The story behind it
By TurkeyMom · June 2013
Ages2–5 yrs
Prep10 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group
Freeze flavored or colored water in ice cube trays with a thread running through every cube, then pop out icy necklaces and bracelets for chilly, sticky sensory play. Dress up dolls with the jewelry and balance the melting cubes on a scale.
⚠️ Safety first
- Strings around the neck: an adult stays with any child wearing an ice necklace, and takes it off before naps or unsupervised play.
- Ice cubes and thread are a choking hazard for toddlers. Supervise closely and don't let kids suck on or chew the cubes, because the thread is frozen inside them.
- This is play, not a snack. Treat the flavored ice as a play material.
- Melting flavored ice is sticky from the sugar and can make floors slippery. Play outdoors or on a washable surface.
- Colored and flavored ice can stain hands, clothes and toys.
- Very cold ice on skin: take breaks if little hands get too cold.
Before the kids arrive
- Pour the Flavor-Ice liquid (or colored water) into ice cube trays, run kitchen thread through every cube and freeze until solid.
- Make a couple of extra trays with shorter strings so everyone gets a bracelet.
Steps
Snip open the Flavor-Ice packets and pour the liquid into an ice cube tray.
Ask: "Hey, see this yellow water. Is it lemon flavor or orange flavor?"
Run a kitchen thread along the tray, making sure it is immersed in each cube.
Adult: set the tray in the freezer until frozen solid.
Pop the frozen strand of cubes out of the tray to get your ice jewelry.
Set up a play area with favorite dolls and dress them up in ice jewelry.
Add a weighing scale and see how many melting cubes it takes on each side to balance it.
Squish and touch the melting ice and feel how sticky it gets.
Tips
- Use flavored ice for an extra sensory element. It's a great way to introduce the color-to-flavor connection to younger kids.from the author
- The chillness of the ice added a fun sensory element to the girls' doll dress-up play.from the author
- As the cubes were melting, it was funny to see how many we needed on either side to balance the scale.from the author
- Melting Flavor-Ice gets sticky from the sugar, and that became an unexpected sensory play activity of its own.from the author
Make it your own
- Use plain food-colored water instead of flavored ice.
- Make smaller strings in extra trays for ice bracelets.
- Turn it into a balance experiment with a weighing scale.
- Play a color-flavor guessing game before freezing.
What readers say
💬 2 comments
Read all 2 comments
Veens · Jun 2013
How cute is that! Brilliant idea :)