Getting Real With Wanda Morrissey

I originally got this idea from the Early Years Centre where I take my son for playgroup. They had a messy play day and this was one of the activities. My son liked it so much that I had to do it at home for him.

What you’ll need:

• various sized plastic containers  (I cleaned and used empty fruit cups, plastic cups and small storage containers)
• small plastic dinosaurs (I found a bag of small dinos in the party section of my local dollar store)
• water
• freezer
• food colouring (optional)

I put a small amount of water in the bottom of each container I was going to use  and let it freeze. I added more water, a few drops of food colouring and then dropped in a dinosaur, I put two dinosaurs in the larger containers. I let them freeze overnight.

The next day I took the frozen containers out the freezer and let them sit on the counter for a few minutes before going outside. When we were ready to go out, I took the chunks of ice out of the containers and put them in a bucket, then I got a couple of old forks and spoons (the kids are going to be chipping the ice to get out the dinosaurs so use blunt utensils and ones that you won’t miss if they get banged up).

I took the ice, utensils and my son outside, we sat on the sidewalk and happily chipped away the ice. My son had a blast making a mess and finding dinosaurs was really exciting for him.

Note: You could turn this activity into a treasure hunt by using any small toy that is freezable.