Easy Glitter Heart Ice Cube Painting for Preschoolers
Who doesn’t love glitter? Well, potentially every school janitor, everywhere! But if you’re like me, a little mess never stopped you from initiating a hands-on learning experience for your students or children! Glitter Heart Ice Cube Painting for Preschoolers is the perfect summer (or winter) process art project for kids. It improves fine motor skills while allowing kids to experiment with the scientific processes of freezing and melting. Your child will love moving these sparkly cubes around as they watch the patterns created by the melting ice. Keep in mind, this activity is NOT EDIBLE! Remind young learners to keep the glittery ice out of their mouths!
Recommended Grade Level:
Glitter Heart Ice Cube Paint Supplies:
- Heart Ice Cube Tray
- Glitter
- Water
- Spoon
- Popsicle Sticks (optional)
Heart-Shaped Glitter Ice Painting
The summer months are upon us and who doesn’t love summer?! Celebrate with this great outdoor art activity on a hot summer day! Your child will love exploring with art and science as they manipulate the ice cubes and observe as the cubes melt and create beautiful, shimmery patterns! Or, maybe it’s not summer anymore but you long for those hot, lazy days. In that case, you might want more heart-themed activities like our Valentine’s Day Printables. Either way, we have got what you need.
Materials You Will Need for Glitter Heart Ice Cubes:
- Heart Ice Cube Tray
- Glitter
- Water
- Spoon
- Popsicle Sticks (optional)
How to Make the Glitter Heart Ice Cubes:
Step One:
First, pour water until each heart is about 3/4 full. Do not overfill.
Step Two:
Add in the desired amount of heart glitter/confetti.
Tip: If you are adding food coloring or paint, you will want to do that before adding the water or glitter.
Step Three:
Place in the freezer. Allow to freeze.
Tip: Wait until the cubes are partially frozen and add a popsicle stick to the center of each cube to give young hands something to grab onto while sliding the hearts around.
Glitter Heart Ice Cubes Complete! What Now?
Surely your kids will want MORE! Especially if you’re in the middle of a long, hot summer! Check out some of our other art projects that are great for outdoor summer education, like this 4th of July Fireworks painting activity.
Ways to Differentiate Glitter Heart Ice Painting
Of course there are lots of ways to vary this ice painting activity to make learning meaningful and accessible to ALL kids! Here are a few ideas:
- Discuss how the ice cube changes from a solid to liquid. You can even show your child how to change the liquid back into a solid! Yeah for integrating science!
- When preparing the ice cubes, add food coloring or paint to add some “color” to the activity to work on colors.
- If you are working on color identification, ask your young learner to choose a specific color ice cube to paint.
- Print and laminate large alphabet or number mats. Have your child use the ice paints to trace the letters or numbers on the mat. Yeah for sneaking in some academics!
- Print and laminate dot to dot sheets. Have your child follow the dots using their ice cube! Many alphabet and number dot to dots can be found online!
- For even more fine motor practice, have your child use a tongs for this ice painting activity.
- Experiment with ways to make the ice cubes melt more slowly or quickly.
Looking for more summer-themed hands-on learning? Check out these links:
Learning Benefits of Glitter Heart Ice Cubes
The heart glitter ice activity is great summer art or Valentine’s Day art for preschoolers! Playing with ice is beneficial for young children because it helps develop fine motor skills and enables children to explore with solids and liquids as they watch the ice cubes melt.
Science is easily integrated into this activity. Demonstrate how the solid turns into a liquid. Discuss how the liquid can also be turned into a solid or a gas! Here’s a
Creating art is also important in the development of the right side of the brain. This side of the brain is essential for imagination, emotions, spatial abilities and so much more! It’s definitely important to strengthen this side of the brain!
Lastly, you will be developing your child’s fine motor skills as he/she manipulates the ice cube around the tray or mat. You can switch tools for manipulating the ice cube to help further develop fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. Here’s a helpful article all about the importance of art in childhood development.
How to Use the Glitter Heart Ice:
Once the ice cubes are frozen, they are ready for sensory play! Empty the ice cube tray onto a sensory mat or tray.
Make sure to emphasize that this yummy looking ice doesn’t belong in their mouths!
Let your child use the spoon or their hands to move the ice around. (If you were able to add the popsicle sticks, your child can maneuver the cube using the popsicle stick.) Be sure to notice the glitter trails the ice leaves behind!
Continue this fun summer art project for preschoolers until the ice is completely melted. Depending on the weather, this could take awhile! Have fun!
Make sure to plan ahead to create heart glitter ice!
More Ways to Explore with Glitter
Do you have leftover glitter? If so, check out our Awesome Glitter Science Experiment for Kids! It’s a glittery take on the classic vinegar and baking soda experiment.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are frequently asked questions about the heart glitter ice cube activity.
Can I add color to the ice cubes?
Yes, add a drop of food coloring or paint to each heart cube before adding the glitter to create hearts of any color!
How can I involve kids with making the ice cubes?
Little ones love to help! Add a whole other layer to this art activity by asking them to help make and freeze the cubes! Little hands can pour the water, sprinkle the glitter, and anything else you’d like them to do (under close supervision of course).
What is the science behind freezing and melting water?
When water freezes, molecules of hydrogen and oxygen bind together to form ice. As it melts, the motion of the molecules increases, causing the bond between the molecules to decrease and become liquid again.
What vocabulary words are appropriate for preschoolers to learn?
As you learn about ice freezing and melting, kids can learn words like melt, freeze, solid, liquid, and evaporate. Don’t be afraid to use words like molecules, hydrogen, or oxygen, either. Kids may not repeat the words or use them, but it doesn’t hurt for them to hear scientific words.
Where can I find heart ice cube trays?
You can find adorable heart-shaped ice cube trays at Walmart, Amazon, Ikea, and lots of other online vendors.
When the ice is melted and the glitter is dry and swept away, be sure and check back in with us! Leave a comment below about your experience with this awesome sensory art activity!
Try These Process Art Projects Next
More Heart Theme Sensory Exploration:
Even More Sensory Process Art:
Search All Activities
Looking for more? Find exactly what you need here:
