Blubber Experiment
Before starting this experiment make a brainstorm activity with your child about the Arctic. Which animals live in the Arctic? How do animals manage to survive there? What keeps them warm?
photo credits: http://www.pexels.com
What is Blubber?
Many of our favourite animals live in the Arctic Ocean. Temperatures in the Arctic are very cold. But polar bears, whales, seals and penguins survive in this weather. They manage to do so because they have blubber under their skin. Blubber is sea animal fat. Animals like polar bears, apart from having a thick fur to keep them warm, they have a layer of fat under their skin which is called blubber. This blubber experiment will help children understand why these animals manage to live in such cold temperatures.
For this experiment you will need:(Before starting the experiment explain to your child that in this experiment the plastic bag will be the animal’s skin while the butter will be the blubber).
- 2 Large bowls (large enough for a hand to fit in)
- Ice Cubes
- Cooking fat or butter
- 2 plastic bags (large enough for a hand to fit in)
- Duct tape
- Food Colouring (optional)
- Fill 2 bowls with ice water. (You may add food colouring to the water).
- Take the two plastic bags. Fill one of the plastic bags with butter or fat (leave the other one empty).
- Ask your child to put his hand in the empty plastic bag and then put that same hand in the plastic bag filled with butter/fat.
- Seal the tops with duct tape so water can’t get into the bags.
- Make sure to move the fat around so that it covers the hand completely.
- Leave the other hand bare.
- Put the bowls filled with ice on the table. Ask your child to place both hands in the bowls. (Tell your child to take out his/her hands if it feels too cold).
Ask your child:
- What do you notice?
- Which hand is colder? (the one covered in fat or the bare one?)
- Does the hand covered in fat feel the same as the bare hand?
- What do you think is happening?
- Why do animals who live in the Arctic need blubber?
IMPORTANT: Ask questions to make children think and help them arrive to the answer by themselves, rather than explaining everything yourself.
Here is a link to a YouTube video showing and explaining this experiment
St Ignatius College, Patri Ġużè Delia, Siġġiewi Primary 