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Discover what this means

Try the ice cube experiment

Discover what insulation is and how well different materials work as insulators.

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You’ll need

  • Ice cube trays
  • Access to water
  • Different materials, such as paper, bubble wrap, tea towel, tinfoil, toilet paper, cotton wool, kitchen roll
  • Paper cups or food storage tubs
  • Sticky tape
  • Elastic bands
  • Scissors

Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

Planning and setting up the activity 

  • Fill your ice cube trays with water, making sure each ice cube is roughly the same size.
  • Put the trays in the freezer and wait until the ice cubes are completely frozen.
  • Choose a range of different materials to use to test how well they act as an insulator. For example, you could use newspaper, bubble wrap, tinfoil, kitchen roll, toilet paper, cotton wool, marshmallows, a plastic bag and a tea towel. You may want to pre-cut each piece of each material down to size, making sure it's big enough to wrap fully around your container.
  • Be sensitive to any of your group’s living situations, as the topic of money or fuel poverty may be difficult for some people. Always let people know about this activity in advance and give people the chance to let you know if they’re not comfortable taking part or any adaptions they may need. Make sure everyone knows they can leave the activity at any point and look out for individuals who choose to do so. You may need to offer reassurance for anyone who’s upset. Always follow the Yellow Card. 

Fuel poverty happens when people can’t afford enough energy to keep their homes warm. This can make their house cold and uncomfortable, and it can even make them sick. Staying warm is important, especially when it’s cold outside, and insulation can help a lot with that. 

Insulation works like a blanket for your house, trapping the heat inside so it doesn’t escape through the walls, windows, or doors. If a house doesn’t have good insulation, heat can slip out, and people need to use more energy, such as turning the heating on, to keep it warm. This can be a big problem if paying for that energy is too expensive. 

There are some simple ways people can keep their homes warmer without using too much energy. Things like using draft stoppers at the bottom of doors, closing the curtains, putting rugs on the floor, wearing layers of clothing, or even using blankets can all help. These small changes can make the house feel warmer without needing to spend a lot of money or use extra energy. 

Insulation is a material that slows down the movement of heat, helping keep hot things hot and cold things cold for a longer time. You can think of it like a barrier for your house or your drink. For example, when you use a flask to keep your soup warm or your drink cold, the thermos is made of insulating material that stops heat from escaping or getting in. Heat naturally moves from warmer places to cooler places. If you have something hot, such as a cup of tea, the heat will try to spread to the cooler air around it. However, insulating materials stop or slow down that movement, keeping the heat inside the cup. The same goes for cold things, such as ice in a cooler, as insulation stops the warmer outside air from getting in and melting the ice. Insulation acts like a barrier to keep the temperature where you want it—whether that's hot or cold. It also helps reduce energy costs and keeps homes warm, which is especially important for people dealing with fuel poverty. 

 

Running the activity 

  1. Gather everyone together and explain what insulation is. Ask everyone if they know what fuel poverty is and, if not, explain what it is.
  2. Ask if anyone can think of ways we can stay warmer while spending less money, such as by using hot water bottles.
  3. Explain to the group that you're going to explore how insulation can help to keep things hot or cold by doing a quick experiment. Explain that you’re going to put ice cubes into containers, then wrap the containers in different materials to see which one is the best insulator and stops the ice cube from melting the most.
  4. Ask if anyone can think of anything that needs to be kept the same to make sure the experiment is fair. Some examples are using the same type of container and leaving the ice cubes for the same amount of time.
  5. Next, ask people to wrap each container in a different piece of material. You may need to secure it with sticky tape or elastic bands. Leave the top of each container open.
  6. Place your containers in the same location and make sure they’re not touching each other. This helps to keep the experiment fair as they’ll all be left at the same room temperature. 
  7. Put one ice cube in each container, then seal them. You can wrap the material around the top of each container and seal it as needed.
  8. Leave the containers for 15 minutes. You may want to play a quick game during this time.
  9. After 15 minutes, check each container to see what’s happening with the ice, before wrapping them back up. Keep doing this every 15 minutes and record what happens, such as by taking a photo or scoring them out of 10 for how much they’ve melted. You could note how much of the ice cube has melted, how much water's in the container, and which how quickly each ice cube has melted.
  10. After around 45 to 60 minutes, open all the containers and compare the ice cubes. Ask everyone which ice cube has melted the most or least, and which insulator was the best or worst. 
  11. After you’ve tested all the materials, you could then challenge everyone to build the best igloo from the materials. After the igloos have been built, place an ice cube inside each one and after 15 minutes see which igloo worked best to stop its ice cube from melting. 

Reflection

This activity was all about learning how insulation works by experimenting with different materials to see which one stopped an ice cube from melting the longest. Think about which material worked best and why it might have been a better insulator. Were you surprised by the results? Which material do you think was the best insulator, and why? What about the materials that didn’t work as well—why do you think they let the ice melt faster? Do you think the thickness of a material matters when it comes to insulation? Did thicker or thinner materials keep the ice cold longer? What would happen if you wrapped the ice cube in more than one material? Would it last longer? 

Now that you’ve seen how different materials slow down melting, think about how insulation is used in things, such as your home, a fridge, or even a water bottle. What material would you use to keep something cold, such as ice cream, on a hot day?  

This was an experiment, so we had to make it fair. How did we make sure it was a fair experiment? What things did we change and what things did we keep the same? If you could do the experiment again, would you try different materials or change anything about how you set it up?  

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Rubbish and recycling

All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Science

Supervise young people, and only do science activities that are advised and age appropriate for your section. Test activities first, to make sure you’re confident you can lead them safely. Use protective clothing where necessary.

  • To make this activity easier, you could prepare the containers in advance.
  • To make this activity harder, you could add more factors to the experiment. For example, you could do the experiment again and place the ice cube containers in different locations.  

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Scientist Activity Badge

If you enjoyed this activity, check out our other activities in partnership with the Gas Distribution Network.