My two young girls are going with their grandparents to see an ice sculpture exhibit this weekend. They are all very excited about it. We have been looking up ice sculptures online so they could see pictures of what to expect. To really get them in the mood we decided to try and make our own mini ice sculptures. It is a fun activity for them and for me. At first we just pretended to sculpt using play dough but the opportunity to use the real ice was too good to pass up. Just make sure you are prepared for cold fingers and a watery mess. If you put the ice sculpture in a cake pan then as it melts it should not make too much of a mess.
Mini Ice Sculptures
What You Need:
- Plastic containers of different shapes and sizes
- Food coloring
- Kosher salt and table salt in salt shakers
- Turkey baster and container of water
- Gloves/mittens
What You Do:
- Several days before undertaking this activity, freeze water in plastic containers or varied shapes and sizes. For extra interest, add food coloring to some of the water.
- Have gloves and mittens available to protect little hands. Unmold the ice on a table. It’s about to get messy and wet, so you might want to do this outside.
- Have your child build sculptures with the ice. If there’s more than one child challenge them to work together.
- Let your child experiment with the salt and water to see how it affects the ice. (Salt helps make ice melt, and can be used to make ice shapes stick together.)
After your child sees first-hand how such a simple thing as salt can have such a big effect on ice, she’ll be looking at the world wondering how other objects interact. Without even knowing it, she just conducted a science experiment and art project all in one!