Melt blocks of ice to find bright flowers inside.
This toddler activity explores melting ice and using a variety of fine motor tools in a sensory bin.
I love this photo of the brightly dyed flowers peeking through the ice.
This represents spring to me, especially in the Midwest.
Spring is typically pretty cold, and sometimes snowy and icy. But we want the flowers to start blooming so badly!
How to Set Up This Ice Melt Activity
Gather fresh flowers and freeze them in a foil pan of water.
Once frozen, pop the ice block into a sensory bin or plastic tub.
(Plug the drain in a clean sink, and that’ll work fine, too!)
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Next, add small containers of warm water. As warm as you can get out of the faucet because it’ll cool down pretty quickly.
I also gave the girls little bowls of salt to sprinkle on top of the ice. That’s what gives the ice that textured look in the first photo.
Last, I provided a bunch of different fine motor tools:
- turkey baster
- medicine dropper
- twisty dropper
- toy hammer (from this tool set)
- toy screwdriver (see tool set link above)
Each girl got her own sensory bin and block of flower ice.
Of course, the youngest thought Big Sister’s ice was more fun to play with than her own.
The girls sprinkled salt on top of the ice and then used droppers to spray warm water on the flower ice.
They used the hammer and screwdriver to break the ice into smaller chunks.
Variations and Substitutions
I didn’t add any food coloring to the water, as the flowers were pretty bright and colorful already. But you could add color to the frozen ice or to the warm water used to melt the ice.
You could also add water to the bin and watch the ice float.
If you don’t have fresh flowers on hand, go out into your yard with the kids and scavenge for little nature items, such as:
- pebbles
- sticks
- grass
- leaves
- pinecones and pine needles
- acorns
These would be fun to freeze as well!
What We’re Learning
The big thing that the girls learned is that warm water and salt both help to melt ice.
They also confirmed that ice is “Brr, cold” and used the water to help warm up their hands as they played.
Using different tools throughout the activity helped strengthen fine motor muscles and control, which is essential for tasks like writing.
Will You Try the Flower Ice Melt Activity?
Another activity you can do with flowers is have a flower tea. Tap this link to see what we did.
Hope you have a great day!
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