Melting Snow Experiment: Free Printable Guide for Year 1

Melting Snow Experiment is a free printable guide for Year 1 (ages 5 to 6), in Key Stage 1. Guess which ice cube melts first. Then test it. It comes from the Mini Minds Hub, a growing library of free printables from Jaques of London, the British games and toy company that has been making games for families since 1795.

It is two A4 pages. Page 1 is the activity for children. Page 2 is for the grown-up: it has notes on how to use the sheet, help for children who find it hard, a stretch idea, and the answers. Print it at home or in the classroom. Black and white printing works well.

What is on the sheet

This guide includes a checklist to tick off.

A look at what children will meet:

• Get three ice cubes the same size
• Put each ice cube in its own small bowl
• Put one bowl in a warm place
• Put one bowl in a cool place
• Sprinkle a little salt on the third ice cube
• Predict: which will melt first? Draw a ring around your guess
• Check the bowls and watch them
• Say which melted first and which melted last

Who this is for

Year 1 (ages 5 to 6) in Key Stage 1.

Key Stage 1 covers Years 1 and 2, ages 5 to 7. Children are building secure foundations in reading, writing and number, and short playful practice at home helps those foundations stick. Use it at home, in class, on a rainy afternoon or at a family gathering.

What children practise

• Predicting
• Observing
• Fair testing

Make a prediction, test it fairly and say what happened.

Learning focus and curriculum link

Subject: Science. Key stage: Key Stage 1. It supports the subject at this level through short, focused practice.

This sheet is a practice and play activity. It supports classroom learning and is not a replacement for it.

How to use it

1. Print both pages. Page 1 is for the child. Keep page 2 for the grown-up.
2. A grown-up helps set up the bowls. Children tick each step, guess first and then watch what happens. Do not eat the ice or the salt.
3. Work through the activity together the first time. Talk about each choice.
4. Check against the notes on page 2 and the answers.
5. Come back to it another day. Repeating a familiar activity builds confidence.

If it feels too hard

Do the experiment as a group and talk about what they see. Draw a smiley face next to the winner.

To stretch confident children

Ask them to explain why the warm place melts the ice faster, and to try a fourth bowl in the sun.

Make it a game

Add a plastic toy inside the ice cube and rescue it when the ice melts.

Tips for parents and teachers

• Print on plain A4 paper. Black and white printing works too.
• Work through it together the first time, then let children try alone.
• Praise effort and thinking, not only correct answers.

A screen-free science activity for Year 1

Children spend a lot of time on screens. This is a screen-free science activity that needs only paper and a pencil. It works as quiet time after school, a rainy day activity, a holiday boredom buster or a calm moment before bed. Screen-free learning gives eyes a rest and gets children talking, thinking and writing by hand.

Free science resources for teachers

Teachers can use this guide as a starter, a plenary, an early finisher task, a supply teacher resource, a homework task or a table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing. The learning focus and skills are listed above so you can match it to your planning, and page 2 gives support and stretch ideas for mixed ability groups.

Science ideas for parents at home

You do not need to be a teacher to use this. Read the sheet through, sit with your child for the first go and let them lead. Short bursts of ten to fifteen minutes work better than long sessions. If you are looking for free science worksheets for Year 1, or simple home learning for the weekend or school holidays, this is a good place to start.

Home education and tutoring

Home educators and tutors can print this as part of a wider science plan. It pairs well with books, outdoor play and everyday talk. Because the sheet is free and printable, you can use it again for brothers and sisters or for revision a few weeks later.

Why it helps children learn

Hands-on, paper based activities slow learning down in a good way. Children read carefully, think before they answer and see their own progress on the page. Games and challenges add a reason to keep going. That mix of play and practice is why printable activities like this are popular with parents, teachers and home educators.

Curriculum links for teachers

This sheet supports the areas below. It is matched to the published England frameworks. Please check it against your own school plan.

What children will be able to do

• I can make a prediction.
• I can test it fairly.
• I can say what happened.

Check it worked

Ask these when the sheet is finished. Listen for the reasoning, not just the answer.

1. What did you think would happen first?
2. What did you keep the same to make it fair?
3. Was your prediction right, and what did you notice?

More like this

• Autumn Leaf Collection
• Autumn Leaf Collection
• Day Length Through the Year
• Material Properties Hunt

Same subject, one year up: Micro Habitats Hunt | Same subject, one year down: Rainbow Colour Mixing

Why a melting experiment matters

Ice and snow are some of the first materials that change in front of a child's eyes. A cube sits in a bowl, and a little later it is water. That simple change is a doorway to bigger ideas: that materials can be solid or liquid, that heat matters, and that you can find things out by watching closely and writing down what you saw.

Melting Snow Experiment gives a Year 1 child a small, safe test to run. Three ice cubes go in three bowls. One bowl sits in a warm spot, one in a cool spot, and one cube has salt sprinkled on it. The child predicts which will melt first, watches, and records what happened. The point is not to get the prediction right. The point is to make a guess, test it, and look at the result.

That is what the national curriculum for England asks of children at this age. Its Key Stage 1 introduction says that "The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena", and that pupils "should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice".

What the research says children find hard

We looked for research on how five and six year olds learn about melting and on how much children gain from practical science. The honest position is that we did not find a study we could open that tests an ice-melting activity like this one with Year 1 children, so we will not give a figure for it. What we did find is useful guidance on practical science in general.

• Doing is not the same as understanding. Ofsted's research review of science says "Practical work forms an important part of a science education", but also that "practical work should form just a part of a wider instructional sequence". In other words, children learn more when the experiment is surrounded by talk, questions and explanation, not left on its own.
• Skills do not arrive by themselves. The same review notes a risk that "pupils are assumed to pick up these skills by 'doing'". Observing, predicting and recording are skills that a grown-up can model and talk through.
• Explaining first can help even the youngest. The review describes a study of 4 and 5 year olds learning about floating and sinking, where "explicit teaching was provided before completing practical activities". That study was about floating and sinking, not melting, so it is a pointer rather than proof for this sheet.
• Salt is a surprise. Salt makes ice melt in a way that is not obvious from looking at it. The Royal Society of Chemistry says that salt "lowers the freezing point of the ice that it touches, causing it to melt". That idea is well beyond Year 1, so a simple "the salt helps the ice melt" is enough for now.

What Year 1 children are expected to learn

The Year 1 and 2 "working scientifically" section of the national curriculum says that pupils should be taught to use these ways of working:

• "asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways"
• "observing closely, using simple equipment"
• "performing simple tests"
• "using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions"
• "gathering and recording data to help in answering questions"

The Year 1 everyday materials section asks pupils to "distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made", to "identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock", and to "describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials". Water, in its frozen and unfrozen forms, is on that list. In seasonal changes, pupils should "observe changes across the 4 seasons" and "observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies". Snow and ice are a natural way into winter.

Looking ahead, Year 4 pupils are taught to "observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled". A Year 1 child who has watched ice melt has a good first example to build on.

Why a hands-on activity can help

A prediction test like this gives children a reason to look. They have a guess, so they want to see what happens. We are not aware of a study showing that a prediction sheet improves later science results, so we will not claim one. What the evidence does support is the general point that practical work is valuable when it is part of a wider sequence of teaching. That means the talking matters as much as the bowls.

The sheet also gives children a simple way to record what they saw. The curriculum asks Year 1 pupils to gather and record data to help answer questions. Marking which cube melted first and which melted last is an early version of exactly that.

How to get the most out of Melting Snow Experiment

1. Ask a question first. "Which ice cube will melt first, and why do you think so?" Let your child answer in their own words.
2. Set up with a grown-up. The sheet needs an adult to set up the bowls. Use same-sized ice cubes so the test is fair, and keep the bowls where they will not be knocked over.
3. Mark the prediction before you start. Do this before the ice goes in. A child who has written a guess is more interested in the result.
4. Look closely, more than once. Check the bowls every few minutes. Ask: "What can you see now? What has changed?"
5. Record the order. Mark which melted first and which last on the sheet.
6. Talk about why. Ask what was different about the three bowls. Be ready for answers that are not quite right. A guess is a good start.
7. Check page 2. The adult notes explain what to expect. Read them after the test, not before.
8. Try it again. Change one thing, such as moving a bowl somewhere else, and see if the order changes.

Safety. This is a calm activity, but keep an adult in charge. Our own safety advice: wipe up water so nobody slips. Keep the salt away from eyes, and do not let children taste the salt or the melted ice. The Royal Society of Chemistry resource about salt and ice says that it is the teacher's responsibility to carry out a suitable risk assessment, and that students should be encouraged "to take a responsible attitude towards safety, both their own and that of others". At home, the same sensible thinking applies.

Common mistakes, and what to say

• "The cold one will melt first." Children sometimes mix up cold and melting. Ask: "What is the ice sitting next to? Is it warm or cool there?"
• Changing the answer afterwards. Some children rub out their prediction when it turns out wrong. Say: "A wrong guess is fine. It means we found something out."
• Looking away and missing the change. Ice melts slowly, and young children lose interest. Set a timer and check together.
• Not using same-sized cubes. A bigger cube takes longer. If the cubes differ, the test is not fair. Talk about why you chose cubes that match.
• Thinking the snow or ice has disappeared. Show that the water is still in the bowl. The material has changed, but it has not vanished. Year 4 pupils will meet the idea that some materials change state when heated or cooled.

Why teachers matter to us

We are a games company, and we have been making games for families since 1795. We do not think a printable replaces a teacher. A 2011 report for the Sutton Trust, written by education economists, found that for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is a whole year's learning. It also found that paper qualifications and characteristics such as experience explain less than 8% of teacher quality. The report's headline example was about maths, so we are not claiming those figures are about science. A paper from the University of Bristol also found considerable variability in teacher effectiveness. Ofsted's science review makes a similar point in its own way: practical work works best as part of a wider sequence of teaching. That sequence is the teacher's craft. A sheet can start the conversation, but a teacher knows which child needs a question and which one needs a nudge.

A caution on the Sutton Trust figures: the report draws on US studies as well as English ones. The figure that paper credentials explain less than 8% of teacher quality comes from US research. We use them as pointers, not as a promise about any one child.

Why education matters to us

A child who learns to ask "what will happen if...?" at five has a habit that lasts. Education widens what a child can choose to do, and science is one of the best places to learn to ask good questions. Games and experiments are old ways of making learning feel like play. We want the Mini Minds Hub to carry that on: free, screen-free, and easy enough for a parent at the kitchen table.

Melting Snow Experiment: 20 questions and answers

1. What is the aim of the experiment?

To make a prediction, test it and record the result. It is practice at the skills the curriculum calls "performing simple tests" and "gathering and recording data".

2. What are the three conditions?

One ice cube in a warm spot, one in a cool spot, and one with salt sprinkled on it. An adult sets up the bowls.

3. Does it matter if the ice cubes are different sizes?

Yes. A larger cube will take longer to melt, so the test would not be fair. Use cubes of the same size.

4. What does "fair test" mean at this age?

Changing one thing and keeping the rest the same. For Year 1, it is enough to say "we used the same sort of ice cube each time".

5. Why does salt make ice melt?

The Royal Society of Chemistry says salt lowers the freezing point of the ice that it touches, causing it to melt. For a five year old, "the salt helps the ice melt" is enough.

6. Is melting the same as disappearing?

No. The ice turns into water, and the water is still there. This is the first step towards the Year 4 idea that some materials change state when heated or cooled.

7. What is a prediction?

A guess about what will happen, made before you test. The sheet asks children to mark their guess first.

8. What if my child's prediction is wrong?

That is fine and useful. Say that scientists often find their guess was wrong, and ask what they learned.

9. How do I get my child to look closely?

Ask questions. "What does the ice look like now? Is it bigger or smaller? What can you see in the bowl?" The curriculum calls this "observing closely, using simple equipment".

10. What equipment do we need?

Ice cubes, three bowls, salt, a pencil and the printed sheet. A clock or timer helps.

11. Can we do this without ice cubes, using snow?

You could, if there is snow, but amounts would be harder to match. Ice cubes of the same size make it easier to compare. Whatever you use, have an adult handle it.

12. Is it safe to give salt to a young child?

An adult should handle the salt. Children should not taste it, and it should be kept away from eyes. The Royal Society of Chemistry says responsibility for a suitable risk assessment lies with the teacher, and at home an adult should decide what is sensible.

13. What science words can we teach?

Melt, freeze, solid, liquid, warm, cool and water are enough. The curriculum asks Year 1 pupils to name everyday materials including water.

14. How does this link to the seasons?

The Year 1 curriculum asks pupils to observe changes across the 4 seasons and to describe weather associated with the seasons. Winter ice and snow are a good starting point.

15. Why does the sheet ask which melted last, not just first?

It gives children an order to put things in. Ranking first, second and third is a simple form of recording results.

16. How long does the test take?

How long ice takes to melt depends on your room and your ice, so we cannot give a fixed time. Set it up and come back to check every few minutes.

17. What if all three cubes melt at about the same time?

That is a result too. Ask what might have been the same about the bowls, and try again with the bowls further apart.

18. How do I stop it becoming a mess?

Put the bowls on a tray or towel. Wipe up spills at once so nobody slips.

19. Does a hands-on activity teach as much as a lesson?

Not on its own. Ofsted's science review says practical work should form just a part of a wider instructional sequence. Talking about what you saw is as important as watching it.

20. Where can I find more Year 1 science sheets?

See the More like this section below, or browse all Year 1 science printables in the Mini Minds Hub.

Sources

1. Department for Education, National curriculum in England: science programmes of study: gov.uk.
2. Ofsted, Research review series: science (2021): gov.uk.
3. Royal Society of Chemistry, After meal puzzle (health and safety checked May 2018): edu.rsc.org.
4. Sutton Trust, Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK, interim findings (2011): dera.ioe.ac.uk.
5. Slater, Davies and Burgess, University of Bristol CMPO Working Paper 09/212 (2009): bristol.ac.uk.

Frequently asked questions

What age is Melting Snow Experiment for?

It is written for Year 1 (ages 5 to 6), in Key Stage 1.

What will children practise?

Make a prediction, test it fairly and say what happened.

How do I use it?

A grown-up helps set up the bowls. Children tick each step, guess first and then watch what happens. Do not eat the ice or the salt.

What if it feels too hard?

Do the experiment as a group and talk about what they see. Draw a smiley face next to the winner.

Is it free?

Yes. It is free to print for home and classroom use.

Is Melting Snow Experiment suitable for teachers to use in class?

Yes. Teachers can use it as a starter, plenary, early finisher task, homework or table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing.

Is this a screen-free activity?

Yes. It is a screen-free printable that needs only paper and a pencil, so it works well for quiet time, rainy days and school holidays.

Can I use it for home education?

Yes. Home educators and tutors can use it on its own or as part of a wider plan. It is free to print again for brothers, sisters or revision.

How long does it take?

Most children finish page 1 in 10 to 20 minutes. The notes on page 2 suggest ways to make it shorter or longer.

Do I need to print in colour?

No. It prints well in black and white on plain A4 paper.

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