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Tag Archives: ice

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue

3 / 7 / 194 / 15 / 19

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue Activity | Mama Papa Bubba

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…

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.{this post contains affiliate links}

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

When I told Sam that the vehicles were stuck in an icy blizzard and needed to be rescued, he was thrilled.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

I briefly ran through the tools with him and he was off!

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

While Sam immediately went for the warm water and salt, he soon moved onto trying the wooden hammer.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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!

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Of course Miss Chloe was right in on the action as she always is.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

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.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Of course as time passes, the vehicles become easier to rescue…

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

And then it gets REALLY exciting!

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

This will definitely be done again in our house.

Icy Blizzard Car Rescue | Mama Papa Bubba

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Mermaid Ice Excavation

7 / 6 / 167 / 2 / 19

Mermaid Rescue Ice Excavation | Mama Papa Bubba

Summer’s here which means that it’s officially ice excavation season!  We love ice excavations and as the years pass, I’m always slightly surprised by just how into them Miss G is.  She’s done many ice excavations in her time, and yet she still gets all amped up when I mention doing one {which I of course love}.  I do try to make them fun and different each time, playing into whatever she’s interested in that summer, so a mermaid rescue ice excavation it was for my girl who currently loves mermaids. {So fun, right?!  Mermaid birthday party here we come!}  

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Painting on Ice

12 / 28 / 141 / 12 / 15

Painting on Ice | Mama Papa Bubba

A couple of days ago, I asked Brad if he’d fill a dish with snow and pop it into the freezer for us to play with at a later time.  Back home in Canada, Miss G really loved snow spray painting, and I figured we’d try another {more traditional} type of painting on snow once we got our hands on some paint.  Well, Miss G and I found some really inexpensive acrylics while out and about yesterday, so I was excited let Miss G paint on snow using brushes today.  The project didn’t turn out quite as I envisioned it due to the fact that our snow turned into a full-on rock hard ice block during it’s time in the freezer, but painting on ice was a really fun and unique experience too!

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Summer Fun: Ice Play

7 / 8 / 123 / 24 / 14

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Knowing that we were expecting a string of scorchers (for Vancouver, at least) here in the city, I prepped this sunny day activity a couple of days ago so it would be ready to go when the mood struck.  All it took was a bunch of ice cube trays, a little food colouring, and some freezer space.

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I know that some may wonder why on Earth I have so many shaped ice cube trays, and the only explanation I really have is –  I’m a Kindergarten teacher. (They’re great for counting, sorting, AND making homemade soaps for Mother’s Day!) No, they’re not what we use on a regular basis.  In fact, we have 8 regular ice cube trays in our freezer at this very moment. And while regular ice cubes would work just as well, I decided to pull out the fun ones to add some interest to our ice play.

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With the ice cubes frozen and ready to go, I quickly gathered up a few kitchen goodies to accompany the ice. Some cups, a couple of spoons, and a spatula to mix, scoop, and stir with, and a jug, a squirt bottle, and spritzer {each filled with coloured water} to melt the ice and make “soup” with.

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Gracen was pretty anxious to get her hands into this bin and didn’t hesitate to put her water reserves to good use.

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Mmmmmm…. Soup!

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With the soup ready to go, the tasting began.  We did have to explain that she couldn’t put the small cubes right into her mouth, but she was more than happy to just lick the bigger cubes.  Not as thrilled, was Papa, Grae’s official soup taste tester – yuuuummy!

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Full of soup, it was time to climb in. Brrrrr! For being as cold as it was, she lasted a surprisingly long time in there.

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With frozen feet, it was time to climb out, defrost those tootsies, and water the lawn a little…

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And not long after, this is all we had left of our ice sensory bin…

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Though this sensory bin doesn’t lend itself to repetitive use like most do, it’s easy to set up and so refreshing on a hot summer’s day that we’ll definitely be enjoying it again very soon. Bring on the heat!

♥

You can see Gracen’s rainbow rice, beach, ocean, gardening, moon dough, construction, and bird-themed
bins by clicking on the links.
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