Arctic Ice Fishing

Here’s an ice fishing activity that I made to go with my Antarctica theme.

What you’ll need:
1 container,
Water,
Food coloring,
Rubber or plastic fish or other objects that you want to freeze,
Spoons, Plastic or wooden hammer or Anything else to break the ice with,
Snow cone maker, (optional).

First, I filled the container about half full with water. I used a plastic Tupperware container. I forgot to take pictures as I was making it. I added four drops of blue food coloring. Then added a few rubber fish that I bought at the Dollar Tree. I know that most of these fish don’t live in Antarctica, but they are the closest thing I have on hand. Next, I put the container in the freezer. I didn’t want all the water to freeze so I kept checking on it. Some of the water spilled so I had to add more which is why it ended up filled almost to the top. It took about three or four hours for the top half of the container to freeze. With the water underneath cold, but not completely frozen, it makes it easier to make holes in the ice. Some of the fish froze upside-down which I didn’t plan on either. Well, maybe they were diving!

Once the top was frozen, I took it out and tried to poke it with a spoon. It was a little hard, but doable. It would be easier with a hammer or something else to tap with. That’s part of the fun, the kids can experiment and figure out what works best to get the fish out.







Next, I added snow! I used an inexpensive snow cone maker I bought from Walmart. I used about a cup of ice cubes which doesn’t make much snow, but enough for a couple little snow banks or a layer of snow on the top. It melts quickly so making a few cups and freezing it might work better especially if you have more than one child doing this activity. I thought it came out well and think it’d be fun to try with the preschoolers.