Making Ice Melt

Making Ice Melt

The other day Michael and I decided to explore freezing toys into ice cubes.  He selected some small objects and put one in each muffin tin.  He poured water over each one so carefully.  His concentration was amazing as he tried so hard to get each one covered but not over flow.  We did have plenty of towels and I let him go at it.

Then we put them overnight in the freezer.  Michael couldn't wait to check to see if his toys froze into ice cubes.  He rushed to the kitchen and peeked inside.  There they were and he was ready to observe them.
I dumped them out onto a tray and let him touch and examine each one.

After a while I asked him if he knew how we could melt the ice so we could get to the toys.  He wasn't sure so I gave him some things to try out.

First we used a turkey baster and hot water.  Michael basted hot water over the ice but the cubes did not melt very  much.

 The toys were pretty frozen and Michael thought this was taking too long.

So I handed him a spoon and watched him tap on the ice.  He tapped a bit harder but
realized it would take a long time with a spoon. I wanted him to think about what else he could
use and he jumped up and grinned.
"What about my hammer?"  He ran downstairs to his tool bench and brought his hammer up.

 He looked at the cubes and thought about how to start.

 Then he stuck his tongue to one side and went to hammering the ice.  He really went at it.

After a few minutes of satisfied banging he stopped and looked at the cubes.  I asked him if he remembered the ice cube game we played about a month ago.  We raced to see who could melt an ice cube the fastest by doing certain things determined by the number rolled on a dice.

"Maybe salt."  He said.  Salt was the fastest melting avenue in our game and he remembered that.  I gave him salt and let him sprinkle it all over the ice cubes.  The ice really started to melt.  He grinned.

 Pretty soon he reached into the slush and pulled out a penny we had frozen.  He tapped onto the turtle which was halfway out. 

Satisfied they were melting he went off to play in his room.  Every so often during the day I would discover him in the kitchen observing the melting ice and the toys.  He would shout for me to come look as another toy would be free of its ice cube. 

Sometimes he would pick up the spoon or the hammer and give a good thwack on the melting cubes.  It is a satisfying feeling to break something and I was glad to watch him break up some of the ice.  

 That night we dumped all the salty water out and piled up the toys and the hammer and spoon on the tray.
 

It was really fun to observe Michael's thought process as he tried to deduce what would melt the ice the fastest.  I could see him really thinking as he observed the cubes and made each decision to try out the tool
I put before him.  Having him think to use his hammer was a great connection he made.  The spoon was not hitting them hard enough and so he thought to what would really work.


I enjoy being there to watch him learn and think on his own.  I have always wanted my boys to not be afraid to problem solve.  I can remember looking at a problem and being frozen in fear if I made the wrong choice so therefore I couldn't make any choice.  I want Michael to be a thinker and to not be afraid to make a choice. 
 
Eventually he remembered the salt, and together we watched the ice melt.  He continues to teach me as I share in his days.  If you ever have the chance to freeze some objects, the hammer is a fun tool to try to excavate the objects!