Exploring the different states of water and observing the transformation from one to another makes for a fantastic sensory experience and can inspire limitless ways to play! Here are some of our favorite ways to help kids make lasting discoveries as they play with ice and water.
The Guide
Prepare ice: Ice is a marvelous lay material in any form! Keep it simple and grab some ice cubes from the freezer. Or, take ice play up a notch with some of our favorite ways to prepare ice for play time:
Frozen treasures: Freeze some objects from nature inside an ice cube tray, muffin tin or recycled containers (i.e. yogurt containers).
Giant blocks of ice: For a different take on ice exploration, freeze water in a large container, such as a pie tin or cake pan (great for learning about glaciers through play).
Color explorations: Add a few drops of food coloring or watercolor paint to water before freezing to add an extra dose of magic to frozen treasures.
Scent-sations: Add a few drops of lemon juice or other type of citrus to stimulate even more senses during play.
Add a handle: Freeze a stick, flower stem or one end of a piece of twine or rope inside ice to spark even more imaginative play. Plus, a handle gives kids a way to easily handle ice without getting hands too cold.
Play! Fill a bucket, bowl, bin or the bathtub with water, offer some ice and let the play roll! Need some ideas? Here are some of our favorite ways to explore water and ice:
Snap, crackle, pop! Add ice to warm water and enjoy the sound of the melting ice as it cracks, pops and fizzes in the water.
Sink and float: Make predictions about whether the ice will float or sink. Then, test it out to see what happens!
Scoop it out! Offer spoons, cups, strainers and another container or two for kids to enjoy some scooping and transferring play.
Sail away: Use objects from nature as “passengers” and see how many can fit on your icy “boat”. Then, try pushing the ice through the water to set sail!
Free from the freeze: Melt frozen treasures in the water to free them from the ice. Read more about this activity here.
Color mixing: If you have added color to your ice, make a prediction about what will happen to the color of the water in your bowl. Then, add your colorful ice and explore color combinations.
Icy feast: Offer a few kitchen tools (e.g.mixing bowls, spoons) and invite kids to transform cubes of colored or scented ice into a pretend soup. Or, melt ice in cups with water to make their own potions.
Glaciers on the move: Experiment with using fingers, tools and even breathe to move the ice across the water.
Ice fishing: Offer a strainer or scoop and invite kids to “fish” for their ice in the water. Want more play ideas to keep kids cool when the weather heats up? Try our Pigs in the Mud DIY or our Nature Fans DIY.
Why is this activity great for kids?
Offering kids ways to cool off through play when the weather heats up is a super way to show kids that they can persist and find the magic of being outdoors all year long! Ice and water play is a super way to activate the senses and, because there are endless ways to play with these open-ended materials, they offer many chances for kids to use their creativity and problem-solving skills.
By creativity, we mean the ability to both imagine original ideas or solutions to problems and actually do what needs to be done to make them happen. So, to help kids develop creativity, we parents need to nurture kids' imaginations and give them lots of chances to design, test, redesign and implement their ideas.
"Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
Why, you ask? For one, it is through being creative that a person is able to get senses, sensibility and spirit working together. Simply put, without creativity, we don't think our kids will live a full life.
On a more practical level, it's also the means by which humans of all ages make an impact on the world and other people around them. A lot of heavy stuff is going to go down in our kids' lifetime, and their generation will need to imagine and implement solutions to big and very complicated problems. Although our kids are still far from public office or the boardroom, today's political and business leaders worldwide are already pointing to creativity as the most important leadership quality for the future.
Although years from the art studio or design lab, little kids can learn to think and act creatively if you give them time and the right practice.
Sensory
Category:
Body Skills
What is Sensory Development?
Although some scientists classify as many as 20 senses, when childhood educators talk about "developing the senses," we typically mean developing the five standard senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. In addition to honing these senses, educators care about sensory integration, which is the ability to take in, sort out, process and make use of information gathered from the world around us via the senses.
Why does it matter?
The better kids are able to tune and integrate their senses, the more they can learn. First, if their senses are sharper, the information kids can gather should be of greater quantity and quality, making their understanding of the world more sophisticated. Further, until the lower levels of the brain can efficiently and accurately sort out information gathered through the senses, the higher levels cannot begin to develop thinking and organization skills kids need to succeed. Senses also have a powerful connection to memory. Children (and adults) often retain new learning when the senses are an active part of the learning.
So, if kids have more sensory experiences, they will learn more, retain better and be better able to think at a higher level. Makes the days they get all wet and dirty in the sandbox seem better, doesn't it?
Persistence & Grit
Category:
Social Skills
What are Persistence & Grit?
A persistent person can continue on a given course of action in spite of challenges or barriers that arise. In other words, persistence is the ability to stick with something and keep trying. It's partner, grit, is the strength of character, and sometimes courage, to allow one to persist. Those who possess grit don't mind rolling up their sleeves, focusing on the task at hand, and sticking with it to completion despite the challenges that come their way.
Why does it matter?
Talent is helpful, but it's hard work, persistence and grit that unlock talent and turn capable people into success stories. As Thomas Edison so famously said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Practice with being persistent, including the chance to struggle and learn how to overcome struggle, will help kids later have ability to wade through and make sense of confusing new information, navigate difficult situations, and solve tough problems.
Further, studies like those discussed in Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman's NurtureShock tell us that kids will actually perform better when we praise their hard work instead of just telling them how smart or great they are. As parents, we also tend to offer kids activities which are enjoyable and attainable and, as such, too easy. Bear in mind that if we spare them frustration, we actually deny them the chance to work hard and develop persistence and grit.
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: 1 hour+
Materials: water, bowl, ice, objects from nature, (optional) food coloring and/or citrus
