ICE ICE BABY

The way this activity with exploring ice evolved was a little unusual. . . but learning often happens in the most unexpected places. . . and that is why my moto, along with Polkadots is "Make every moment a teaching moment." You have to be ready when to grab each moment of interest with your child, because thats when they will really be paying attention!

So this morning when I was getting my meat out of the freezer for dinner, Ashton managed to reach out and place his hand on the frozen package, (still wrapped in plastic I might add.) Usually, he would start to bang and pull at the object of his focus, this time was different though, once his hand came down, it stayed there, flat on the icy surface and then slowly he raised his head up with big wide eyes to meet our gaze. This was obviously something quite different to anything he had ever touched before.

Ashton didn't want to stop touching the frozen meat, but seeing I didn't think this was the best toy or object to play with. I put the meat away and got out two ice cubes and put them on his high chair tray. His reaction to the ice cubes was just as priceless! He dived down to pick up the little cube and immediately he stopped, cold ;o) in his tracks and just held it still in his hand (as you can see in the photo below... love it when I capture the moment!)

From then on Ashton was intrigued with the ice cubes, chasing them around his tray as everything became more slippery with the cubes melting and leaving more water. This was also exciting for him to find more water appearing on his tray to splash around in.

Getting a closer look. (What this photo doesn't portray are the quiet groan that he was doing while he held it... Like, "Um this is really cold, why can't I feel my fingers.")

Once the ice was all melted I decided to let Ashton explore a little bit of contrast from the freezing cold ice cubes and brought a little bowl of warm water to his chair. Seeing the water, he went to splash around straight away, but when he felt the warm water he went still again and just left his hand submerged there for a few seconds... as if he was just letting his body enjoy the 'defrost!'

We both had so much fun exploring the ice and warm water, so we are going to explore it again tomorrow... just with a slight twist! Stay tuned!