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Home / Early Learning / Messy Ice Play Activities for Kids

Messy Ice Play Activities for Kids

Shared by Mary Catherine 3 Comments

We LOVE messy play ideas around here, and these ice play activities certainly fit the bill. Your students will touch on sensory, art, and science concepts with these icy ideas. AND you’ll find math and literacy opportunities within some of the ice activities, too.

Each of the ice messy play ideas shared below start with the same simple base – ice. Even though different ingredients and materials are added to change things up a bit, it still boils down to fun with frozen water. This definitely makes things easier for you when it comes to prepping and planning!

messy play ideas with text that reads ice play activities for kids

The great thing about all of these ice activities is that you can use them whenever you want! They’re great as part of your winter activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids. Since you’re talking about snow, ice, and cold, these ideas fit in well.

Or add them to your summer activities for preschoolers and kindergarten kids for a break from the heat of the season! Of course, they wouldn’t be out of place during the fall or spring either. Basically, break out the icy messy play any time of year.

Table of Contents

  • Ice Play
    • Materials for Your Icy Messy Play Ideas
    • Our Favorite Ice Play Ideas for Children
    • More Ice Activities for Kids
  • Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Ice Play

As I mentioned earlier, all of the activities below have ice in common. Yes, different materials, toys, and ingredients are added, but they’re all about the icy fun. I’ve broken the ideas down into a couple of categories – our tried-and-true ice play ideas, as well as others that are on my “to-do” list.

To find all the details about a specific activity, click on the hyperlinked text (it’s blue and underlined). That brings you to the individual post about the activity. You’ll find more images, as well as directions there. And be sure to save this post for future reference!

Materials for Your Icy Messy Play Ideas

Here are some supplies you might want for all of the ice activities. You can even use these materials to come up with your own icy invitations for the kids. (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.)

  • Ice trays
  • Candy molds
  • Glitter
  • Small toys
  • Themed confetti
  • Salt
  • Food coloring
  • Baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Spray bottles
  • Pipettes
  • Paint brushes
  • Liquid watercolors
  • Plastic bin

All of the materials listed above can be purchased in a variety of different shapes, sizes, and colors. You can always curate your supply list to match your theme. Or, let your students raid your supply closet and come up with an ice play idea of their own!

Our Favorite Ice Play Ideas for Children

As I mentioned earlier, these are some of my favorite ice activities. These are invitations I’ve created and used with many, many children over the years! I like to call them my “kid-tested, teacher-approved” ideas since so many children of different ages have enjoyed them.

4 messy ice activities for kids
  • Name Ice Melting
  • Ice Castles
  • Dinosaur Excavation Activity
  • Colored Ice
5 messy play ideas with ice
  • Fizzy Letters
  • Han Solo Science Experiment
  • Exploding Treasure Chests (check out the video below to see the process)
  • Fizzy Rainbow Science
  • Fairy Tale Science

Do you have any ice play activities that your students request over and over (and over!) again? These have definitely been those kinds of activities for me. Feel free to leave me a comment with some of the icy fun your kids love!

More Ice Activities for Kids

As promised, here are even more icy play ideas to try with your students! I’ve tried some of these with children, with the rest on my “I can’t wait to try it!” list.

4 ice play activities for kids
  • Ice Cube Proprioception from The OT Toolbox
  • Rainbow Ice Cube Sensory Play from Hands On As We Grow
  • Painting on Ice Blocks from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
  • Spider Ice Halloween Activity from Busy Toddler
4 messy play ice activities for kids
  • Monster Ice Sensory Activity from Toddler Approved
  • Rainbow Ice Cube Painting from Share and Remember
  • Frozen Ocean Animal Rescue from Mama.Papa.Bubba
  • Shaving Cream and Ice from JDaniel4’s Mom

Now that I’ve shared over 15 ice play activities for kids, it’s decision time. Which one are you going to try first? I know, I know . . . it’s a tough choice! Let me know the icy activities your students end up enjoying the most.

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Let Preschool Teacher 101 save you a ton of time with fully-developed, done-for-you early childhood resources. We have hundreds of lesson plans, activity packs, STEM challenges, digital games, circle time songs, dramatic play invitations, classroom management guides, and so much more. Members of The Pack, our membership program for preschool and kindergarten teachers, have access to our materials at a steep discount.

Click on the images below to learn more about some of our CVC word products:

Short A CVC Words 4-IN-1 Activity Pack preschool resource cover.
Short E CVC words 4-in-1 activity pack preschool resource.
Digital & printable short I CVC words 4-in-1 activity pack preschool resource cover.

You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.

ice play ideas with text that reads messy play ice activities

Originally published January 2015.

Filed Under: Early Learning Tagged With: Share It Saturday

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  1. Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says

    January 10, 2015 at 9:30 am

    Thanks for featuring our ice activities!

    Reply
  2. Science Kiddo says

    January 10, 2015 at 12:27 pm

    What an awesome collection of ice activities! I love that most of them are so simple and fun to do. Thanks for including our Fishing for Ice activity!

    Reply
  3. Abhi says

    November 5, 2015 at 1:12 am

    For the first time I have seen fun ice-activity for kids. M gonna try this with my 2 little kids. Thanks for such beautiful ideas.

    Reply
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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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