Free PDFGrade 3 · Science · 30 min
STEM ice stacking
Use a secret ingredient to stack ice cubes into a tall tower.
I can explain how salt helps ice cubes freeze together.
A science experiment video with a free worksheet and answer key for teachers
About the video
In the video ice cubes are stacked into a tall tower with a secret ingredient: salt. At home your child first stacks 6 cubes without salt, then builds a new tower of 6 cubes with a pinch of salt between each one, and measures its height.
Salt makes the water on the ice melt more, and melting takes heat from the ice, so the surface gets even colder. As the salt spreads out and gets weaker, that water freezes again and the new ice joins the cubes like glue.
What your child learns
- Explain why salty water freezes below 0 °C
- Compare a tower with salt and without salt
- Measure the tower height with a ruler
What's on the worksheet
- 1Predict first
- 2Record your towers
- 3What did you see?
- 4The science behind it
- 5Key words
- 6Ice maths
- 7True or false
- 8Salt in real life
- 9Draw and label
You need
12 ice cubes straight from the freezer, 1 plate, 1 teaspoon table salt, 1 ruler, 1 timer.
Tip for the adult
Use cubes straight from the freezer and only a small pinch of salt, because too much salt just melts the ice.
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