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Animal Ice Skating
This activity will have your child reenacting what it’s like to skate on ice. Providing your child with an opportunity to experience these properties with their senses can allow their imagination to roam free with the endless possibilities of what the frozen animals can do on ice.
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1. Take multiple toy animals of your choice and individually place in plastic containers. Pour some water into the containers, covering the animal halfway, from feet to belly.
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2. Place containers in a freezer for 4 hours or overnight, until frozen.
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3. Optional: Add some water to an ice-cube tray to freeze to use during play.
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4. Take the containers out and tip out the frozen animal onto a large tub or tray. If it is too frozen, run a bit of warm water against the container to loosen the frozen animal out.
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5. Place a towel under the tray/tub. Set out all frozen animals and ice cubes on tray.
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Use this opportunity to describe how the frozen and the exposed animal feels against the skin as the child explores their properties using their senses. Demonstrate the sliding action and describe the action as it happens, should it crash, stop, or tip over. This allows the child to assess their observations and correlate your speech as reinforcement. With older children, encourage creativity by including other toys to expand the set-up. Allow them to create a story and re-enact it as they please, using the frozen animals and other items as props. Explore and push the animals around to watch them slide across the tray/tub. Race them, play “bumper-car”, use the ice-cubes as obstacles, or stack the ice cubes to make “icebergs” and watch them crash down. The possibilities are endless. Let your child lead the play and may the fun explorations begin!
EarlyON