Ice chalk

This ranks in my top five kids activities ever (I think; I have a tendency to cram about 12 things into my top five of anything).

But seriously, this was SO much fun.

Let's start from the beginning...just making the ice chalk was a good hour-long activity that covered science (stirring the cornstarch until it dissolved), art (color mixing) and fine motor (mixing/stirring and filling silicone ice molds with an eyedropper). Not to mention good ol' messy fun.

Then we froze them, which led into another good discussion about states of matter and how a liquid becomes a solid.

We had to wait about a week to use the chalk because we took a vacation in the middle (side note: everyone should have friends they've been friends with for over a decade).

The chalk is so interesting to paint with. It feels like ice -- cold, slippery, melty -- but colors like chalk. You can draw with it a bit, or use it as a stamp, make it into puddles, mix colors, etc.

You can even paint your body (both kids quickly discovered this one). 

It dries with a wonderful smooth texture and bright color, so it's rewarding for the kiddos as well, and has a unique sensory component.

I snuck in one last "learning" bit and used our letter molds to spell "chalk." She of course also wanted to make an "E" for Ellie, so we did some talking about how to mix and match to make other words with those letters.

We kept about half our ice chalk in the freezer for another day, and now I'm so glad we did! Ellie already begged to make more.

Our recipe was drawn from a combo of pins all over Pinterest. We found half cornstarch, half water, and liquid watercolor to work the best. The watercolor means it washes right off of clothes and hands. And legs, and feet, and arms, and faces...