Summer Play: 12 Ice Play Ideas

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When the weather gets hot

And little ones need cooling down

We love to add some ice to our play

Here are some of our favourite ideas

For ice play on hot days

Ice Ice Fairy

This involves rescuing frozen fairies from the ice

Often they are frozen with flowers and herbs

They melt to make frozen water to make a fairy lake or lagoon

This is definitely a favourite with my girls

This ice play could include mermaids and unicorns

And would be great with dragons too!

Painting Ice – Process Art

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We had some super slippery fun in the shade this afternoon. We painted ice! With ice chips and poster paint, Bea, Edie and I first tried to paint the ice and then used the ice to make marks in the paint. It was wonderful messy play and perfect for keeping cool on the #hottestdayoftheyear so far! We tried painting ice chips the colours of the rainbow. The colour went on to the ice well but did not stay. It created lovely coloured puddles to splash in. We mixed colours to see what new colours we could make. Bea and Edie then painted the tuff spot and we then used the ice as a writing and drawing tool. Bea practised her reading and spelling. We drew snails and silvery snail trails. We very much enjoyed this process art and had great fun making a great mess. Sensory play at its best, inspiring awe and wonder, getting the children to ask questions and investigate to find the answers. This was a lovely activity and one that we will definitely return to again on another hot day. #iceplay #iceplayactivities #sensoryplay #sensoryplayideas #sensoryart #processart #letthemexplore #curiouslittleexplorers #staycurious #aweandwonder #artplay #messyplay #messyplayideas #tufftray #tufftrayideas #tufftrayplay #edspireplays #letthempaint #letthemplay #siblingplay #play

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Flower Ice Gloop

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Today we played with gloop again. I put out a tray of cornflour with flower ice cubes in and around the tray. I also put out a cup of blue water and a cup of red water and a cup of salt. Edie loved trying to melt the ice but most of all her and Bea loved spooning the flour into the cups of coloured water. When they tried to pour out the liquid they found they had made gloop at the bottom of the cups. As the ice melted into the cornflour more gloop was made. Esther discovered if you add salt to the gloop the consistency changes. Daddy showed us how to make gloop dance on the vibrations from a speaker. We have had a wonderful afternoon exploring water and cornflour and making gloop. We pretended to make flower soup and fairy milk. It wa lovely to experiment with the ingredients mixing them together in different ways. A wonderful afternoon in the garden filled with laughter, fairy magic, spring flowers and science #somanywaystoplay #playfullearning #gloop #sensoryscience #sensoryscienceplay #messyplay #sensoryplay #trayfortheday #tuffspot #tuffspotideas #tufftray #tufftrayideas #tufftrayplay #playideas #preschoolactivities #preschoolplay #preschoolathome #childhoodunplugged #childhoodmagic #aweandwonder #homelearning #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #learningthroughplay #play

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Spring Flower Ice Cube Play

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Today we enjoyed some very pretty flower ice cube play. Using flowers from our garden the girls made the ice cubes last night and today I set them out in the tuff tray on our Minibeast mirrors. We built towers with the beautiful floral cubes of ice. We then added warm rose water and sparkly warm water to our play. The girls had paint brushes, syringes, spoons and other fine motor tools. They dipped the ice in the water, they painted the ice with scented glittery water. They added more petals and grass from the garden. They loved creating perfumes and potions, soups and stew and different flower teas. We love ice play on a hot day and have previously used frozen flower blocks as stock cubes for making nature stews and soups in the mud kitchen. This ice tray play really captured their imaginations today. A perfect sensory play idea for spring. #somanywaystoplay #iceplay #waterplay #trayfortheday #sensoryplayideas #sensoryplay #tufftray #tufftrayideas #tufftrayplay #spring #springflowers #springplay #welovespringplay #springplayideas #playideas #playideasforkids #playathome #letthemplay #tuffspot #play

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Rose Water and Petal Ice Play

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A bit of Valentine’s sensory play for Edie today. I froze some rose water filed with fabric rose petals, heart shaped cookie cutter and Pom Poms. Once we had melted the ice we made cakes and muffins. We made rose water tea with Pom Pom sugar cubes. We scooped and poured and transferred the beautifully scented rose water. The smell filled the playroom. It was lovely. We filled the teapot with petals and water to make tea. We filled the milk jug with water and the sugar bowl with Pom Poms. Edie loves serving tea and mini ice tray bakes. We had a lot of fun with all our red, pink and purple accessories. A lovely love themed tea party water play. Perfect for a rainy February day.

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Frozen Rescue – Save Anna and Elsa!

Peppa Pig Ice Play

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We had great fun this morning with our wintry @officialpeppa advent characters from last year. We froze them in muffin trays over night so that they were trapped in these icy discs. Perfect for making them race across the tuff tray. Pretending to ski, sledge, skate and ice dance. All the children had great fun. Edie kept saying the ice is melting mummy because it is getting warmer. She learned that the more she played with a character and held the ice in her hands the faster it would melt. She loved watching the ice change as it melted. #somanywaystoplay and a whole lotta learning going on! #trayfortheday #tufftrayplay #winterplay #welovewinterplay #sensoryplay #iceplay #playislearning #playfullearning #playmatters #playandlearn #learningthroughplay #learningthroughplaying

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Rose Water Fairy Lagoon

Icy Rose Water Potions

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With the Bank Holiday Weekend set to be a scorcher we are settling in for a weekend at home and in the garden. We will be doing lots of water play and having fun in the paddling pool. It will be our one last summer hoorah! I think I am going to set this tuff spot water play up again. We did this about a month ago inspired by @imaginationtree It is rose water and rose petals, ice chips and colourful reusable ice cubes. The children set about making fairy potions, ointments and perfumes before deciding to get in the tuff tray for a little foot spa session! Edie was fascinated with the ice cubes and seeing how many she could fit into a tall measuring cylinder. The smell of this water play was just wonderful. A multi sensory experience. This weekend I think we are going to make a fairy lagoon. You can buy rose water from Sainsbury’s or you could use some rose oil in tap water. A wonderful way to explore water in a slightly different sensory way #somanywaystoplay #sensoryplay #waterplay #trayfortheday #potionmaking #tuffspotideas #tufftrayideas #messyplay #playfullearning #playmatters #letthemplay #timetoplay #welovesummerplay #letthemexplore #playandlearn #play #playideas #toddlerplay #preschoolplay

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Save Our Sea Creatures Ice Rescue

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More ice play today. Using salt to melt ice and save the sea creatures. Esther, William and Bea all had fun with this today. Putting salt on to the ice, making salt water solutions to pour over the ice, hacking at the ice blocks with various tools, painting salt onto the ice. They worked together to excavate their treasure. It was so lovely doing this on the mirrored surface as the trees and sky and clouds could be seen reflected as they played. A wonderful and calming sensory play set up today with #somanywaystoplay and a whole lot of learning going on! #exploringnaturewithchildren #natureplay #waterplay #sensoryplay #sensoryplaytime #playoutside #playoutdoors #watertray #watertrayplay #watertablefun #iceplay #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #playandlearn #playfullearning #learningthroughplay #playtolearn #playislearning #letthemplay

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Frozen Ocean Ice Disks

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This afternoon Edie and I played with ice. Last night I froze lots of starfish, tropical fish, shells and seahorses in muffin trays and plastic tubs. Today I put our mirror surface in the tuff spot and emptied the iced sea creatures on to it. Edie then had to rescue the sea creatures by melting the ice. We had great fun skating the ice discs around the tuff tray to help them melt. We used spoons and knives and lots of water to set the creatures free. This was a lovely cooling sensory experience for a hot hot day. I have frozen all the creatures again for Esther, William and Bea to pay with tomorrow. They will be adding some other elements to their play as they try to rescue the sea life and set up an aquarium with different habitats for the different fish. #somanywaystoplay #manywaystoplay #exploringnaturewithchildren #sensoryplay #trayfortheday #tufftrayplay #tuffspot #tuffspotideas #waterplay #iceplay #seacreatures #ourblueplanet #playtolearn #playfullearning #learningthroughplay #playmatters #summerplay #heatwaveuk #edspireedventures #toddlerplayinjune #toddlerplay

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Frozen Pea Play

Frozen Fruit and Fresh Flowers

So many ways to play with ice!

Happy Heatwave!

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