While trying to come up with some new and exciting ways to decorate Easter eggs the idea of ice egg decorating came to me. So, I made a bunch of ice eggs and we played and explored with them in all sorts of ways! ( Note- These experiments would be fun with regular ice, too! Don't limit the fun to Easter)
I made two different types of ice eggs. I used balloons to make the first batch. To make balloon ice eggs just fill the balloon with water and freeze. You can add fun surprises too! Just place the objects in the balloon before adding the water.
Once the ice eggs are frozen snip the balloon with scissors and it will peel right off
I also wanted to make MAGIC Ice Eggs. To make these I froze vinegar in an egg shaped cupcake pan I found in the dollar section of Target. I added tiny surprises to the egg slots before filling with vinegar and freezing. Freezing vinegar is an idea I first saw from the Golden Glean during our messy play series.
Once the eggs were frozen I set out all the supplies we needed so that Rosie could explore during bath time. I love exploring with Science and other messy play in the bath because there is a water source readily available, the surfaces are all easy to clean, and the mess is contained.
Experiment #1- Salt & Ice Reaction
Decorating Ice Eggs
This was by far my favorite of the three egg experiments! Rosie had so much fun and the egg art was SO BEAUTIFUL! We have done the ice and salt experiment several times and it is somehow more amazing each time!
For Ice Egg Decorating you will need:
- Ice eggs
- Salt- any type will work- we used Kosher
- Liquid watercolors or food coloring
We started by setting a few ice eggs out on a tray and simply exploring the eggs themselves .
Then Rosie began decorating them. She started by adding salt. The more the better. Rosie added a lot and added more as she went too!
Then We added color. I set out spray bottles of homemade watercolors as well as a few food coloring colors for Rosie to use as she pleased. What happens- The salt cracks the ice egg and as you add the color it fills into the cracks and creates BEAUTIFUL effects!
Ice Egg Decorating = SO FUN!
Rosie had so much fun with this & it was a great way to get some of the treasures out of the ice eggs!
Experiment #2 - MAGIC Eggs
For this experiment all you need is baking soda and vinegar. Place your vinegar ice eggs on a tray and give your child vinegar and baking soda to explore with. Rosie loved covering the vinegar eggs in baking soda!
The reaction of the baking soda and frozen vinegar was quite fascinating. The baking soda fizzes but the reaction is nothing like a traditional baking soda and vinegar reaction. Rosie explored the reaction for a bit, holding the fizzing baking soda eggs. Then she decided to add more vinegar to the mix to create BIG fizzing FUN!
After adding quite a bit of baking soda and vinegar Rosie was able to free her treasures from the frozen vinegar eggs
Experiment #3- Exploring Hot & Cold
For this egg experiment I set our one container of hot (not too hot-use caution) and one container of cold water. Then Rosie dropped an ice egg of about the same size into each container and observed.
Naturally, the ice egg that was placed in the hot water melted much faster. We talked a bit about hot and cold while Rosie explored the eggs in the water.
Rosie especially loved freeing all the treasures during our experiments
We still had quite a few ice eggs left after our egg experiments so I brought Jewel in and the girls explored freely with the remaining eggs.
Jewel loved simply exploring with the eggs in a tub of water
and chasing them in the tub
These Ice Egg Experiments were so fun! Even without the experiments, Ice eggs are a blast!
Make a batch and have a ice egg hunt. Getting the treasures out is all the fun!
Ice Eggs- So FUN!
Also be sure to pop over to my sister site to see
two fun egg experiments using REAL EGGS!
We share fun kids activities several times a week!
Other Ways to Connect
