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The polar regions are at the very top and the very bottom of the Earth: the Arctic in the north and Antarctica in the south.

The Arctic is mostly a frozen ocean with land all around it. Antarctica is a huge land covered in very thick ice, with ocean all around it.

The poles are cold because the sunlight reaches them low and slanting. The white ice also bounces lots of sunlight back into the sky.

In summer the Sun does not go down at all, so it is light all day and all night. In winter the Sun stays away and it is dark for months.

Experiment: Make a blubber glove

1. An adult spoons the cooking fat into one bag and spreads it out.
2. Push a second bag inside the first one, so the fat is between the two bags. Close the top with tape. This is your blubber glove.
3. Put two empty bags one inside the other. This is your glove without blubber.
4. Put one hand in each glove.
5. Dip both gloved hands in the ice water for a few seconds only. Take them out at once if it feels too cold.
6. Which hand felt colder? Which glove is more like a polar bear?

Glove	Cold, a bit cold or warm?
With blubber	My guess
Without blubber	My guess

Questions

1. Draw a polar bear or a penguin and show how it keeps warm.

   🍎

2. Is Antarctica land or ocean?

   land / ocean

3. Which hand felt warmer in the ice water?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/polar-regions/sources/

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