This is Diane. Diane is our exploring, and comes upon a frozen pond.  Can you guess what happens next?

 

 

 

Oh no!  Diane fell throug!  The ice wasn’t strond enoush to hold her weight.  She’s now deep in the freezing cold water.  Even though Diane know how to swim, she is struggling.  The water is so cold that her muscles don’t want to work properly, and every time she tries to pull herself out of the pond the ice breads again, making it hard to climb out. Can you guess what happens next?

 

 

Obviously, Diane starts to become a human popsicle.  But she’s a very lucky girl.  In this case someone was watching and saw her fall through the ice.  So he was able to come to her rescue.  Not all kids are as lucky as Diane.  Every year children die just like this, all because they’re playing on a frozen pond that isn’t as frozen as they think it is.

 

 

 

Important Things to Know

When a lake, river or pond freezes over, it doesn’t free evenly.  Some parts of the ice cn be quite thick whereas others are very thin.  Th ice near the shore is usually thicker than the ice our in the middle, simply because it’s shallower near the shorelind, so the water freezes more thoroughly and quickly.  Water currents you can’t see also affect the ice.  Many people make the mistake of thinking it’s safe becausethe ice near the shor hold their weight, only to walk out to the middle and fall through where the wwater is deepest.

It’s hard for other to rescue kids who’ve fallen through the ice.  If a miniature human being like you falls through, what do you think will happen when an adult who weigh 3-times as much comes out to try to save you?  They fall through too?  Now you’ve go two people in trouble.  This is why it is so important to stay out of situations like this in the first place.

The End