Even when it’s hot outside, my kids want to be outdoors! They love fresh air as much as I do and would honestly rather be doing outdoor activities rather than laying around inside all day. (I actually like the sound of laying around but that’s not an option with my adventurous kids!). So I always try to come up with several activities that we can try out each week. This watercolor painting with ice cubes was actually pretty fun. It’s nice and cool and it didn’t take many supplies to make. I bet your little ones will love giving this cool summer art project a try!
How To Make Colorful Ice Cubes & How To Do Watercolor Painting With Ice Cubes
Supplies Needed for your Colorful Ice Cubes:
- Ice Cube Tray
- Measuring Cup
- Water
- Food Coloring (we actually used a couple different vegetable powders as our dye- beet powder, spirulina and turmeric)
Instructions on How to Make Your Colorful Ice Cubes for Painting:
Painting with ice cubes is a very quick activity to throw together but the longest part is waiting for the water to freeze!
Grab your supplies and head to the kitchen. The measuring cup will make it easy to pour into your tray without spills. The amount of water you need will depend on how many “cube” spots you have.
I filled the measuring cup up about 1/3 of the way full and added a teaspoon of vegetable powder coloring. If you are using liquid food coloring, I would add 5-7 drops to that 1/3 cup of water. You definitely want lots of color from your frozen cubes so go ahead and add a little more than you think you should!
Once you have mixed up your water and coloring, pour into your mold to create your colorful ice cubes. I only filled each mold up about halfway so that it wold freeze more quickly. If you have a good amount of time to wait for them to freeze, go ahead and fill the molds up all the way so that they last longer.
Do this watercolor ice cube making process again with as many colors as you would like and until your tray/molds are all filled.
Next, pop the ice cube molds into the freezer and wait. This could easily be done overnight or done while nap time is going on.
Let The Watercolor Painting With Ice Cubes Begin
Once they the watercolor ice cubes are frozen, you can head outside with some white paper. Pop the watercolor ice cubes out and let your kiddos commence to painting with ice cubes. It is a fun new twist on something they are familiar with and to encourage their creativity and art skills.
Do you kids enjoy watercoloring? Do you think they would enjoy this painting with ice cubes summer art project for kids?
They may also enjoy these art projects:
salt paint art
painted pasta flower art
water gun painting
Marcie W. says
What a fun way to get creative while staying cool. My children are a bit older, but would definitely still enjoy such an artistic activity.
deb says
What a great idea. I was looking for ways to make water colour painting a bit less messy than having cups of water out. This will be perfect for my little guy. I also love that you use natural food colouring!