Dry ice mania hits the Kindergarteners

This week I engaged the kindergartners with a new biweekly science acivity. We took crushed dry ice, put it in an empty pop-bottle, covered the bottle with a balloon and let it inflate as the dry ice sublimed. While the balloon filled, the kids eagerly squirmed through the requisite learning part of the exercise. By the end of the "discussion," we had every group holding a bottle with a full balloon on it.

Then, the grand finale. One student in the group was to hold the bottle and another was to launch the balloon by pulling it off the bottle.

The design flaw? 4 kids to a group and all 4 wanted to launch the balloon. Mayhem. Then the balloons started to fly and then it got crazy nuts. I'm a tad traumatized and I'm not sure if her saintly teachers will permit me back in, but it was definitely fun.

Here's a copy of the activity: tr.im/dry_ice