This is a go-to activity in my house. It’s surprisingly simple to set up and keeps kids of all ages engaged for a while. At the core of this activity are what I like to call “ice canvases”, frozen ice blocks. You can paint on the ice with any kind of paint and sprinkling salt on ice creates a texture full of crevices as it melts. The mix of materials and open-ended nature of this activity turn children into young curious, inspired scientists.
Materials:
- freeze 1 inch of water in a tupperware, then pop out the giant ice cube
- a tray (something like a cafeteria tray or tin foil baking pan or cookie sheet)
- any size paint brush
- plastic egg carton or plastic container or packaging with compartments/sections
- leftover tempera or washable kids paint mixed, liquid watercolor, or food coloring mixed with water
- salt (kids loooooove plastic salt shakers but a cup of salt works too)
- [optional but most awesome] pipettes
- [optional but awesome] freeze some little figures in the ice or ice cubes
- [optional but awesome] flourescent tempera paints
So how does this work?
Place a plastic egg carton on a tray so that the tray catches the melting ice liquid and spills from color mixing. Fill half of the cups with watery paint. This can be a little tempera or washable paint mixed with water, or water with food coloring, or whatever you have. You only need a couple colors, pink and turquoise or blue work great because kids can easily mix a pretty purple, yellow and blue work well too.
Sprinkling salt on the ice encourages it to melt and make little cracks in the ice that kids find fascinating and the paint gets trapped in.
If you have pipettes, fill a few of the cups with just a little water so that the kids can mix new colors by dripping colors in and mixing.
If you have neon paint, drip some on the ice as the kids are working away, it really stands out on the ice and makes the cracks glow.
Kids love to paint and wash and pretend play with little figures like dinosaurs, sea creatures, or Peppa Pig and family. Add some to the trays as the kids are working.
To get colored “ice canvases” drip food coloring in water in the tupperware before closing the freezer.
Worried about a huge mess?
Have a bucket of water and an old towel handy for little hands. And dump the melted water outside, then hose off the tray before you bring it in.
If you have a water table or outdoor play table use that OR have your kids do this in the tub (not filled with water).
