An idea for a arts/crafts project for toddlers dealing with water and or ice.?

Question

I am looking for some ideas to do with my 2 year old students for art. Our topic this week is water and ice. I am coming up with blanks for what i can have them do. I only have an hour to do art with about 12 toddlers who are from 1-2 years old. I welcome any ideas please... Thanks

Answer 1

Our 3 year olds this week are painting with ice cubes on dry tempera paint.  Put ice in your sensory table and put food coloring on with eye droppers.  Pass a baggie around the circle with ice in it to music.

Answer 2

Ocean in a bottle.  Collect 20 oz. soda bottles, 1 for each child.  Have the child fill the bottom of the bottle with sand, add water (use light blue food coloring-optional) and a balloon fish.  Have the kids add under water stickers to the outside.  

Aquarium.  Ask each child to bring a shoe box in from home (this may be a 2 day project).  Have the kids paint the inside of the box blue.  Give them small fishes to color, and when the box is dry hang string from the top and attach the fish.

Ice painting.  Give the kids ice cubes to paint over tempera paint on paper.  Put the ice cubes in the sensory table.  Ask the kids how the ice cubes feel as you are doing the activities.

Answer 3

i had my class, when learning about penguins, color a picture of a penguin i then taped it to a popsicle stick that had previously been placed in an ice cube tray. so in the end you have a popsicle stick with a cube of ice on one end and their colored penguin taped on the other end. each child can the use a table or flat surface as an ice skating rink...it is really cute to see them play. whether or not 2 year olds can do it depends on your class...good luck!

Answer 4

There are many options for ice and water play with this age. Just make sure that the activities are edible, won't cause choking, and won't frustrate their little bodies.

I've seen teachers fill up the water table with snow. If you live in a snowy place this is easy and great fun for the kids to experiment with. If you don't, you could use shaved ice or, if you have access to a freezer with an ice dispenser, chipped ice cubes.

Another option is to make kool-aid pops. You can fill up ice cube trays with kool-aid of different colors and put popsicle sticks in them when they are half frozen. After they completely freeze you can draw pictures on paper with them, let the children 'paint' with their cubes. You could also use them to 'paint' on a sidewalk if you're in a warm-weather place.

If you're in a snowy place, bundle up the kids and have them use water colors to paint in a pile of snow. They can also use sticks or their fingers (in mittens) to write and draw pictures in the snow.

My supervisor loves to freeze nature. She puts various leaves, twigs, berries, pine cones, whatever natural things are in your area, into a tupperware or other small container. Cover the items with water and let it freeze. When it's solid, put it out in a bigger bowl for the kids to look at and touch. What do they see? Give them a kid-friendly magnifying lens and have them guess what's in the ice. Throughout the day have them come back to it and see what else has melted from the ice.

Hope these are good places to start. Have fun in the snow and ice!

Answer 5

Make Popsicles out of paint. Freeze it in small paper cups, the kind you use in the bathroom. To be really fancy pour in one color, freeze it, add another and the stick, freeze that, then do one or 2 more layers. Roll them between your hands to warm them slightly and get them out of the cups.

Answer 6

If you do not have to show the work to the parents a good option is "water painting" My kids love this! Give each child a paintbrush and a cup or bucket of water. Then let them paint the playground. This activity fulfills two important goals

1. gross motor skills (like any painting)

2. basic science.....A. How water reacts to different substances...makes wood darker, makes metal slippery....B. Differences in water drying times...longer on wood compared to the sidewalk

Answer 7

When working with younger children and using a sensory table--you can freeze small toys in ice cube trays, and in various size containers; put them in the sensory table. Give the children plastic and wood mallets and have them chip away the ice to find out what is inside! Great fun and they'll be sure to rush to you and show you there "prizes"!

Have children pick their favorite drink (fruit punch, apple juice, etc.) and then pour this into an ice cube tray. Write their name on a popsicle stick and put it in the tray. Last- put this outside and let it freeze (if it is not cold enough you can put it in the freezer) The children then have an igloo block for snack.

Icy Jell-O/Kool-Aid Art

Need: Kool-Aid or Jell-O (in powder form), Ice, Paper.

Make ice in a Popsicle mold. Sprinkle Kool-Aid or Jell-O (powdered Tempera paint ok too) on the paper. Use the ice Popsicle to push the powder around and design.

Ice Block Designs

Younger children can observe how salt melts ice -- while creating colorful designs in large blocks of ice.

Need: Large blocks of ice, Coarse salt, Food coloring, Eye droppers...

Freeze water in empty one gallon milk containers. Remove the cardboard when water is frozen. Place ice blocks on trays covered with several layers of newspaper.

Sprinkle coarse salt on top of the ice blocks.

Drip various colors of food coloring on top of the ice block--tunnels of color are created as the salt melts through the ice block.

Put the colorful ice blocks outside. If cold enough- they should stay frozen for several days.

Children can continue to examine the melting process during outdoor play. If possible---and if they are interested---give the children their own block of ice. If you have a large group do over a few days…They’ll enjoy watching the changes that occur as the blocks melt away!