Winter Fun--Painting with Ice!

Many thanks to No Time for Flashcards for this totally fun idea!

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we painted with ice cubes. The kids had lots of fun with this hands-on activity. Even our occupational therapist who visits the class thought it was a neat idea for the kiddos to get a great sensory experience!

To prepare for this activity, the night before, I put a couple of drops of paint into each part of the ice tray, filled it with water and let it freeze. I bagged up each color and we were ready to go!
Targets:
Vocabulary- Ice, cold, mittens, colors
Sensory
Science- concept of ice melting into water

We started by talking about what the kids saw by asking "what do you see?" "what do you think this is?" "have you ever seen ice?" "what colors do you see" and encouraging them to talk.

Next, we talked about what the kids felt. We talked about how it is winter time and it's cold and the ice is cold, too! Then....

we got to touch it! We constantly reinforced the vocabulary word "cold."

Next, the students practiced using their words to request their paper and ice. Our goal is for the students to say complete sentences on their own, like "I want blue ice" or "I want paper." Some kids can do that, but others need help. They had to ask each time they wanted a new color, reinforcing the need to use their words.
Then, they painted!

Some of the kids really had a great time, others didn't like the cold feeling, but we encouraged them to at least try! If they really didn't like it, we let them put on mittens, giving us another great opportunity to reinforce that vocabulary word.

Our paintings came out beautifully!

                                               

     
They are now displayed on our window for everyone to see.

Happy painting!