The word of the day is Thermoregulation. In this activity, we find out how animals with blubber regulate their body temperature. Some whale species have over 10 inches of blubber all the way around their bodies! With regards to materials, I did not have vegetable shortening for the "blubber" so I substituted it with a fifty-fifty mix of earth balance butter and cooking oil. This worked out awesome.
I’ve done this activity before for a field trip and the students absolutely loved it. The biggest drawback of the activity itself is how messy it is and the length of the experiment itself. To perhaps make it last longer or scale it up to older learners, consider using a thermometer and plotting change over a certain time period in the experiment bag and the control bag. I would recommend this activity to any learners who want a fun messy experiment you can do outside!