Winter Ice Painting & Excavating Winter Foliage

Winter is the perfect season to explore art and science through ice! For this invitation, we provided trays filled with ice blocks in a variety of shapes and sizes, each embedded with winter foliage. Alongside the ice, children were offered Colorations Liquid Watercolors, pipettes, and paintbrushes as their creative tools. They were invited to create, observe, and explore the fascinating relationship between ice, color, and nature.

Painting on an unconventional surface like ice offers a completely different experience than painting on paper. Children are naturally cognitively challenged and deeply engaged as they experiment, explore, and problem-solve throughout the process. This STEAM-based process art invitation encourages children to make predictions, observe changes, and form theories as they work.

As they paint, children explore color theory and strengthen color recognition and descriptive language skills by mixing colors and watching them spread across the ice. As the ice melts, they witness a powerful science concept firsthand—the transformation of a solid into a liquid. Using pipettes and paintbrushes supports the development of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, while the multisensory nature of the experience helps children retain information and build new skills organically.

As the ice continues to melt, the embedded winter foliage is gradually excavated and revealed, adding an element of discovery and wonder. This process not only sparks curiosity but also encourages patience, observation, and intentional exploration.

Hands-on learning experiences like this support the development of multiple layers of skill sets at once—cognitive, physical, sensory, and creative. These rich, open-ended invitations provide the continuous stimulation children need to confidently ignite their creativity and curiosity, laying a strong foundation for lifelong learning.