Ice Cube Smash

Have you every accidentally purchased too much of something? Once I ordered 8 bananas for grocery delivery and ended up with 8 bunches of bananas, so we had a lot of smoothies, muffins, and banana bread that week! I can’t wait to hear what you’ve accidentally purchased in bulk.

This activity is made possible by my utter lack of knowledge on how much ice weighs. I bought 3 bags of ice from Costco a few weeks ago and was very distracted with wrangling children, so when the person scanning my groceries asked if I knew the bags increased in size and were now 24 pounds, I had no idea what that meant. Turns out 24 pounds of ice is A LOT!

We only needed 1-1.5 of the bags and I was running out of room in my freezer. The final giant bag of ice had to go. Instead of just dumping it out, we used it for some activities!

Here’s what you need

• Ice. You can make cubes on your own, get some from your ice machine, or buy some ice.

• Something to smash the ice with. We used a ladle, but I’ve seen others use real or play hammers or mallets. I like this set- you could use it for a lot of other activities, and I love a multipurpose item.

• Goggles. We have this set and they have been great for swimming, baths, showers, and pretend play. This activity was pretty spontaneous, and Brinley was really the only once doing the smashing, so it wasn’t super crazy. If more kids were participating, I would definitely recommend some form of eye protection.

Set up

1 minute.

1. Dump, scoop, or pour ice out onto a flat surface. We did this activity outside, but you could also do this on a towel in the bathtub or shower. I would be cautious of using only a small sensory bin because ice will fly. We used the ice for a few different activities (you will see them in future blog posts), so we didn’t actually do the smashing in our trusty sensory bin.

Clean up

1 minute

1. If you are outside, let the ice melt. Done.

2. If you are inside, put your towel in the washing machine and let your ice melt.

The younger kids mainly liked stepping in the water and touching the ice, so our smashing was fairly tame. This activity was a hit though and I will definitely be using this again next summer when we need to get our wiggles out or need some heavy work to help manage our bodies.

Ice is a great sensory experience for all ages! Just be sure to watch out for any little ones playing near the ice because it can be a choking hazard.

Ellette was very persistent in trying to get the ice into her mouth, but eventually she figured out that it wasn’t going to happen. She loved splashing in the mini puddles and stepping in the water. It was somewhat warm the day we did this, so the ice melted fast enough to be fun, but not so fast that the ice vanished quickly.

This was also a great activity to occupy all of the kids. Sometimes I find the older girls are a bit bored of block towers and baby safe sensory activities. There are also quite a few activities that the older girls love, but Ellette cannot participate in yet. Finding one activity for everyone to have fun with, or at least be around, is a wonderful bonus…and makes me feel like I know what I’m doing in this parenting gig!

I hope enjoyed this short and sweet post today. I am still living in summer mode a little because, in my mind, fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. To welcome the upcoming fall season, be on the lookout for some extra posts in the next few weeks and some new printable products available in the blog shop.

Don’t forget to comment below and let me know of any purchasing mishap you have made. Tell me I’m not alone in my bulk buying blunder! You can also now hover over the images in this post to pin it for future reference if you use Pinterest.

You can find me soaking up the last few (technically) summer days and enjoying as much sunshine as I can!

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