Ice is the solid state of water. Water molecules expand when transforming from the liquid to frozen state and dissolve when salt is applied. Water is cheap, freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and melts at room temperature, making it easy to make and use in activities.
Build with Ice
Freeze and pop out a bunch of ice cubes. Use hot water to make clearer ice. Shake a little salt on the ice to act as glue as the salt melts the ice a little to help the cold cubes stick to one another. Construct creations by salting and adding cubes to create ice people, igloos, and other shapes.
For larger constructions, freeze water in empty sand castle molds by covering any openings in the container with plastic wrap or a tape that sticks when frozen. Fill empty milk and juice cartons to make large building blocks. Remember to leave space when freezing water in containers because the water expands as it freezes.
Sit large containers of ice in the sun for a few minutes to loosen ice enough to slide out. Use the frozen shapes to create ice castles. For variety, add food coloring or small plastic toys to water before freezing. Sprinkle with salt to stick on decorations. Shine a flashlight through the ice designs and watch the light shimmer.
Play Cool Games
Ice cubes are small enough to hold and pass, yet slippery enough to slide easily. That makes them naturally fun when used as objects in games.
Ice target games use targets that players must hit. A small object can be at one end of a table and players take turns sliding a cube (pushing it or flicking it) to try and hit the target. No throwing the ice, as it is hard as a rock and can hurt. Take shaved ice and pack it into icy snowballs to roll at the targets.
Musical ice pass is a variation of musical chairs, with players passing the cubes to music and seeing who holds the ice when the sound stops. Little ones may want to wear gloves if the ice is too cold for their hands.
Add colored ice cubes to a pool. Children can push and swirl the water to move the ice. And they can play hot potato with the ice in the water. And they can watch the colors run into the water as the ice melts and see how colors mix.
Older children can play ice hockey. Remember the cube is hard and as it melts it can leave slippery puddles. Use feet or hockey sticks to push (or kick) a cube back and forth, attempting to get the cube past the defensive line into a "goal" area. If a cube breaks up or melts replace it with another cube.
Hold Icy Races
Enjoy individual races or group relays with ice. The relays can be simply racing a cube to a designated spot or seeing which cubes melt first. After activities involving ice melting, tap into facts about problems of the earth's glaciers melting.
- For handy races simply carry the ice cube from start to finish by hand and see who runs the fastest. Or, the players can use a spoon or other object to carry the ice.
- In pass the ice relay race, the cubes can be passed from player to player, with each taking a turn at the head of the relay line.
- Melting races take place with the object of seeing who can get their ice cube to melt first. This can be done with choosing to place cube on colored paper or foil, blowing on it, dunking ice in warm water, rubbing it by hand, or pushing it around until it melts.
- Snake races use a group of cubes, string, and salt to create a snake that is pulled along a racecourse. Decide how many cubes each snake must have. Then players must create the snake by getting a long string to attach to several ice cubes. Hold the string at arm level and let it drag on the ground. The first spot that touches the ground is a good place to stick the first cube. Shale salt on the cube and stick the string onto the cube. Let the next cube be a few finger widths away from the first cube. Continue adding cubes until attaching the desired number. Then the players race the cube from a start to a finish line. Creating the snake can be part of the race or the race can begin once all players have finished making their snakes.
- Freeze cubes with a lollipop or Popsicle stick in each cube. Let children hold ice with stick and race to see who can melt ice first by only licking the cube.
Use caution to not slip on puddles of melted water or dropped ice cubes. Check out more ice fun for preschoolers that also provides science lessons. Be creative and design more activities with ice that cools while inspiring giggles.
