Come See How to Do Some Winter Experiments and Crafts

As you know, we absolutely love our sensory table! January can be a tough time to feel relatively cooped up in the house with weather being colder and harsher. While we love to get outside, some days we need some indoor activities. We have been using ice to learn all about the cold weather outside from within the comfort of our house! Read more below for some winter experiments and crafts we did with ice!

We have spent a lot of the day experimenting with ice and learning about some of the properties of ice. It is amazing the things that you can learn simply through play! Three fun winter experiments and crafts using ice for toddlers below.

Three Winter Experiments and Crafts

Ice Painting

The first activity that we tried today was ice painting. This activity did take some prep work the night before to ensure that it was ready to go today. But the prep work took me all of two minutes (plus finding space in the freezer haha). Our first attempt at this activity we used water and food coloring (I did not find this to be as successful as my second attempt where I used washable paint). So below are listed the steps I used for the second attempt.

Directions:

1. Mix washable paint and water into a cup.
2. Pour the mixture into each ice cube tray.
3. Cut popsicle sticks in half.
4. Place a popsicle stick into each ice cube tray slot.
5. Put into the freezer and allow to freeze overnight. 
6. Allow them to paint as desired!

Gone Fishing

This activity was super simple, I had a silicone mold of fish and simply froze some colored fish. I mixed water and food coloring to create the colors. The kids quickly learned that putting the fish into the water, they melted quickly. They had fun getting them to swim around for a while but then decided to spend more time dripping water onto the fish to see how long they took to disappear.

Supplies:

Directions:

1. Mix water and food coloring.
2. Place in mold.
3. Freeze overnight.
4. Allow them to experiment with letting the fish swim in water or using droppers to drip water onto the fish.

Salt Tunnels

Another relatively simple activity. This is a really cool way to combine learning about reactions with art.

Supplies:

• Ice cubes
• Salt
• Water colors
• Paint brush

Other fun winter activities we have done: snowstorm in a jar, instant snow, and scented playdoh.