a water balloon and freezing it overnight)

· Baking pan

· 3 spray bottles with a stream nozzle

· Salt

· Warm water

· Food coloring

Procedures
Fill each spray bottle with 3 parts water to 1 part salt. Add a few drops of different colored food coloring to each bottle. Remove frozen balloons (one for each child) from the freezer and carefully cut and peel away the balloon to reveal the ice.

Explain that salt lowers the freezing point of water. This means the ice will melt more easily. Make sure to connect this to the salt trucks or the people who put salt on their sidewalks. The outside temperature has to be lower for the salt water to freeze. Have your children hypothesize what will happen when the water is sprayed onto the ball.

Place the ice ball on a baking sheet and, if it has not begun to melt and get a slight film of water around it, pour some warm water over top.

Set bottle nozzles to stream and let your child squirt "paint" to create holes and designs. The conclusion will be that yes, the salt lowered the freezing point, thus melting the ice, and yes, winter days at home can be fun.

Ice Sculptures

                                  Salt and a String

Kids can perform a “magic trick” with an ice cube, a string, and salt. Place an ice cube in a cup of water. Cut a piece of string a few inches long. Have the kids try to pick up the ice cube using just the string and not their fingers. They will see that it does not work. Now dip the end of the string in the water and lay it across the ice cube. Sprinkle some salt on top of both the ice cube and the string. Wait a minute or so and then try to pick up the ice again using just the string. It should work this time because the salt will have melted the ice slightly and the water will have refrozen around the string.

Take an empty can and punch a small hole in the bottom using a hammer and a nail. Punch three more holes near the open end. Cut three pieces of string about 20 inches long. Tie one piece of string through each of the holes at the top of the can. Then tie the three loose ends together. Fill the can with water and hang it outside on a day when temperatures are at or below 32^OF. Leave it overnight and observe the icicles that have formed the following day. Food coloring can be added to the water to make colorful icicles.

                                        Making Icicles

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