This STEAM invitation is SNOW much fun! With cut out circles of poster board, we invited the children to first paint the snowmen with cool colored liquid watercolors (turquoise, blue, teal), darker colors tend to work better for this. The next part was where science came in. The children were invited to experiment by spraying rubbing alcohol onto the snowmen and seeing how they would transform their painting.
The science behind how it alters the paint is when rubbing alcohol is added to liquid water colors, it pushes the paint away, almost like bubbles. Watercolor paints have chemicals in them that bind the pigments to the paper so when alcohol is sprayed to the paper, the liquid watercolors and the alcohol cannot mix, so it repels, causing white spots on the paintings or "melting" the snowmen.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) invitations such as this in early childhood encourages active hands-on experiences that support building understanding & vocabulary, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, observation, & reflection. By creating opportunities for children to learn about the world through STEAM invitations will provide young children with a wide range of opportunities to approach problems in new and authentic ways whether it is through exploring art, science, technology, math or engineering.
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