Polar Bear, Polar Bear

One of my most blog posts is my Polar Bear post from last year. Things have been CRAZY since we got back from Christmas break.  We had 2 days of super cold weather than landed us a 2 hour delay 2 days in a row, a day off for MLK, 2 teacher workdays, and another 2 hour delay for snow.  In the midst of all that, I had to do end of the 2nd 9 weeks testing and now benchmarking for Read 3D has begun.  BUT GUESS WHAT? I was DETERMINED to get my Polar Bear fun in!

First we made our Polar Bear paws.  For step by step directions with pictures, go here.

Provide students with 12x18 piece of white paper.  I use bulletin board paper, but you could use construction paper.  Have students crumble it up multiple times and then tear around the edges to make an oval.

Give students a black sheet of paper and have them cut out a large paw pad, 5 small paw pads, and 5 claws.

 Once they glue them on, this is what you have! 

They super duper loved this activity! We had a bit of a hard time tearing around the edges, but I told them you have to hold with one hand and keep your fingers close to the edge and then tear.  Some of the paws were quite small at the end :)

Today we FINALLY had time to do the blubber glove experiment! 

All you need is lard or Crisco.  You place a ton of it in a Ziploc bag.  Then you place another Ziploc bag inside of it.  Then put masking tape around the top of the two bags to keep them together.  This year someone else got the bag ready and actually placed those two bags in an additional bag, which was good.  She also stapled the first 2 bags together.  We got a large tub from the Cafeteria and filled it with ice.  It melted throughout the day, so it was watery too.  We waited until the last minute to place the "blubber glove" in the water.  I had students put one hand in the glove and the other directly in the water.  I loved their faces! Simply precious!   

I'd love to hear if you try either of these activities! 

These activities and more can be found here:

 It is one of my best selling units with lots of great science activities! 

Do you teach arctic animals? What activities do you do?