12 Days of Learning: Starry Ice Sensory Fun

On the eleventh day of Christmas Carter played with ice,

that stained his face and his hands blue. (Yeah....)

Back in China, we are bringing the holidays to a close as the 12th Day of Christmas is quickly approaching. :(

Today, we looked at lots of our new books that we got for Christmas! THANK YOU everyone! You know you are a teacher when you are sooo excited to get more children's books.

Then, we got ready for some sensory fun. I thought it would be fun in the spirit of winter and Christmas to play with a bit of ice in our sensory table. So I made one ice tray filled with gold stars (like the Wise Men saw) and the other tray was blue water (just for fun).

Here they are...that's some dark blue. One drop of food coloring per cube.

One second after being dumped into the table.

I should have known! But look at him observing, exploring!

He walked to the other side of the table and was a bit angry to discover only one piece of ice.

Notice the blue is all gone! I panicked!

He scooped one more to the other side. :)

Loving it!

I added some magnet letters and another shovel. Notice he is still blue.

Ice is cool! :)

Lesson learned...here are some tips for when YOU do it:

Baby -2 years old:

• Try juices instead of food coloring. You know it will go to their mouth!

2 Years Old and up:

• Add lots more ice and add cups, buckets, tongs, ladles, measuring spoons or cups.
• Use the food coloring ice for objectives like: Finding the blue ice and getting them into the bucket without using your hands. Fine motor skills and sensory exploration! Double duty!
• Add popsicle sticks to the colored ice to paint with! Sensory, fine motor, art! Triple duty!