On a hot summer day, what does one do for “Princess Preschool”? We play with ice, just like Elsa, from frozen! Building with ice is not easy. My daughter wanted to make an Ice Princess’ castle, which wasn't really possible, but it sure is fun to try your hand in stacking the sliding blocks during an outside ice play exploration!
My preschooler initially insisted that we make Elsa’s frozen ice palace. She quickly discovered, however, that the slippery blocks of ice were not going to stay on top of each other. No matter what we tried, the ice cubes slipped around and around the back deck. We did not build with ice. Despite the lack of actual building taking place during our play time today, it was delightful for both my preschooler and her baby sister.
My toddler was delighted by the ice cubes. For nearly twenty minutes, both kids sat and stacked and slid the ice around. Kitty tried tasting it. Strawberry tried sticking it down her shirt (to cool off?). Both kids slid it around on the deck. Playing with ice was a perfect sensory activity for a hot summer’s day. Next time, I'll free a small plastic toy inside one of the ice cubes.
It was not a complicated project, but even as the kids ran around the yard for the next hour, they kept coming back to check on the progress of the ice. Had it melted yet? In that sense, it became a mini-lesson on states of matter as well!
The next time you need a simple outside activity for a summer day, take out the freezer’s ice tray and see what your kids will come up with! Next time, we may try adding our fake snow to the mix and see if that helps keep the slippery ice together!
See more A-Z Play at Home ideas for the letter I below.
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