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Ice Excavation Activity

by Angela Thayer 2 Comments

My kids really like to play with ice. They especially love it when it’s a hot day! Even in the middle of winter, they still like playing with ice. It keeps them busy for a long time and they get to discover new ideas.

Ice Excavation Activity

Playing with ice is a great sensory activity. They are feeling different temperatures and discovering how ice and water are related. So many great discussions can happen while playing!

To prepare the activity, I filled a large bowl of water along with colorful craft items from around the house. I put in beads, confetti, water beads, pipe cleaners, ribbon robe, and more! Then I put it in the freezer overnight. When it was time for the activity, I ran warm water around the bowl until the ice popped out of the bowl. Then I placed it in a plastic container along with tools for my kids to explore the ice with.

invitation to play

I also placed a warm bowl of water beside them so they could use droppers to put water on the ice. Then I invited the kids to play and let them dig the ice.

ice with tweezers

digging in ice

They started digging with tongs and shovels but realized they needed to melt some of the ice. So they used droppers and squeeze bottles filled with warm water to melt the large block of ice.

squeeze bottles

squeezing

water

After a bit, they got a hole in the ice!

hole in ice

hole

ice

They picked out the “treasures” using tweezers and placed them in another bowl. It was a fun time exploring ice!

More Ice Excavation Activities

Dinosaur Ice Eggs are super fun to play with! Just place small dinosaur toys inside of water balloons, fill them with water, and freeze them. Read all about it here.

dinosaur ice eggs

Another fun way to place with ice is to place plastic animals inside of a bowl of water, freeze it, then have your child “rescue” the animals! We’ve done this with ocean animals.

rescue the animals ice activity

If you have a Lego lover, you need to try this activity! Place an assortment of Lego bricks into a bowl of water and freeze it. Have your child excavate the bricks, then give them the challenge to build something with all the bricks! My middle son, who loves to build, enjoyed this activity.

Lego ice

lego

Lastly, if you like fizzy activities, make sure to check out fizzy ice! We’ve made fizzy ice stars, but if you need a simple recipe ASAP, here ya go!

fizzy ice cubes

Have fun with these activities!

Related Posts

  • Dinosaur Ice EggsDinosaur Ice Eggs
  • Ice Cube SculpturesIce Cube Sculptures
  • Patriotic Ice ActivityPatriotic Ice Activity
  • Homemade FloamHomemade Floam
  • Ten Ways to Play with Water BeadsTen Ways to Play with Water Beads
  • 5 Summer Activities for Preschoolers5 Summer Activities for Preschoolers

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Filed Under: 1st Grade, Fun Kid Activities, Indoor Activities, Summer Activities Tagged With: ice

Comments

  1. Priya says
    January 19, 2015 at 10:47 am

    What a lovely activity!! Will do this with my 4 years old.

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    Priya recently posted…Top 5 Websites in India To Buy Stationery For KidsMy Profile

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  2. Suzanne Grisham says
    June 24, 2020 at 8:32 am

    So much fun! I shared your site with the parents in my kindergarten class! I hope they have fun with all your awesome ideas! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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