Ice Box: Chilly Fine Motor Skills Play

We are absolutely obsessed with ice activities. If there is a 12 step program for ice cube sensory addiction, please send my toddler and me ASAP. Except don’t. We aren’t ready to give up our ice cubes… and this ice box post will only add to our file.

Ice cubes are such an easy toddler activity supply and I since always gravitate towards easy and cheap, it’s no surprise we use them a lot. Ice cubes have quite a bit to offer the toddler crowd: they’re slippery, they’re wet, they smash, they melt. They get so much bang for their free buck!

Our latest toddler activity using these little cubes of heaven is ice box.

This was a snap to set up and help my toddler’s attention for a legit amount of time. Think twenty or so minutes of pretty independent play time. Jackpot.

How to make your own toddler ice box activity:

Materials:
(this list contains affiliate links)

• ice
• medium sized tub
• Learning Resources Helping Hands Tools [fyi, this company has no idea I exist, I just really like their product]

I dumped a bunch of ice into a medium sized storage tub and added in four cups of colored water. With it all, I paired Sam’s fine motor skills tools for ice cube fun.

The hit of the ice party was using the dropper to suck up colored water and squeeze it onto the cubes. He couldn’t get over how fun it was to squirt the ice with his colors. Thank goodness for cheap toddler entertainment.

He also used the other tools like a champ too and transferred cubes all over his ice box. I kept walking by and seeing ice cubes floating in colored water then moved to a new color minutes later – like ice cube Easter egg dying.

Aside from the massive amount of concentrating toddler time this activity gave me, what it gave Sam was perfect chance to work on his fine motor skills. He was practicing dexterity, hand strength, hand eye coordination, grasping, pinching… my stars, the list is BANANAS long for this one little ice box.

BONUS ACTIVITY to try when Ice Box is “done”.

When Sam was done playing ice box, I dumped the ice cubes into the kitchen sink. I quickly plugged the drain, filled the sink with water, and now we had turned ice box into ice bath fun – one of our all time favorite activities.

I wish I had photo proof but having the cubes in the sink floating in water added another twenty minutes of play time. Just like I normally do with ice bath, I threw in some colanders and spoons and off he went to play.

Man, I love a “two part” activity. Talk about stretching my ice cube dollar…(wink). This activity was just perfect for our morning.

Try an ice box activity at your house. I bet your toddler will love it!