With flowers starting to make an appearance here in South Carolina, I thought Holden and I would spend some extra time learning about color this week. Spotting flowers has been super fun for us this year, because for the past 9 months, I’ve been telling Holden that Daddy would be back in the springtime. I explained to him that in the spring, it gets warmer, the sun is out more, and flowers start to bloom. Anytime Holden sees flowers, he says, “Daddy is coming home!” I love it.
Ice cube painting is a great way to teach your kids about color and what happens when you mix colors, because they can easily help with the preparation. It’s almost like 2 activities in one. This project is incredibly cheap and easy to set up. It’s definitely an activity we’ll be doing again and again.
Supplies: Kid-friendly paint, Ice cube trays, water, popsicle sticks, paper, and a cookie sheet. (Told you this was easy!)
Here’s Holden helping me make the ice cube paints:
In order to teach Holden about color, we mixed different paints together and talked about the results. Here’s a little video of us. (Film quality is not great, but Holden quality is off the charts!) As you can tell by the video, I’m not sure he really “took in” the lesson, but he still had fun mixing and helping! (Hint: turn your volume down before watching the videos!)
If you’re short on time and just want to get to the painting, all you have to do is put dollops of paint in each ice cube segment, add water to each, mix it up, and put it in the freezer. We waited about 30 minutes until the cubes were solid enough to add the popsicle sticks. Within an hour or two, you’ll have ice cube paints to work with. Or, you can save them in the freezer for as long as you want and pop them out when the kids are getting restless.
When you’re ready, just put some paper on a cookie sheet and let your kids go for it! It took a few minutes for the ice cubes to really start melting and make patterns, but Holden didn’t mind. At first he tap, tap, tapped them until they started making patterns. He also held some in his hands to help them melt. This project kept Holden busy for close to an hour, and he’s been asking to paint with ice cubes again, which this Mom can easily say “yes” to since it’s such an easy project!
Here’s a video of Holden painting. Again, sorry for my poor videography, but I think Holden’s cuteness makes up for it. Did you catch that he was trying to tell me that only boys can make projects? If this kid knew how to write all his letters, I’m pretty sure I’d see a “No Girls Allowed” sign on his bedroom door!
Don’t forget to pin this project to your Kids’ Board. Even though it’s simple, it’s something you’ll want to remember when summer days are feeling long!
