YOU GUYS… It’s March 6th and currently? It’s snowing. SNOWING!! I can’t even. And so, when you don’t have the power to change the weather, you may as well enjoy it, right? Except for that it’s cold and miserable…. So we brought the blizzard inside. {Just enough to fill a small bin – my kind of blizzard. Hah!} Mixed Sam’s very favourite thing (vehicles, obviously) and created an icy blizzard car rescue that he absolutely loved.
Here’s how I did it…
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First of all, I picked out a few Hot Wheels / Matchbox vehicles from Sam’s collection and placed them into a small bin with just a couple of centimetres of water and two drops of aqua liquid watercolours (one of my very favourite art supplies – they’re super vibrant and super washable). Then I popped the bin into the freezer, arranged the vehicles as I wanted them, and let it all freeze over night.
When it was time to play, I sprinkled some snow on top in order to add to the whole blizzard feel, but if you don’t have snow you could certainly skip this step.
Next up, I set out a few ‘tools’ to assist in the rescue…
- toy tow truck and snow plow for added imaginary play possibilities
- some jars of warm water coloured with liquid food colouring (you could use liquid watercolours to ensure washability) paired with our bulk pipettes and our Learning Resources zig-zag dropper to help melt the ice
- a little wooden hammer for breaking / chipping away at the ice
- some coloured salt (just regular table salt and a couple of drops of liquid food colouring shaken in a reusable bag until uniform in colour), also for melting ice
Here’s the finished play invitation!
NOW… I just purchased this FLISAT table from Ikea {even though we really didn’t need it} and although I’m already so, so in love with it, you certainly do not need a fancy sensory table to set this, or any other sensory play invitation, up. A smaller bin inside a larger bin would work perfectly, as would a blizzard bin with a tray of tools next to it.
When I told Sam that the vehicles were stuck in an icy blizzard and needed to be rescued, he was thrilled.
I briefly ran through the tools with him and he was off!
I feel like ice rescue activities like this one {and this frozen ocean animal rescue and this frozen ocean mermaid excavation} are great for helping kiddos develop grit, patience, and perseverance because they take a good amount of time and effort.
While Sam immediately went for the warm water and salt, he soon moved onto trying the wooden hammer.
What I didn’t anticipate is that he would create his own warm salt water mixture in hopes of that being the winning solution… Clever little nugget!
It took some time {and maybe a tiny bit of assistance from Sister – she just can’t help herself!}, but he eventually got a truck loose.
Of course Miss Chloe was right in on the action as she always is.
One thing I should mention is that the combination of cold and salt can sometimes bother little ones’ hands. Miss G’s never minded – even after ages of play – but after dunking his hands in water and then into the salt, Sam told me that his hands felt ‘hot’. A couple of things you can do to if your little one seems to have sensitive hands: a) let them play with gloves on or b) have a bowl of clean, warm water and a small towel nearby.
Of course as time passes, the vehicles become easier to rescue…
And then it gets REALLY exciting!
This will definitely be done again in our house.
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When I saw 
Well luckily for me, not only did I remember to pick up cornstarch during our next grocery shop, but I also ran into these 
Next up, I used the popsicle sticks to scoop a small amount of gel food colouring into each popsicle mould, and Miss G selected a 
With our food colouring and powdered scent ready, we filled each popsicle mould about 2/3rds full of our cornstarch/water combo and Gracen stirred them well.
Then we topped them up with a little bit more cornstarch/water and Grae gently stirred them a little more.
At that point, all that was left to do was put our plastic handles in and freeze the chalk pops overnight.
The next day, they looked like this. The colours were vibrant, the texture was smooth and creamy, and they smelled absolutely delicious.
The blue one smelled like cotton candy, the green one was mint chocolate, the red was strawberry shortcake, and the orange was orange creme… YUM. The only potentially bad news is that because they do look so real and smell so wonderfully, some munchkins may be tempted to try eating them (yuck!) That being said, because they’re made strictly of kitchen ingredients, they are technically safe to consume. So though they may taste chalky and gross, they certainly wouldn’t harm a curious little monkey who snuck a lick.
With our fun new chalk pops in hand, we headed into the backyard to test them out. The verdict? They’re really awesome!
When they’re melting and drippy, they go on much like their liquid counterpart does, only via a wand of sorts instead of a paintbrush. When they’re not melting, they go on much like regular sidewalk chalk does – dry and colourful with a little bit of pressure. When dry, the colours are super vibrant and to me, they look very much like they’ve been made with regular sidewalk chalk. 
By the time our chalk pops had melted, our cement pad was fully covered in bright swirls, drawings, drips, and letters. And the great news is that it all washed away really easily without any fuss – much easier than our sidewalk chalk paint normally does for some reason.
