Bring a little STEM into your kids’ lives with a simple experiment with ice and different substances. Can they work out which substance will thaw the frozen heart quickest? This activity mixes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) and sensory all together and your kids will love it.
Why Should I Do Messy Play With My Kids?
Kids learn through play. Messy play is another form of play much like imaginative play, independent play and sensory play. At this young age, your child is learning from all the experiences that they undertake.
From this experiment, they’ll learn:
- that ice feels cold to the touch
- that water goes hard and turns into ice when it’s very cold
- that certain substances melt ice
- that certain substances won’t melt ice
- if they’re with another child, they’ll learn turn-taking
- social skills of being around other children
- vocabulary to do with ice, water, salt, sugar, warm and cold
There is so much that your child will learn from messy play. And this activity doesn’t even take much to set up or pack away.
Before you start this experiment, have you seen my other posts with loads of other Valentine’s activities for toddlers and young children?
How To Spend Valentine’s Day With A Toddler? – Fun Family Home
Should I Celebrate Valentine’s Day With My Toddler? – Fun Family Home
Right, back to the ice experiment for young children:
What you will need:
- Play tray or other deep dish
- Heart shaped silicone moulds
- Baking tray
- Water
- Food colouring – I’ve linked my favourite as there are so many colours!
- Optional: sparkly bits like sequins
- Salt
- Sugar
- Jug for water
- Scoops or spoons for salt and sugar
- Pipettes
How To Make & Set Up The Frozen Hearts:
1 First, lay your silicone mould on a baking tray. (I did not do this at first and it was a massive mistake because I couldn’t carry the silicone heart moulds without the water spilling!) Add some food colouring to water and pour into your moulds. You can also add sparkly bits in here at this point.
2. Put the mould in the freezer. Leave it to freeze overnight.
3. Take the frozen hearts out of the freezer and set up some pipettes, a bowl of salt, a bowl of sugar and a jug of warm water.
4. Invite your child to investigate which substance will melt the heart.
Kids will love seeing what happens when ice melts, they’ll love to scoop the different substances up and pour them onto the frozen hearts.
The excitement on their faces and in their voices when the ice does start to melt is wonderful.
How Do I Contain The Mess?
To contain any mess, do this activity in a play tray like this one, give the kids aprons like this one and pop a waterproof rug under the tray to catch any spillages.
This activity doesn’t take too much time to set up or clear away, the most time is spent waiting for the ice to freeze so this is a quick and simple toddler and preschooler play idea which your child is sure to enjoy.
Alternative Ways to Do This
You could save this activity for the summer! Freeze the hearts again and pop them out in the garden on your play tray and it’ll be a fun, cooling activity for your kids.
Check out some other summer ideas here:
20 Fun and Free Outdoor Activities for Kids This Summer – Fun Family Home
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