ice cubes

Painting Ice And Snow Activity

January 29, 2022 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Ice cakes are the highlights of this painting ice and snow sensory table activity little learners are bound to love.

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A painting ice and snow center is one of the easiest activities you can set up, and little learners love to participate in it. Stacking the frozen ice into triple-layer cakes will level up the fun factor and visual appeal.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Supplies To Collect

For this frozen-themed snow and ice sensory table activity, gather the following:

activity tray
round plastic food containers in different sizes
ice cube trays
small metal bowls
large pail
snow
food coloring or liquid watercolors
paint containers
paintbrushes
sturdy tablecloth

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Setting Up The Painting Ice And Snow Activity

How to set up a painting snow and ice sensory table activity for early learners.

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Freeze water in food containers for several days. Empty yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, and margarine containers work well for the molds.

Set the activity tray on a round table covered with a tablecloth.

Scoop up snow in a large pail and dump it into the tray.

Take out the ice shapes from their molds and drop them on top of the snow. Stack smaller ice chunks on larger ones to make triple-layer cakes.

Set out ice cubes in small metal bowls.

Add liquid food colors to paint containers, or mix a little food coloring into water to make the hues. Featured are paints in primary colors.

Include brushes and invite little learners to paint the ice cakes and snow.

An easy to put together painting ice and snow sensory table activity the whole family can enjoy.

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The watercolors in the containers stay quite pure in this activity, without having to ask anyone to rinse their brushes between hues used. And there will be lots of excitement when new colors such as green and purple pop up in the snow.

Little learners will love to participate in this snow and ice sculpture painting activity.

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If you are short on preparation time, offer snow, ice cubes, and paints with a variety of kitchen accessories. Think muffin tins, bowls, spoons, pans, and frozen dessert sticks. Your little charges will enjoy painting the snow and ice cubes, and will excitedly use the accessories in snow kitchen activities.

Kitchen accessories add to the play experience in this snow painting sensory table activity.

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If snow is not available where you live, the activity will work fine with ice shapes alone. Little learners will be thrilled to focus on painting the ice cakes and can add ice cube embellishments.

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Decorating an ice cake is the highlight of this painting ice and snow sensory table activity for little learners.

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Christmas Light Table Activity

December 21, 2021 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Invitation to scoop and sort Christmas-themed reusable ice cubes in this magical light exploration play activity for little learners.

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This Christmas light table activity is oh so simple to set up! And the festive light play invitation will add ambiance to your Christmas theme offerings.

A light table is a table illuminated by light and comes in a variety of sizes. Some smaller ones have removable legs for versatility. Portable light boxes and light panels are other excellent alternatives for light exploration activities.

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For more activities with light, follow my Pinterest board Light Play.

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Light Table Supplies

Clear containers and accessories, and reusable ice cubes are the key items to collect for this magical center. Gather:

clear salad bowl
plastic see-through gift boxes
plastic egg holders
clear serving spoons
Christmas-themed reusable ice cubes

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The Christmas Light Table Activity

Counting, sorting, and scooping opportunities at the light table with Christmas-themed reusable ice cubes and clear containers.

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Fill the salad bowl with reusable ice cubes and set it on a light table along with a serving spoon.

Spread the plastic gift boxes, egg holders, and extra spoons around the bowl.

Invite little learners to scoop ice cubes from the bowl into the gift boxes and sort ice cubes in the egg holders.

Color and shape sorting, counting, and practice with eye-hand coordination are a few benefits of this play invitation, aside from just being a lot of fun!

Invitation for little learners to count and sort reusable Christmas-themed ice cubes at the light table.

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If you do not have a light table or lightbox in your classroom or home, you can make a simple and economical DIY version. Just add Christmas lights to a clear plastic tub with a lid. I’ve tried this and it works just fine!

Reusable ice cubes can be picked up at dollar stores, or in the picnic supply section of other stores. I’m always checking for ones that complement the themes we do in the classroom.

The clear gift boxes were an awesome dollar store find, and I snapped up ones trimmed in red, green, silver, and gold. Little learners would enjoy scooping and transferring ice cubes into all sizes and shapes of containers, so use what you have available.

Clear gift boxes are the perfect containers for scooping reusable Christmas-themed ice cubes at the light table.

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A light table can be used for science, discovery, math, art, drawing, literacy, music, and more. What’s your favorite way to use one? Share below.

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