Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Toddler Activity: Colored Ice

Food Coloring + Water + Freezer = Colored Ice


 Add toddler, warm weather, and a sunny sidewalk.

Let toddler play, discovering colors. . .
 Counting. . .
Melting, and so much more.

Miles LOVED this activity.

Actually, he ignored it at first.  Then, Mommy dumped the ice cubes out on the sidewalk and began pushing them around.  For awhile, they were cars, creating their own tracks as they went.  Then, he lined them up, counting, "Wun, tooo, freee, fow-ah".  Then, he listed their colors (occasionally, he even said the correct color - mostly, he just said "poor-pul" [purple]).  Then, he put the ice cubes back in the tray, and we worked on matching the colors to the residue left in the tray.

Then, we just dumped them, and put them back, and dumped them, and put them back.  And played in the cool, colorful, quickly evaporating puddles.

**If you choose to do this, know that one drop of food coloring per ice cube is plenty for a bright coloring.  I put the water in first, added the coloring, then mixed with a toothpick.**

2 comments:

  1. Do you have liquid or gel food coloring? I had to buy the gel for a project (because that was all they had) and am wondering how well if would work for this...

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  2. I have the liquid. I don't know how gel would work. Sounds like an experiment. . . :)

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