Snowflake Bentley

Last week we learned about "Snowflake Bentley", a passionate boy that loved snowflakes and wanted nothing more than to capture their beauty with a camera (this was in the 1920's).

 

This morning we were eating breakfast, watching  fluffy snowflakes fall from the sky and the kids could hardly sit still.  

All they wanted to do was get their snow gear on and go looking for the perfect snowflake (and get a picture, which meant I had to go too).  So they threw on their coats over their pajamas and were out the door, Will included.  Here is what they found. 

My camera hardly does these snowflakes any justice....but the kids thought it was pretty exciting.

We learned that snowflakes always have 6 sides, but are never the same structure.  Sure enough all of our snowflakes had six sides 

(Snowflake Bentley was right). 

Pretty cool.

Learning is too fun!

If you have kids "Snowflake Bentley is great book" here is a review from Amazon......

"Most children are captivated by snow, but how many go on to make it their lifework? This beautiful biography, winner of the 1999 Caldecott Medal, tells the true story of a Vermont farm boy who was mesmerized by snowflakes. Wilson Bentley was fascinated by the six-sided frozen phenomena, and once he acquired a microscope with a camera, his childhood preoccupation took on a more scientific leaning. Bentley spent his life taking countless exquisite photographs (many that are still used in nature photography today), examining the tiny crystals and their delicate, mathematical structures."

  ---Brangien Davis, Amazon Editorial Review