We had an absolute blast on Monday as we answered the question:

How do animals in the Arctic and Antarctic keep warm?

We learnt that animals in the polar regions have an extra layer called blubber. This layer of skin helps to insulate the warmth in their bodies and keep the cold temperatures out.

We investigated what it is like to have blubber. First, we wrote our name in our neatest handwriting. Then we plummeted our hands into icy water for as long as we could! We then had to write our name again but realised this was a challenge because when we are cold, the nerves struggle to carry messages from our brain. Our handwriting wasn’t the neatest! Then came the messy part! We made our own blubber! We covered our hands in vaseline and put them back into the icy waters. We couldn’t believe how much warmer our hands were now we had our ‘blubber’.  We were able to hold our hand in the water for much and we could write our name easily.

This experiment taught us about how blubber helps animals to keep warm. We also learnt that some whales have blubber that is 30cm thick!