Ice and Water Play for Those Too Hot Days

I volunteer at a local botanical garden’s childrens program, and almost every week there’s some kind of water play for them. Both because water is fun and because it is hot outside. Whether you’re entertaining one kid or a bunch, it’s hard to go wrong with ice or water play when it’s hot outside.

This frozen ocean sensory bin form Simple Everyday Mom uses water, water beads and ocean animals frozen in a balloon as the basis for the bin. She adds a fizzy element, which is also always fun, but you don’t have to.

Speaking of freezing things in balloons, Kids Kubby used balloons filled with water to make frozen dinosaur eggs. These are fun on their own or in a sensory bin with trees, plants and more dinosaur stuff.

Mommy Evolution has lots of good ideas for easy ways to make icy play for your kids. I love the idea of using a bunt pan to make a giant block of ice.

The Mindful Toddler takes it on a smaller scale with toys frozen in ice cube trays. You could do some plain ones, some with toys inside, some with food coloring, etc. I did a fizzy frozen science activity for my daughter years ago that was with Jello powder, baking soda and plenty of glitter. I hid gems and little toys inside.

You can keep it even simpler and just give your kids ice to play with along with some scoops or cups, like in this idea from Taming Little Monsters. And if you need more ideas for helping kids stay cool when it’s hot outside, Taming Little Monsters also has a great list of water themed sensory activities to do in the summer. Many of these involve ice or you could add ice to them (like the lemonade one or flower soup) but there are others that just use water to make the hot season more fun.

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Activities to Celebrate Ice Cream Month

Whenever you go to the beach with kids, you’re sure to come home with some seashells and more than a little sand. Let’s use some of those treasures to make fun crafts.

This handprint craft is made with a sand-infused salt dough and some little shells from the beach. It’s a cute way to remember how little your kids were on that beach trip. Find the instructions at From Under a Palm Tree.

Here’s another take on sand dough that was used to make little ornaments and sculptures. Get the details from Pink Stripey Socks.

Moms and Crafters used air dry clay and seashells to make these cute necklaces. She used the storebought clay but you can also make your own air dry clay if you’d rather.

Crafts on Sea used a shell to make a whale, but I’m sure you could take this idea and make lots of different creatures. I love the idea of sea creatures made with shells like fish or a jellyfish or an octopus using the same method. They also have a seashell decoration made with salt dough that’s really cute and would be fun for kids to paint. Poke a hole before it dries for hanging if you want.

Or take a bunch of little shells and decorate a frame like these from Rhythms of Play. They used a handprint instead of a picture but you could also put in a picture from the beach trip.

This is probably one for the mamas to make because it uses epoxy, but I also wanted to share these cute and easy shell hair pins from Thrifty Mama Ramblings, which kids are sure to want for their mermaid pretend play.

Or how about some sensory play straight from the beach? Use store bought sand if you don’t have a beach nearby to make this beach sand slime from The Mama Notes. Thrown in some shells and kids will love playing with this one.

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