Ask Ollie
Snow to Water Mystery
Here's one to try together!
A cup full of snow melts into how much water? Make your guess, mark your cups, and let the melting reveal the answer!
Reviewed by our team.
Safety first
- Snow and ice chill bare hands: wear mittens to scoop
- Spilled meltwater makes floors slippery: keep each cup on a plate
What you need
- Clear cups, 3
- Crayons or markers, 1 marker
- Plate or tray, 3
- Fresh fluffy snow
- Packed snow (optional)
- Old crunchy snow (optional)
- Crushed ice (if no snow) (optional)
- Ice cubes, ice cubes (if no snow) (optional)
How to do it
Grown-up prep: Set out 3 clear cups, a marker and 3 plates on a towel near a warm indoor spot, and have mittens ready for scooping snow.
- Scoop fluffy snow loosely into the first cup, right up to the brim.
- Draw a line on the cup at the top of the snow.
- Guess how much water the snow will make and draw your guess line. Ask: When all this snow melts, how high do you think the water will be?
- Fill cup two with packed snow and cup three with old crunchy snow.
- Set each cup on its own plate in a warm spot indoors.
- Halfway check: peek at the cups after about 30 minutes.
- After an hour, mark where the water really ended up. Ask: Was the water higher or lower than your guess line?
- Line up all three cups and compare the water levels.
- Now try it with crushed ice and ice cubes, or snow from a new spot! Ask: Which kind of snow or ice do you think will make the most water next time?
Play it again
- Snow detective: collect snow from three different places, like the yard, a car roof and a shady corner, and compare.
- Race to melt: put one cup in a sunny window and one in a cool room and see which melts first.
- Guess challenge: everyone in the family draws a guess line in a different color, and the closest guesser wins.
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