Ice Art

We made some seriously stellar art this week and used lots and LOTS of ice!!  I'm sure my hubby is glad to be able to open the freezer without a bag of brightly colored or fun shaped ice dropping on him. :)

Our first project we've done before, but it's too awesome not to repeat: Watercolor Ice Balls!  A preschool parent found this idea HERE and it was a huge hit with the class the first time around.  I must say, the second time around was equally amazing.

We had just read our Let's Find Out class magazine from Scholastic about a city made completely from ice.  The ice buildings are lit up with colorful lights, so we made our very own colorful ice!  Part science, part art, all FUN!

Sprinkle on some salt, watch the cracks and crevices form and fill them with liquid watercolor - easy!

I also discovered that this activity lasted much longer if I gave the ice balls an occasional rinse with water.  Once the children had a blank canvas again, they were eager to continue adding colors.  Monkey sat with this one for a good half hour!

For our next icy art project, we colored with markers and then 'painted' over our pictures with ice.  The ice causes the markers to bleed, softening the drawing and making it look like watercolors.

How about some ice cube painting??!!  I used my star-shaped ice cube trays with water and some liquid watercolor and added tiny craft sticks to make it easier (and warmer) for little hands.  Here's a tip: let the cubes sit for a few minutes before starting to paint.  Once they've begun to melt, the color glides onto the paper smoothly.

Our final icy art project, Ice Sculpture, isn't actually ice at all.

These are corn starch packing peanuts that just happened to show up in a box last week.  I decided "ice" sculpting sounded like a wonderful way to start our next class.  Just a tiny dab of water and these peanuts stick together to create anything a child can imagine!

Even toddlers can get in on the sculpting action!

My students went home with extremely impressive sculptures!  I wish I had pictures of all of them!