Why are polar bears skin black ?

Polar Bear Fun Facts
http://www.ualr.edu/bnbarnes/polarbears.html
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/polarbear.html
http://www.kidzone.ws/sg/polarbear/polar_bear.htm
http://kids.discovery.com/tell-me/animals/mammals/polar-bears

Videos

 

 

Art/Science

A polar bear's skin is black so it can soak up as much of the sun's rays as possible.



Before this craft, I asked the kids what color they thought the polar bears skin was. They all replied white! To better help them understand, I asked my preschoolers what color Darren's( student) skin color was, they answered white. I continued by asking them what color Darren's hair was, they said Black.  

Although Polar bears do not have "white" fur. It helped them understand that polar bears can have different color skin than their fur.

 

Here is the link to the polar bear template: images/elementary/p329PolarBear.pdf

I had to enlarge it a few times on our school copy machine.

 

I stapled a few black sheets of paper and placed the template on top to make it easier and faster.

 Science Experiment
Why don't polar bears get cold in the freezing cold water?

They only lasted 3 seconds before taking their hand out.  

 

MORE POLAR BEAR YOUTUBE VIDEOS