Exploring Ice Sensory Tub

First, I filled the ice cube tray with water and put in random small objects so they would freeze in the ice cubes. I used a piece of a straw, round bead, sparkly heart, a penny, dice, round stones, a button, a shiny star, a pompom and two marshmallows. The marshmallows didn’t freeze, but the pompom was frozen even in the middle because it absorbed the water. For the four empty spaces in the tray, I added drops of food coloring. I overfilled some of the spaces and the colors started to spill over into the other spaces and mix before the cubes froze.
I took two silicone cupcake holders and made cupcake shaped ice cubes. It was one of my favorite parts of the tub and now I’m looking for other things around the house that would be neat to put water in and freeze. I also included ice cubes shaped liked hearts.






After everything was frozen, I put all the ice cubes into the tub with some sponges, cups, funnels, a spatula with points, straws, eye droppers, a turkey baster, a shovel, a paint brush and q-tips to explore the ice with. They can find treasures within the ice cubes, look at mixing colors, experience the ice melting and play with the water.