Going on an Ice Hunt: Snow Muffin Update

Our snow muffins have been kind of a bust. While we learn a valuable lesson about temperature and ice formations, we aren’t able to build with ice blocks the way we had intended. The temperatures in the NorthEast has been unusually temperate for this time of year. The ice is just not staying frozen.

jumping on ice

We try to pop the ice out anyway by knocking the molds on the ground and by jumping on them while they’re upside down. They come out in half chunks along with lots of ice cold water. Our mittens get soaked.

pop goes the ice

The next day, everything has melted.
Today, we go to the woods. There is a place by the river, that the kids call the beach. There is a landing, some sand, water and a sand dune. The sand and water are partially frozen. The boys categorize the different kinds of ice they find.

Rocky ice, sand ice and plain ice.

3 kinds of ice

We keep walking after cracking lots of ice on the edge of the river.

We find 2 frozen puddles in the woods. The boys spend a lot of time breaking the ice apart…stomping and throwing. The second puddle is frozen solid. They can pretend ice skate on it without breaking through.

I ask the boys why one puddle breaks and one doesn’t. They say the breakable puddle has less water and that the solid one is “more stronger and powerful…” that the water is “squeezed tighter together.”