ABC Learning for Kids with Icy Fizzing Letters

Shared by Mary Catherine 64 Comments

Kids love learning about letters in fun, engaging ways. Dive into some ABC learning for kids with this fun sensory activity. Children will have a blast exploring their senses, along with some early science concepts, as they go on a mission to combine baking soda and vinegar with a “top-secret” ingredient.

ABC Learning for Kids - an incredibly fun way to mix literacy, science, and sensory play!

Table of Contents

ABC learning for kids that uses science and hands-on play

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Sometimes, I come up with some of the best ideas while rummaging through old materials or cleaning out storage places. In fact, I found these two trays while clearing out a closet. I’ve had them for sometime, but it’s been a while since I used them! So I was excited to incorporate them into a science activity. I thought it would be so much fun to make fizzing letters!

Materials

Like I said, I just happened to have the ice cube trays on hand. But if you aren’t planning on looking through the top shelves of a closet any time soon, you might just have to purchase some new ones! I’ve included links for them below, along with the ingredients that you’ll need for the “recipe” below. I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Alphabet ice cube trays

Numbers ice cube tray

Baking soda

Water

Jell-O powder

ABC learning for kids using letter ice cube trays

While Snoopy and Engineer were still at school, Little Hurricane hung out with me. He had a ton of fun helping me get our experiment started. We mixed baking soda, water, and Jell-O powder all together in a bowl. Little Hurricane studiously mixed and mixed and mixed! We made blue raspberry, orange, and strawberry mixtures. From there, Little Hurricane helped me spoon the mixtures into the ice cube trays. We ended up having extra leftover, so that all went into the regular ice cube trays. Everything went into the freezer at that point.

The “Recipe” = 3 parts baking soda + 1 part water + Jell-O powder (however much you’d like to add)

ABC learning for kids that lets kids use science and sensory play as part of a literacy experience

One note — It’s best to make the mixture kind of like a paste. If it has too much water in it, the icy letters turn out a little too soft. This makes it difficult to remove from the ice cube trays. If the mixture seems too liquidy, just add more baking soda until it’s pastier.

ABC learning for kids using hands-on science

Little Hurricane went down for a nap before the ice was fully frozen, but he’d helped out with his favorite part anyway. Snoopy and Engineer came home and seemed pretty excited when I told them I had “fizzy letters” for them! Neither of the boys had any idea what I was referring to. They’re used to my random activities and experiments, so they didn’t even bat an eye.

Use letter ice cube trays as part of an ABC learning for kids project

I popped the letters out into a plastic bin on the kitchen table. Bowls of vinegar, measuring spoons, and eyedroppers. Engineer and Snoopy just observed the frozen letters and numbers at first — poking at them, stacking them up, smelling them, and commenting about everything.

ABC learning for kids with science and sensory paly

After about 10 minutes of this, they decided to see what happened with the vinegar. They were SO thrilled when the letters started fizzing! We’ve done these kinds of experiments quite a bit, but they never fail to be excited! The boys spent about almost an hour making the letters, numbers, and cubes fizz and “melt”. Each time they broke down a set, they requested more . . . until all of our fizzing ice was gone.

ABC learning for kids using icy, fizzy letters

Some fun comments Engineer and Snoopy made during this activity:

“Wow! These are really cold letters, but they’re not melting like ice.”
“They smell good, can we eat them?” [They technically taste-sade, but I doubt they taste good!]
“The blue letters are melting much faster than the orange ones!”
“I’m melting my name! I’m melting my name!”
“Hey, I wanted to melt the 8! OK, can I melt the 5 then?”

Using science as part of an ABC learning for kids experience

Of course, Snoopy and Engineer weren’t done yet! They loved the “slime” at the bottom of the tub and wanted to explore it with plastic Skylanders (not the ones for the game, but some cheapo versions). They added lemon Jell-O powder and glitter to the mix, thus creating a “sparkly, smelly swamp” for the Skylanders. It was hysterical watching them cover the figures with “slime” and act out all sorts of silly stories!

An ABC learning for kids project that couples science, sensory, and pretend play

I loved how the icy fizzing letters included science, sensory play, literacy, math, AND pretend play! So much learning packed into such a FUN activity for different ages!

As I was about to publish this post, a variety of other Jell-O/gelatin activities were showing up around the web! Great minds think alike, I guess. Here are a few such activities from blogs that I love:

Frozen Gelatin Fossil Excavation and Frozen Gelatin Sensory Play from Fun at Home with Kids

Frozen Jello Sensory Play from The Imagination Tree

Summer Fun – Jello Ice Play from Growing a Jeweled Rose

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!

Preschool is the perfect time to learn about the letters of the alphabet. Check out some of Preschool Teacher 101’s alhabet resources by clicking on the image below!

Letter Recognition 4-in-1 ABC pack — Letter Recognition 4-in-1 ABC Pack

move and learn abc journal — Move and Learn ABC Journal

Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our content. We have a variety of membership options to suit your needs.

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