Ice, snow and hail

Ice

Ice is an interesting material that can easily be created in a childcare centre kitchen. Children of all ages will respond to the sensory experience and appreciate the cooling effect on hot days.

Children may be interested in snow if they have been on a holiday or live in a cold region of Australia. There are places in Australia where it snows and hails - sometimes unexpectedly!

Extend the learning with these topics: the sky, winter, the sun, and animals that live in cold places.

EYLF learning outcomes

The Early Years Learning Framework supports children connecting with natural materials (4.4) that teach respect for the environment (2.4) and provoke curiosity, imagination, creativity (4.1), problem solving, inquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating (4.2).

Learning experiences

Play with a frozen mini world

Freeze a large tray of ice so children can play with their own frozen small world. Preferably freeze a few trays at once, so you can quickly replace them when they melt. Place toys and loose parts on the ice for children to rearrange and play with:

Figurines of people and animals.
Toy vehicles.
Road signs.
Plants and rocks.
Construction blocks.

Freeze ice blocks

Children can freeze ice to play and experiment with, but don't forget they can freeze fruit juice too. Yum!

Build with ice cubes

Freeze as many small ice cubes as you can. Give them to a child to use like building blocks. Can they make a tower? Also, give the child a salt shaker. Does salt help the cubes stick together?

Melt like a snowman

Children stand up tall, pretending to be snowmen. When an educator says it is "sunny", they pretend their bodies are slowly melting. When the teacher says it is "snowing", the children stand up tall again.

Play frozen statues

Children dance to music. An educator occasionally stops the music and yells "freeze". The children stop dancing and pretend to be frozen statues made from ice.

Create art about ice

Place a very large block of ice on a table in your art area. Encourage the children to observe its colours, texture and temperature. How does it change as it melts?

Encourage the children to create artworks about the ice. View the Iceberg's Heart Exhibition and Antarctica: Icy Land of Secrets Exhibition at Boorai, a children's art gallery in Melbourne.

Children can also paint on ice! Set up a painting activity but swap paper for a block of ice. This is an excellent sensory experience and children can observe the ice melting as they paint it.

Watch life in Antarctica

The Australian Antarctic Division has several webcams and time lapses of Antarctica. Did you know scientists live and work there?