Melt a Frozen Heart

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We still have the Frozen soundtrack on repeat in the car, so anything Frozen related is still a big hit.  I found these great heart sequins in the Dollar Spot at Target last week, and the next day saw this amazing post from Totschooling: Thawing a Frozen Heart, and thought we should try it too!  Big M loved trying to melt her Frozen heart, and even Lil’ M enjoyed playing with the shiny ice cubes!

This whole project cost me a whopping $1.  I found an assorted package of various size heart sequins in the Dollar Spot at Target, and everything else, was just common household items and water!

Supplies:

Heart sequins

Water

Freezable containers

Eye dropper

Foil tray

Cost: Less than $5

Prep Time: Less than 15 minutes (over 3-4 hours to allow for freezing)

Clean-Up Time: Less than 5 minutes

Since we have an ice maker, I didn’t have any ice cube trays – but I found a great re-use for our homemade baby food storage system!  I used the 4 oz cup size to make our Frozen hearts.  Since our sequins floated on top of the water, I made the ice in layers: fill the cups 1/3 full with water, drop in a sequin or two, let freeze for an hour, repeat x3.  If by chance your little boys are not as Frozen obsessed as the Ms, you could do this same activity by freezing Lego men or small dinosaurs.

I set a timer on the stove to remind me to add more water and sequins, and by the time naps were over, they were ready to play with!  I gave each of the girls a foil tray (2 for $1 at the Dollar Store, and reusable for more crafts) to contain the water mess, one Frozen heart cube, and for Big M, I also gave her a small bowl of warm water and an eye dropper.  If you don’t think you have an eye dropper, you can ‘borrow’ one from an infant vitamin dispenser or even use one of those Infant Tylenol syringes.  We are working on strengthening her fine motor skills, and squeezing the eye dropper is a great activity for this!

Guru Tip: If you run some warm water over the outside of the frozen container, the ice cube will slide right out.

While Lil’ M was content just playing with her ice cube – touching it, sliding it around on her foil tray, occasionally licking it and saying “Brrrr!”, Big M was all about cracking her ice open to get at those hearts!  She lost patience occasionally and hubby and I helped her with the eye dropper.  Twice, she dumped the whole bowl of warm water on it, and requested a refill.  But she was more than thrilled every time the ice cracked enough for her to pinch the edge of a heart and pull it out.  I did have to keep a close eye on Lil’ M to make sure she didn’t eat the hearts!

We talked about how ice is frozen water – that when water gets really cold, like it is outside right now during the winter, it turns to ice.  And if you warm it up again, it turns back into water.  She thought this was totally fascinating – despite not having the patience to watch it happen before her very eyes.  We have had this conversation before when we played with snow in the kitchen sink, and I was overjoyed she remembered, “Like the snow, mama?”  They are such little sponges at this age!

It’s always nice when I can find an activity that keeps both girls entertained, and this one definitely fits that bill – and since I have three Frozen heart cubes left, we will definitely do it again soon!  What is your favorite activity to play with ice?  How have you taught your children about different states of matter (gas, liquid, solid)?

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