Table of Contents
Preschool Ice Activities at Home
Looking for some indoor snow activities for preschoolers?
Or maybe a fun alternative for snow such as ice?
You are in the right place!
As time goes by I’ll be including even more ice activities within this post and I am so excited to watch it grow!
Winter is such a lovely time to bring in the ice theme for preschool.
Some of these work well not only for preschoolers, but for toddlers and kindergarteners!
Heck! I love to play with these activities myself! 🙂
Whether you’re planning on introducing ice experiments for preschoolers or ice experiments for kindergarten or little toddlers, I’ve got you covered!
To read more on the importance of sensory bins (water sensory play), here is a list of over 100 sensory bin ideas you can try and a list of common FAQ and benefits you may be wondering about! 🙂
So, let’s get to it!
Materials:
This post contains affiliate links.
Snow (if it doesn’t snow where you live (like me) you can substitute snow for crushed ice or ice)
Food Coloring
Manipulatives such as arctic animals toy figures
Empty Ketchup Bottles
Bin or Kids water play equipment table and its bin like we use in most of our water play ideas!
Water Beads (optional)
Zip lock Bags for sensory play
Ice Activities for Preschool
Ice is such a popular and fun base for exploring and learning more about!
It’s cold and hard but it’s also wet and what is it really?
It is frozen water!
It’s as simple as that and a wonderful little lesson for preschoolers on the difference between ice and water and how they are both still the exact same component!
I have a couple of ice experiments we have tried true and love!
Here is the first one:
Note: For a list of over 70 Winter Activities, sensory ideas, and arts and crafts for kids this winter, read all about it here!
Winter Sensory Bin
We made this sensory bin last winter and even though it’s an oldie, it’s a goodie!
Here’s how I made it:
I added water into zip lock bags and froze them overnight.
Depending on the size of your bin, you may want to measure and see how many zip lock bags with water you fill and freeze.
This will distinguish how you’d like to make your small world play!
Do you want one big iceberg within the bin? Then, you’d probably like to freeze a big ziplock bag overnight.
If you’d like a couple like I did, freeze four small bags with water.
In the am, remove your frozen bags from the freezer and set those aside.
Let them melt a little so it’s easier to remove the ice within them.
Add water into your bin with a drop or 2 of food coloring. I chose light blue to mimic the Antarctic ocean.
Then, remove your ice from the ziplock bags and add them into your food colored bin!
Your small world play is coming along really nice, already! 🙂
Now, for the finishing touch, add some arctic animal toy figurines.
And, you just made an epic winter small world play my friend!
How’s that for some fun things to do with ice cubes!
Snow and Colored Water
Have you ever used empty ketchup bottles for a fun activity?
If you haven’t, you are in for one special treat!
Using empty ketchup bottles are fun hands on activities for kids that are so beneficial for hand motor skills and they won’t even know it because they’ll be having so much fun! 🙂
This activity can be done using actual snow or if you are like me and it doesn’t snow where you live, you can use crushed ice or ice cubes.
I froze ice, in cube trays overnight. I could also use the ice that’s from the refrigerator but I chose to use the ice cube trays because the ice is bigger and will last longer!
The next morning, I inserted the ice cubes into the kids water play set bin.
I added 1 or 2 drops of food coloring into the empty ketchup bottles.
Then, I filled them with water and closed them all up!
Squirt the snow or ice and learn, play and have fun!
It was epic fun!
I mentioned on my IG that my little one said, “Mom, this is fun”!
How’s that for one of many ice cube games for kids, eh?
Preschool Ice Sculptures Activity
This activity was so much fun!
Grab a couple of different sized cups and a plate or pot that can hold water and has a hollow in the middle.
Insert a drop or two of different colored food coloring in each cup/plate.
Then, add water and mix.
Insert them into the freezer so they freeze overnight.
In the am, set them all out on your kitchen table to thaw out a bit.
This is so they can be removed easily.
Add your frozen water from your plate as the base.
Then, add all of the other frozen colored ice from the cups on top of the frozen plate base.
Voila!
Now, you can talk about which one is bigger or smaller, what colors you see and you can even count them!
Really neat, educational and fun ice activities for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Frozen Goop “AKA” Frozen Oobleck
Oobleck is one of our most favorite bases to play with!
It is such a fun science experiment for kids that can be done any day of the year!
I made ours this time around with herbs and spices so we can feel the different textures and smell the different smells.
I also made rainbow-colored oobleck so we can talk about the colors with my preschooler.
Here’s how to make it:
To make oobleck, you’ll just need 2 cups of cornstarch to 1 cup of water. Adding a bit of food coloring is optional but totally recommended! 🙂
Add your oobleck into the ice cube trays and freeze them overnight.
If you’d like to add a couple herbs and spices like I did, you can as well! 🙂
In the am, remove them from the freezer, let them defrost a bit and remove them from the ice cube trays.
Set them on a plastic/glass tray. Have fun watching it droop and mix, play and enjoy!!
Check out the video below on how to make frozen oobleck!
Frozen Water Beads Science Activities for Preschool
This one is top 5 in our home!
I can feel how it feels right now and it’s so epic!
We tried this last year and it was a blast!
It is so easy, you probably can try it right now!
All you will need is one ingredient –
Water beads!
That’s it!
This was actually a mistake and isn’t that how glorious things usually come about?
From mistakes?
We were using orbeez “water beads” for play and when my girls were done I chose to freeze them in a bag in the freezer.
I totally forgot about them.
I’d see them in the freezer as I’d get our meals out but couldn’t put my finger on what I wanted to use them for, to set up an activity!
Until, one day I just removed them from the freezer, let it thaw a little and added the big ice chunk mixed with orbeez onto a baking tin.
Then, it hit me.
I grabbed our empty ketchup bottles and added water to them.
I set the baking tin with the frozen orbeez ball with in it on the table and added the watered ketchup bottles next to it all nice and fancy looking. 😀
I said, “Girls, I have a really fun activity for you”!
They came out and started squirting their bottles onto the frozen orbeez ball and it was a complete hit!
They absolutely loved it!
Let me tell you, I did too!
They probably spent the entire day coming in and out of spraying water on this frozen orbeez ball. Sensory play I tell ya! It is one magical thing!
As it melted orbeez were coming out and oh what a wonderful sensory experience.
The ball also felt gummy which was SO cool!
I can’t really express how much fun this thing is. It is pure gold!
Flower Ice Bin
This is so much fun and so beautiful too!
If you’d like to use the petals from flowers that are near their end, this is a great activity to use them in!
I used ice cube trays to add petals in. Then, I added water and froze them overnight.
The next day, I added them into a bin with 2 ice cube scoopers.
My girls had so much fun playing with the ice and seeing all of the colors from the flower petals.
Call out the colors and/or count the ice cubes for a fun preschool winter science activity.
So, there you have it! Fun and epic early years winter activities that can be used as a fun indoor activity for kids this January!
What other fun ice activities for preschool have you tried or would love to try?
Leave a Comment