Ice cube art and experiment
Winter in Vancouver is not snowy like other provinces-we have limited opportunity to experience snow here. Fortunately, we had some chances to experience some snow a few day ago in Richmond and Vancouver. Sometimes we cannot have plenty of time for the preschool children to spend a long time in the outdoors to explore and investigate more about Nature. I decided to create some opportunities for the children ice inside the classroom.
We already had made artificial snow in the classroom sensory table before this art activity. This is the extension activity we provided after that sensory experience. Children were so delighted to observe the ice cube with the Popsicle stick; it was colorful and appealing for the children. They were touching it, and discussed how they felt when they touched it. Before we presented it to them, we explained that it was only for art, we couldn’t eat it because the color was not safe for putting in their mouths. (Next time may be we will put something they can taste -maybe in the summer time.
Some children wanted to touch it, some of them enjoying the way it was melting on the paper and some were curious to observe why the water was absorbed in to the construction paper? They were creative and investigative while they were doing the art. After finishing art we decided to save it in the jar and displayed it on the science area to observe how the ice was melting. Teachers were showing and explaining to the children why ices were melted. Children were free to touch and feel, and had opportunity to experiment with the ice cube .It was a fun and exciting experience for our preschoolers.
