Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Kool Aid Colored Ice Cubes

Ice play is such a fun and cheap way
to play outdoors on a hot summer day!

We had so much fun playing and PAINTING WITH COLORED ICE CUBES with The Children's Art Group, that we had to do this fun activity again at home. We also did this 2 years ago when L was 2 years old and it is so fun to see how the play involved has changed but the fascination with melting ice and color mixing has stayed the same. Ice




When I made colored ice for the art group, I used both paint and Kool Aid to make the cubes, however, making them with Kool Aid is super simple, MUCH cheaper, makes large batches quickly, smells amazing and makes pretty colors. It was actually my genius friend Cassie who suggested it!






All I did was empty one packet at a time into a large spouted measuring bowl and add hot water until I thought the water was getting too clear. I wanted really vibrant colors so I didn't want to dilute the color too much. No exact science. Then poured that color into ice cube trays...and cups, and repeated with the other colors.






I have a few star and gem shaped moulds from soap making and L was really excited to use these!
They did make super pretty colored ice cubes! 






On this 103 degree summer day, the ice started melting even before I was finished setting the play station up for L, but that didn't matter. L AND my 14 year old stepson both had fun playing!









Oh, and we also made colored ice balloons by adding food coloring to a balloon before filling it with water, tying it off, and freezing it. These look incredibly neat even when they start to melt!





I really liked how the paper cup ice turned out!





It wasn't hard for L to imagine he was cooking his ice cubes
when they were melting so quickly on his metal frying pan.











I also gave him a few white rags to melt his ice on.
It didn't take long AT ALL for the ice to melt and a work of art to be made!






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9 comments:

  1. What a perfect activity for these burning hot days.

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  2. Fun. A very inviting play time. That rag looks very like a prefold! Cheers

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  3. What a wonderful idea...My kids would love it, but I dont think I 'd be able to find this Kool Kid kit here in Greece(or something like it ), so I'm thinking to improvise and mix food coloring and water to get the coloured ice cubes :)without the painting...

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  4. Yes, this is a fabulous idea!! And YUM! :)

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  5. I love this--I can't wait to try it!! I'm featuring it on my PreschoolPowolPackets Facebook page too!

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  6. We love playing with ice....these look beautiful. Thanks for linking up to the Outdoor Play Party.

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  7. Aww shucks, thanks for the credit! :) I like that it doesn't stain hands like the food coloring does and if Kaydee(1) eats it then it's perfectly ok. :)

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  8. LOVE this! So creative to use kook-ail. It was a delight to multiple senses at once =-) I love the picture with all the ice cube trays! I am featuring this at TGIF today! Thanks for linking up & I look forward to seeing what you link up later today =-)
    Have a great weekend,
    Beth =-)

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  9. Can you tell me what the name of the store where you bought that ice tray? I am going to do a DIY wedding ice carving for my sister and I think she will love this idea for her reception menu.

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