Ice Painting

The boys did ice painting at Strong Start this week and loved it so much that we tried it out ourselves at home.  I found it to be such a success and so much fun involving science and art, that I wanted to share it with you today.  Extra bonus- it’s super easy to do!

We started off by simply filling an ice-cube tray with water.  My older son helped to sprinkle just a little bit of flour into the water (this helps the cubes stay together while painting) and then we added a decent amount of food colouring.  We mixed up everything and stuck toothpicks in each cube (breaking a Popsicle stick in half works better), and then placed it in the freezer till the next morning (you could also just wait a few hours until it freezes).

(If you would like scented ice paints try adding some jello powder instead of flour or some essential oils!)

Next I popped out the colourful frozen ice-cubes and handed my boys each a tray. The toothpicks act as a handle (or popsicle stick).  They painted with the cubes on the tray and after decorating the tray with all sorts of designs, pressed a white piece of paper on the tray.  Once you pick up the paper, you’re left with these beautiful marks from the ice-cubes.

For my 1-year-old, I let him “paint” directly on the paper, which is a great option too.  And of course, my boys not being artsy at all, turned ice painting into melting the cubes and colours together, which led into some wonderful science discoveries!

I hope you have fun with this activity today- and don’t forget to let your children explore whether they follow my instructions line by line, or come up with their own ideas of what they can do with ice-cubes!  

Remember to comment below if you enjoyed…Happy Connecting!