Comments on: Dino Dig – Melting Ice with Salt and Water

By: Jackie Currie

Jackie Currie — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 19:52:08 +0000

In reply to lars. Yes!!! I love that they stayed at it for so long!

By: lars

lars — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 14:56:42 +0000

Well, I’m happy to say that they loved it just as much as the gang did last Spring, and this year, I made our ice block quite a bit bigger, and they were at it for 2 solid hours. Yep, you read that right. TWO solid hours.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 13:30:59 +0000

In reply to Ashley.

Oh yes! We actually upped our game, and did Elsa’s frozen hands, Ashley! You can check it out here: https://happyhooligans.ca/melting-elsas-frozen-hands-activity/

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 13:41:31 +0000

So much fun! Have you considered a “Frozen” themed ice block? Maybe some princesses could be trapped in the ice? Might help excite some of the girls who walked away?

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 12:15:55 +0000

In reply to Trudy. Yes, the 2 year olds here love this. The older children stay at it longer because they're working with a purpose, but the 2's love the experimental play involved.

By: Trudy

Trudy — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 21:38:36 +0000

what age group does this work best with? Would a 2 year old be able to do it

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 11:46:11 +0000

In reply to Damutt.

Actually, the girls are very interested in this activity too. Dinosaurs aren’t just for boys of course. 🙂 But we have done many versions of this activity. One that the girls particularly loved was our “Melting Elsa’s Hands” activity: https://happyhooligans.ca/melting-elsas-frozen-hands-activity/

By: Damutt

Damutt — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:01:31 +0000

You could get the girls interested longer if you put some other items in there that would interest them more. Maybe JEWELS,tea cups, dishes, all things that you could actually dig up.

By: Wayne Landerholm

Wayne Landerholm — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:14:30 +0000

Using small real fossils is fun, especially for the older ones. Fake T. rex teeth, sharks’ teeth, bags of petrified wood are available on eBay for reasonable prices. We re-use these items each year and add a few new ones. We have used sand and plastic peanuts to hide the fossils but I like your idea of ice and the extra dimensions that adds. Great fun!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 19:19:41 +0000

Will be making this weekend for the kids I watch to play with next week! Looks awesome!

By: Clare's Little Tots

Clare's Little Tots — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 21:35:47 +0000

Love the idea of adding salt to this. We did it recently but just used warm water but this looks way more fun 🙂

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 17:47:59 +0000

In reply to Jennifer Ohaus Bunkers. I love that idea, Jennifer!

By: Jennifer Ohaus Bunkers

Jennifer Ohaus Bunkers — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 10:25:01 +0000

I was just thinking that using some plastic easter eggs with baby dinos/treasure inside would add an element of surprise when they finally “dug” one out!

By: Amanda Steele

Amanda Steele — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 01:33:32 +0000

I’m doing this activity at my son’s dragon themed birthday party and am putting “dragon eggs” in the ice. I hope the guests enjoy it as much as your kiddos!

By: Catherine nixon

Catherine nixon — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 21:30:10 +0000

Inspiring. Ice is new way forward!

By: nataliyad

nataliyad — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 15:57:50 +0000

OMG! We did this one too, just a couple of weeks ago! What a coincidence!
http://pipidinko.blogspot.ca/2013/12/ice-digging-for-dinosaurs.html#.Ur7057QTj9M

By: Chelsey @ Buggy and Buddy

Chelsey @ Buggy and Buddy — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 22:45:33 +0000

I absolutely just love this! What a fun way to combine sensory play and learning! Thank you so much for linking up to Discover & Explore!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 02:01:28 +0000

In reply to Allison Gunter. I started off with a Tupperware brand container designed to hold a carton of ice cream. Once it was frozen, I popped that block of ice into quite a large container that I used to store muffins and cookies in. It probably measures 12"x12" and is probably about 5" high. That was a good size for 4 or 5 kids to work comfortably around. You could just make several of them up if you had a larger group. Make one, freeze it, pop it out, keep it in the freezer, and use the container to make the next one, and so on. You'd probably want to give each one a good 24 hours at least to freeze.

By: Allison Gunter

Allison Gunter — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 01:01:49 +0000

I love this project!
It’s hard to tell how big the block of ice is in the pictures. I’m going to do this with my class, but I wanted to see how large the block of ice was and how many kids you had working on it at one time.

By: Tracy A

Tracy A — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 21:23:22 +0000

We also used food coloring to add a different color to each layer of water/ice. Loved this project!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:26:18 +0000

In reply to Zelia. Perfect! If they love treasures, they'll LOVE this activity!

By: Zelia

Zelia — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 01:06:26 +0000

I am definitely setting this up for my 5 and 3 year olds! every inch of our house is filled with little eggcups/jars/socks full of her special ‘treasures’, so there is no shortage of objects to freeze around here 🙂
I absolutely love your ideas!!
thank you for all of the inspiration.

By: Hayley

Hayley — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 19:00:16 +0000

Weve done this at playgroup but used natural materials found on a walk. Fir cones, leaves, flowers and shells.

You could use money for older ones �1 coins, silvers. Especially 1 layer at a time you could have a �2 coin in the middle!

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:53:55 +0000

Love this activity!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 01:43:43 +0000

In reply to Kim Page Gluckie. I know exactly what you're saying, Kim. My own boys used to really get into the daycare activities when they'd get home from school at that age too. My 12 year old is still interested in some of the things we do here.

By: Kim Page Gluckie

Kim Page Gluckie — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:09:35 +0000

What I love about this is I can extend the project to my 10 and 7.5 year old who would LOVE to create this and then help their 5 year old sister melt it down. Wondering what kind of fun older kid treasures I could provide to them. Finding the right items, I think it could even work for an older kid birthday party activity. Fun!

By: candacederickx

candacederickx — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:50:34 +0000

Brilliant!! Seriously where were you when my kids were smaller? 🙂

By: Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest

Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:59:34 +0000

Two hours?! That’s amazing! We’ve done something similar, but only a much smaller scale and with fewer tools. I’ll be taking a page from your book and going bigger with this activity next time. Love it!

By: Erin- The Usual Mayhem

Erin- The Usual Mayhem — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:45:38 +0000

Jackie, I LOVE this! Sharing and pinning right now.

By: prehistoricplay

prehistoricplay — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:58:57 +0000

Lil dude is gonna love this can’t wait for the weather to pick up a bit here in UK! The sun is teasing us but not quite ice weather yet. Thanks for the ideas 🙂

By: Carine Lenfant

Carine Lenfant — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 05:56:08 +0000

This is one of my boys’ favourite activities. It keeps them busy and happily digging for hours! Thanks for sharing.

By: Julie @ Creekside Learning

Julie @ Creekside Learning — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 03:24:36 +0000

Oh, Jackie, I love, love, love this! We will be doing this in our upcoming preschool dinos unit. Pinned and will share, too. Thank you!