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You are here: Home / Art / Ice Painting for Kids – Year Round Fun!

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Ice Painting for Kids – Year Round Fun!

October 2, 2013 by Sheryl Cooper

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Inside: Ice painting for kids is so easy to prepare and can be done any time of the year. Freeze some water, add some paint, and it’s ready to go! 

 

You know those days when you just want a super simple activity to keep the kids busy?

 

Hello, ice painting for kids!

 

You don’t need anything fancy for this hands-on activity. That’s the beauty of it!

 

Ice painting is loved any time of the year! Indoors, outdoors, at home and at school.

 

It’s a favorite go-to activity any time!

 

Ice Painting for Kids

I love activities that can be done year round.

Especially process art that doesn’t require loads of prep work (who has time for that?) and doesn’t require step-by-step instructions.

In the winter it can tie in with a snow and ice theme and in the summer it can be added to a cool outdoor activity on a hot day.

It’s also great activity for the beginning of the school year when young children are learning how to use paints

Ice painting is probably one of the most simplest painting activities around, and yet it is always popular with kids.

toddler preschool process art

What you will need:

  • A large piece of ice, frozen in your choice of plastic container
  •  Watercolors
  • A plastic tray to catch the puddles


painting on ice

Setting it up:

Pour water in your plastic container and allow it to freeze overnight. (One for each child, or for the amount of children who can fit at your art table at one time.) Right before starting this activity, remove the ice from the container onto a tray. Place watercolors on the tray next to the ice, along with a paintbrush.

Tip: Have a few of these ice blocks in your freezer at all times. This way they will be handy at that last minute when the kids have extra energy, or when a playdate needs some extra fun. 

painting on ice

 

 The process:

Invite your children to brush the watercolors on top of the ice block.

painting on ice

 

 Observe:

Notice what happens with the watercolors as the ice starts melting. The texture starts changing, as do the colors.

 painting on ice

 

 
painting on ice

 

painting on ice

 

When finished:

Either leave it as is, or press a piece of paper on top to make a print. Then, simply place the ice in the sink to melt. Clean up is a breeze!

Simply dump everything into the sink, rinse, and let the ice melt.

If you have more children who’d like to do this activity, put the ice back on the tray after being rinsed. So easy to reuse (until it melts 🤣).

How to Put Together the Easiest Toddler Christmas Painting Activity

Now you see why this is such a popular activity!

 

Ice Painting Using Shaped Pans

Since we’ve done the above ice painting activity, we’ve tweaked it using different shaped pans!

Simply find the shape you want, fill it with water, put it in the freezer, and proceed as we did above.

Here are two examples:

Christmas Tree Ice Painting

Toddler Christmas Tree Painting with Watercolors on Ice

Gingerbread Man Ice Painting

Ice Painting for Kids Using Gingerbread Shapes

Join our Facebook group (100,000+ Members!) where we share more tips and ideas:

More activities:

20 Fun Toddler Activities for Home

Teaching Squares to Toddlers

Easy and Fun Shape Art

 

Toddler and Preschool Activity Plans

Looking for an entire year’s worth of learning activities? We’ve done the work for you!

I have helped create each of these packets, along with a team of talented educators and homeschoolers.

Easy to follow activity plans include modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners.

Every theme comes with recommended reading lists, songs, material lists, and more.

Click on the graphics below for more details.

Toddlers (18 – 36 months):

toddler lesson plans

Preschool (3 – 5 Years):

preschool lesson plans

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Filed Under: Art, preschool, Toddlers Tagged With: art, preschoolers, toddlers

About Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper is the founder of Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds, a website full of activities for toddlers and preschoolers. She has been teaching this age group for over 20 years and loves to share her passion with teachers, parents, grandparents, and anyone with young children in their lives.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tammy@ Housing A Forest

    October 7, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    So fun! My kids had a blast using watercolors on ice blocks this summer. It was a great way to stay cool. I totally agree, the color mixing that takes place on the ice and in the tray is totally delightful.

  2. Sabrina Banks

    October 13, 2013 at 5:32 am

    Hello! I loved your link on Sow Sprout Saturday! After looking at this post I decided I needed to do something with ice with my kids. Here is what I decided to do http://sowsproutplay.com/activities/hidden-letter-icy-sensory-bin/ . Hope you enjoy!

    Sabrina @ SowSproutPlay.com

  3. Sheryl Cooper

    October 15, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    Love that idea, Sabrina! Am going to share it on my wall. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

  4. Malia {Playdough to Plato}

    December 11, 2014 at 7:06 am

    So simple and fun!! My kids will LOVE this! Thanks Sheryl. 🙂

  5. Renee McDaniel

    January 21, 2015 at 10:31 am

    Could a canvas be pressed onto the ice painting?

    • Sheryl

      January 21, 2015 at 7:30 pm

      Possibly! I’d make sure the watercolors were really intense, though. Great idea!

  6. Melissa Campbell

    January 27, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    This is awesome. Wouldit work with powder paints or just water colours?

    • Sheryl

      January 27, 2015 at 9:39 pm

      Aw….now you’ve got me thinking! Powder would be awesome!

  7. Sara Rains

    February 16, 2015 at 1:05 am

    Any tips on the easiest way to remove the ice from the plastic dishes/containers? I’m imagining that being tricky! Am I thinking too much into it? 🙂

    • Sheryl

      February 16, 2015 at 10:46 am

      Hi Sara! After we took the trays from the freezer, we ran warm water over them to melt the ice a bit. They then slid out of the trays.

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