Painting with Ice Cubes

Summer and winter are a great time to use ice in sensory projects. Today we’re combining a sensory art activity with color science in this ice cube painting craft for kids. It also makes a great last-minute boredom buster for kids because you probably already have the supplies you need for this project in your kitchen!

Sensory and Science Extended Activity Tips

• Before you start this ice cube painting activity you may want to add in a lesson about changes in matter. This project starts with changing a liquid to a solid before going into the art project. As your child paints the solid turns back into a liquid.
• Have your child clasp their hands together before painting with the ice. They can feel the warmth of their hands. Next, have them hold the cold ice in their hand for a moment. As it melts a little explain how the heat melts the solid back into a liquid.
• Teach kids about primary and secondary colors (or just mixing and making new colors) by painting with two pieces of different colored ice. As the ice melts and the colors blend, new colors appear. Yellow and blue make green, blue and red make purple, and so on. Kids love to see the magic of the colors changing!

Supplies

• Paper
• Ice cube tray
• Food coloring
• Water

Activity

• Add a little water to each ice cube spot in the tray.

• Drop the food coloring into each separate ice cube square

• Carefully fill 2/3 of each cube mold full of water

• Freeze the water until it forms into ice

• Now start painting with your DIY watercolor paints! Moving the paper and lifting it up will cause colors to blend and new designs to form.

How did your ice cube paintings turn out? Give us a tag on Instagram to show off your project!

Join Green Kid Crafts Today!

We have created a 2-box Holidays Around the World Pack that will inspire your pint-sized geographer! The cultural crafts in this Around the World Pack will take your traveler to six exciting places: Japan, India, Africa, Guatemala, Australia, and China. At each stop, we’ll find a wealth of crafting inspiration as we learn about unique culture and holiday traditions while developing our appreciation for the differences that make the world, and its people, beautiful.

Projects include making Diwali Candles from India, designing an African Mask, making Japanese Lanterns, creating a Chinese Hand Kite that really flies, Aboriginal Rock Art from Australia, and Guatemalan Worry Dolls and a Worry Box from South America. This box also comes with a Passport Sticker Book.