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Ice has been a popular play material here in many seasons over the years. It is safe for play and exploration with all age groups and as such, we often repeat activities from year to year. I highly recommend this approach--you can always learn more and experience new things through repeated exposure and exploration. We kicked off the week with one of my favorite Table Time activities, watercolor painting on ice! I've done this one repeatedly with students and with both boys over the years and it is ALWAYS fun!
You'll need to freeze some blocks of ice in advance (I recommend plastic containers for this) and then simply add in a pallet of watercolor paints and a brush.
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Look at this arctic blast from the past! |
You can expand the experience with the addition of water or coarse/kosher salt. It is always incredible to observe colors mixing and moving through layers of ice and how they shift and evolve as it melts. S has never lost his fascination with creating black and brown! I, however, was amazed to see how the paint melted through the ice block this year and when I went to tend to cleaning it up, it was back to clear with a painty puddle left behind in the tray!
Y really got into the experience this year and favored using his pointer finger in the paint instead of a brush. He was so amazed at seeing water develop as the ice melted. "Water! Water!" he gleefully repeated again and again in amazement.
Well, if ever there were a time to prove that great minds think alike, this week would be a stellar example. Early in the week, a friend sent a link to this fun ice skating penguins activity from Messy Little Monster. By that evening, my freezer was stocked with tiny penguins trapped in blue ice cubes and I'm not sure whether the fact that my husband said nothing about this should make me feel self-assured or slightly alarmed.
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Well, remember how I mentioned great minds think alike? The very same day we took our penguins ice skating in the morning, S got to excavate some more trapped penguins from within a giant brick of ice at school! His teachers set up this fabulous and creative excavation station using a large brick of ice and penguins, a hammer and some golf tees.
I'm not sure if that's some coarse/kosher salt I see in the background and perhaps in the small cup alongside of S--but experimenting with how different substances and settings affect ice is a great way to sprinkle on some science to your ice play!
In previous years of teaching, I've engaged my students in setting up their own ice experiment and exploration. I froze some animal counters in ice cube trays overnight and in the morning, they decided upon what we would use in and around the classroom to explore melting rates of ice into water with the addition of:
- coarse/kosher salt
- sugar
- sunlight from a window
- water
Ice is such a simple (and cheap) and unique material to explore and create with. Winter is a natural season to inspire ice play but don't forget the wonderful opportunities in warmer seasons to cool off on a hot day! We'll be freezing up some more icy fun here in the weeks to come so stay tuned and, as always...
Happy Playing!
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