My daycare children and I made our own ice block sculptures this week. It was easy and fun for everyone. We went for a winter wonderland walk and collected some items from nature.
We examined each item and talked about the different colours, textures and shapes.
Our recycle bin provided some empty yogurt tubs that we used as our molds The children decided how they wanted to layer the nature items in their containers.
Once the containers were full with leaves and twigs we filled the yogurt tubs up with water. I left a little space at the top.
We placed our containers outside on the front step where we could see them through the window. The children predicted how long it would take for the water to freeze into ice on this cold winter day.
We checked them after three hours but they weren’t frozen solid yet (it did snow a bit though!).
It took six hours for them to freeze all the way through. We brought the containers inside and the ice blocks slid out easily.
The children wanted to feel the smooth sides and look closely at their ice sculptures. We talked about how water can change from a liquid to a solid in cold temperatures.
The ice sculptures made pretty outdoor decorations for our window sill on the front porch.
What a fun science craft on a wintery day!
I’m a former elementary school teacher, and homeschool mother of two, who runs a Waldorf inspired home childcare/preschool. 
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Hi
I am curious about your colors/numbers of the month and how you plan it. Do you focus on a different number up to 10 and a different color each month? How do you teach it in your day? Do you incorporate it into your crafts? How do you decide which to focus on? Thanks for your feedback as I really enjoy your site and wonderful ideas.
I focused on a different number and colour each month. I started in September and did number one and the colour red. My theme for September was Apples so red fit in nicely. I did Orange for Halloween, white in the winter, etc. I simply went through the numbers (one each month) to 10 and then did review for two months. I was also doing a letter of the week program the year I did the number/colour program so I didn’t tackle the alphabet in order. The letter fit into the theme, example: Letter S for a snow theme. My main theme helped me decide what crafts to do, ex:make a cotton ball Snowman, do a science experiment with melting ice, a number activity with our number of the month -count 5 snow flakes on the flannel board, etc. The change in the seasons helps me decide what to focus on because my home daycare is Waldorf inspired. I can get into a more detailed answer or give you a month’s example if you want to message me privately.
Shared these here 🙂
sorry here http://siayla.blogspot.ca/2014/02/got-winter-try-these-snow-and-ice.html I really love these. They look amazing.