Freezing and melting things in ice

Encourage discussion on temperatures with your child and invite them to be a part of the freezing process. Go around the garden and collect leaves, petals or even their favourite toys and place in a container. A simple tupperware one is perfect.

Ask them to fill the container with water. Pouring from a jug develops hand eye coordination and builds muscle, vital skills needed for academic subjects like reading and also gross motor skills for balance and sports.

Encourage new vocabulary like full, empty, hot, cold and freezing. Or why not fill a variety of containers and talk about 'the biggest' 'heavier than' and 'the lightest' linking to maths they will do in that first year at school.

Once it's in the freezer they can check it (not too often though or it will never freeze 😜 and describe how it feels.

Getting the items out is great fun, you can leave your items to melt and watch the puddle evaporate or your can try and break them out.

A great item to freeze for older children is an egg! This will need them to think about what they are doing and use smaller more delicate movements to make sure it comes out in one piece.