Ice Cube Play: Toy Discovery

Been really slacking on my blog posting lately.  We’ve been busy getting ready for the summer…  Cleaning up the yard, changing over to summer clothes (a never ending tasks with 3 boys!), AND getting ready for Michael’s DUMP EVERYTHING 2^nd birthday party (promise to share the details of it once it’s over!).  We’ve also done quite a few warm weather activities that I am getting ready to share as well!  The heat of the past few days should have you thinking WATER!  I think there are few little ones out there that don’t like to play with water, so I will be sure to share many water experiences, but I’d also like to share some fun things you can do with ice cubes!

My boys, Michael inparticular, love to play with ice cubes.  Put an ice cube in their drink on a hot day and they are definitely sticking their hands in there, playing with it, inevitably dropping it on the floor, and then asking for another.  It finally clicked that maybe taking out some ice cubes for the actual purpose of playing with them would be a hit.  I’ve found quite a few ideas for ice cube play so stay tuned for more activities, but this is the one we tried today.

The cool (no pun intended) things about playing with ice cubes is that it can be done in a few places to create new experiences each time – inside, outside and definitely the tub – AND it’s not something you have to buy anything to do! 

Here’s what you’ll need:

Plastic containers (cups, small containers, baby food containers, etc.)

Water

Small toys (matchbox cars, pretend bugs, play jewelry, etc.)

THAT’S IT!

 

The only tough part is you have to wait for them to freeze, so I would recommend putting it together the night before and if it’s a hit with your little ones, then always have some ready in the freezer.

First, fill your plastic containers with water, then drop a small toy in each one.  My boys have really been getting into dinosaurs lately so I used the small dinosaur figures we have.  Place them in your freezer.  You’ll have to check to see when yours are done based on how large your containers are of course.

 

We first tried this activity indoors on this rainy, dreary day.  I gave the boys a big plastic container to play with them in and put a towel under their play space of course.  Since we were doing this indoors and it wasn’t very hot, I also gave them a bin of warm weather.  Our cubes were large so it would be hard to get them to melt without a little extra warmth. 

 

I didn’t factor in how cold it would get so the boys did take breaks and come back to their ice cubes a little later.  Another thing I didn’t expect was how upset Michael got that the toys were stuck in the ice.  It took a while before he realized that the ice would melt and the toys would eventually come out!  I felt horrible at first!  BUT it was definitely a learning moment.  Once he saw that the ice was melting, he was excited to keep chipping away at the ice to free the dinosaurs! 

We talked about how COLD the ice was at first.  It was also a good lesson in FREEZING and MELTING.  We saved some ice cubes for when Hubby came home and it was great to see both boys explain in their own way what they were doing and how it worked!  RETELL is such an important language skill!

I am certain that the cubes will end up in your little ones mouth eventually (as you can see in our pictures!), so BE SURE TO CLOSELY SUPERVISE!!!  The ice cube and/or toy can be a CHOKING HAZARD.

I now have a stash of ice cubes with small toys in my freezer – next we’re trying it in the bath tub!

Hope you try this ice cube activity either tonight in the tub or on the next hot day!  Let me know how it goes!

 

Love & Language,

Marisa