It’s beginning to feel a lot like summer, so all things ice are on my mind! To wit, today Veronika tried painting with frozen cubes in two ways.

I set up both games the night before. For the first, I filled compartments of an ice cube tray with water. After about an hour, when the water is firm but not frozen solid, insert a craft stick for a handle into each cube.

In the morning. I gave Veronika these ice “paintbrushes” alongside a paint-with-water book. The ice did all the work!

I showed her how to swirl it in the paints on the page, then make color magically appear.

Beyond the magical wow factor, there was the fun of the colors, the thrill of cold ice, glee watching the cubes melt, and more.

Her final work of art wasn’t bad for a nineteen month old!

For the second game, I had also frozen cubes the night before, but with paint! Fill the compartments of an ice cube tray with washable paints nearly all the way, then top off with water. Again, insert a craft stick after about an hour in the freezer.

For this craft, we headed outside to get messy! Place thick watercolor paper on a tray, and use the frozen paint cubes directly on the paper.

The more the paints melt, the deeper the colors.

Big brother Travis discovered you can make cool etches with the edge of the craft stick, one the paint melts off.

Some of our paint cubes didn’t lift out of the tray neatly, but Veronika loved scooping and stirring at these leftover globs of half-frozen paint, so that was half the fun!

I helped scoop the paint onto the paper so she could mush it about with a craft stick.

You’ll notice we made an enormous mess, but I had expected as much! Luckily the paint will wash off after the next good rain storm.

The kids filled page after page with these frozen cubes, and loved every minute.