I love the ideas on the web about freezing objects for kids to try to "free" from the ice. So, I took a plastic bowl, some plastic fish and water creatures, and added water to freeze the creatures in. I did the freezing in two layers because the creatures sunk to the bottom of the bowl. After freezing overnight, I loosened the ice, and took it outside with a bowl of water and a pipette.
Although the dog is disinterested in the whole process, E was very into it. She started out using the pipette to try to melt the ice.
Then, she began sliding the ice around to use the heat of the patio to help her.
Couldn't resist this shot...
And finally, she figured out that the busting the ice method was the quickest and most fun way to free the fish. We have done this activity many times since this. I like that it helps with her problem solving skills. And, it was meant to help with those fine motor skills, even though in actuality it probably ended up being more of a gross motor skill activity.
With our impending trips to the Great Lakes, I decided it would be a great idea for our next unit to be water related. So, we started out by using a Melissa & Doug Magnetic Habitat Set E has. We talked about the word habitat, and discussed what kind of animals would live in the three habitats included in the set.
One by one, I would hand an animal or creature to E, and she would move around the room placing it on the correct habitat. We also used to the time to discuss the names of each animal and anything we knew about the animals.
This was a great opening activity to get E's mind thinking about the different water creatures we would be talking about.
