Add Arctic Animals To Ice Science Sensory Bin for Toddlers and Preschoolers

It’s too cold outside and the children want to play. Take the arctic freeze inside. Freeze water overnight, the next day place ice in a container with some arctic animals and let the magic begin. Watch the children ease their apprehension, discover ice temperature, play in a cold sensory bin and possibly drink the water from the bin.This activity happened due to our frigid subzero degree weather in Chicago. I had some mineral water in the garage refrigerator, and due to the low degrees, the glass bottles that were in the fridge(not freezer) broke. Have you ever place beer or wine in the freezer to chill, and forgot it was there, only to go back to a shattered bottle? Well, this water bottle shattered due minus thirteen degrees. The shattered bottle, provided the perfect pieces of ice to use for this activity. After carefully removing the green glass from the ice, I placed the ice mold in a container, in front of the toddlers and ……

Amazingly the toddlers hurried to the container that was set before them, they examined its contents, asked for re-assurance to investigate, then reluctantly touched the ice.Very soon they unwittingly played with the ice ignoring the cold sensation. They remained fixed at playing for minutes that went into and hour. As they played the ice melted and that created more play.
To help their unended play, I added some of the arctic animals the preschoolers and I were learning about earlier that week.With a little imagination and willingness to get the carpet wet, the toddlers had a morning that expanded their knowledge base, created and added to their memory bank. They did not know what the ice was, but when it began to melt they continued to say, “water, water” ….yes frozen water is what makes ice, and when ice melts it turns to water. What an awesome teaching moment for all.