This activity is so much fun for little ones and engages your child’s senses in so many ways! Try it outside on a hot day, or inside anytime! It is definitely a favorite at our CEFA Early Learning schools!
Best Ages for This Activity
Two to five years (just stay close so your younger child doesn’t eat the beautiful paint popsicles!).
How to Make It
You Will Need
- Tempera paint – choose the colors you and your child like
- An ice cube tray or popsicle mold
- Paper
- Popsicle sticks
Let’s Get Started!
- Invite your child to freeze paint with you
- Pour a color of paint into each cube of the ice cube tray. Do not dilute with water.
- Put the ice cube tray in the freezer, leave for 20 minutes (your child can keep track of the time to learn math) then remove from the freezer and put a popsicle stick in each cube. Put back in the freezer and let it finish completely freezing. Your paint will be ready for the next day.
- Remove the paint popsicles from the freezer and put them on a plate, in glasses or in a muffin tin for your child to paint with. So fun! Your child will explore the ice with their hands, see it melt, feel how it paints differently when the ice is very hard than when it is melting and getting softer. They will love covering their paper with paint, spreading it with their hands, dragging the popsicle paint sticks along the paper – so many opportunities!
Learning Opportunities
This is a fun visual arts activity for your child. It is also a great way to develop their sensory skills. It is also good fine motor activity, a precursor to writing!
The purpose of visual arts is to invite your child to express themselves, to bring the inside, out, as I like to teach our CEFA Early Learning school Teachers. Your child will discover themselves, the beauty they are capable of expressing through art, and that is an amazing thing to witness – enjoy every moment of it and see how they express themselves!
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