This is a way to expand on the evaporative cooling experiments using water as a way to cool off, and is a great activity to do during your daily exercise out and about, wherever you end up going.
This is just about how we perceive the temperature differently in different places- even when the weather forecast would say the temperature is the same (or similar) in each. It's been a useful way to help our children who find thinking about how their bodies are feeling difficult to start understanding a bit more how they are likely to feel (too hot, to cold, just right) in different places.
This is most effective if you do it on a nice sunny day- and if it's windy too, even better!
Spend a couple of minutes in each location to make sure you've all had time to notice how it feels.
Try:
Standing in green shade (eg under a tree) and compare it with:
Standing in artificial shade eg bus stop
Sitting on grass in sunshine and compare it with:
Sitting on grass in shade
Sitting on tarmac/concrete in sunshine
Sitting on tarmac/concrete in shade
Standing sheltered from wind in sun and compare with:
Standing sheltered from wind in shade
Standing in wind and sun
Standing in wind and shade (moving around a building can help with finding all these)
We've enjoyed spending some time thinking about the different temperatures we feel in different places, and how we can use the environment around us to keep ourselves as comfortable as possible at all times of the day and seasons of the year. It's surprised some of our mini scientists how different growing and non-growing environments feel- with artificial surfaces changing temperature a lot faster than green growing surfaces, and getting a lot hotter in the sun.
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