Colored Ice Blocks

What to do with a cold afternoon in Minnesota?  Well make an ice sculpture of course.  

We always save our containers for well... who knows what activity I come up with:)  This time we filled them all with water and the kids added their own formula of food coloring to the water.  After they froze, we placed the containers in warm water to release them from the mold.  They popped right out this way.

The kids each need a flat surface to build their sculptures on so I gave them some old tops to plastic bins.  They used spray bottles to squirt the ice when they were attaching the pieces.  This acted like a glue (keep in mind it is about -10 degrees in these pictures.

The best part for me is that I was able to send them on the deck to have fun and I could stay inside.  The kids would come in every 10 minutes or so to warm up and want to head right back out to build a bit more.  

So far this activity has lasted hours.  The process has been ever changing.  The kids got to investigate color with dyeing the water.  They have created patterns with the ice blocks, built them up high, place them together and knocked them down, they have even tried to carve them with my good silverware:)  Simple fun can sometimes be the best fun!