What to do When CMOM's Closed...

Thursday is another snow day for Memphis and the metro area. We are usually a creative and educational refuge for kids (and parents) with the Cabin Fever. However, because of the inclement weather and the impending morning road conditions, The Children’s Museum of Memphis will be closed tomorrow February 10, 2011. But just because you can’t come to CMOM doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some great hands-on activities at home! Here are a few ideas from the brain trust that is your programs department.

Snowpocolyps 2011 Painting

A fresh snowfall is the perfect canvas!

Go to the kitchen and grab these materials:
* Food coloring
* Bowls or Ice cube tray
* Water
For each bowl or section of ice cube tray use a different color of food coloring. Mix 1-2 drops of water per 2-3 table spoons of water. Use old paint brushes to apply the paint to the outside snow. You can also use spoons to splatter the snow with color if you want a Jackson Pollock look. You’re front yard will look amazing!!!

To change it up, add the food color and water to old spray bottles and spray the snow different colors.

From experience, food coloring is generally NOT washable so either be careful, or wear old clothes that you don’t care about!

Ice Fishing
Don’t wanna venture outside? Try one of CMOM’s popular science experiments and learn about freezing points and the chemical NaCl. When it snows, what happens to everything? When the streets get icy, we call out the salt trucks and they pour salt on the roads. But why does it work?

Here’s what you need:
* Ice
* Water
* Pieces of string or yarn
* Salt
* A bowl
Fill a bowl with ice. Then fill the bowl about a third of the way with water. Take the pieces of string and lay them across the ice cubes. Next sprinkle the salt onto the string and ice. When the hits the ice it actually lowers the freezing point. Do you know what temp water turns to ice? 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The salt lowers that a few degrees so a water and salt solution will freeze at 30 degrees instead of 32.

Next, pull up on the string and see how many ice cubes you caught. The salt lowered the freezing point. It created a pool of water on the ice cube. The water salt solution became more diluted, so the freezing point rose, and the strings froze to the ice cube

Edible Finger Paint
Don’t want to do anything that has to do with snow or the cold? Try this recipe for edible finger paint.

Go to the pantry and grab that box of vanilla pudding. Don’t have pudding? Try condensed milk or cool whip. Mix in a little bit of food coloring. One drop is really enough…but remember the advice from above: food coloring probably will NOT wash out of clothes. If you don’t have old clothes to wear or smocks, try to use fruit juice or powdered jello as your dye.

Enjoy your day in! And send us pictures of your snow day adventures to Loni.Wellman@cmom.com