Making (and playing with!) frozen flowers is probably one of our most popular sensory play ideas ever and it’s easy to see why – they just look so pretty!
I’m a great believer that if you want kids to do something then you have to make it interesting and inviting for them and these frozen flowers in ice are so pretty that I’m always quite tempted to have a play with them myself.
Actually I enjoy getting this activity prepped in advance too which isn’t something that I’ll say about everything!
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While it does involve advance preparation it really only takes a few minutes as you’ll be able to see in the video I’ve made and it can keep your kids busy for ages.
What’s more it’s something that my kids have returned to year after year, my daughter was a toddler the first time we made this but fast forward to now a few years later and it’s still an activity that both kids enjoy.
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What can you Freeze in Ice for Kids?
As well as these frozen flowers we’ve experimented before with freezing other items and it’s always been an activity that’s been great for keeping my kids busy and happy. We’ve frozen ‘treasures’ in ice like our beloved Batman science experiment and this one from a trip scavenging in the woods but I made a few little changes to this to make it better suited to my kids and I think that this one is perfect for the summer months.
Water Tables
For water and ice based activities like this you can pop your frozen flowers into a washing up bowl to play with but I preferred to use a water table with my kids as it meant that they could stand up to play with things and they seemed a bit less likely to slosh water all over the place or knock it over! (Or stand in it, we’ve totally had that one before too.)
There are loads of kids of different water tables from ones you just fill with water* to water tables with lots of pipes and tubes* to get the water flowing around. I especially like the look of this one that allows your kids to see the water inside!
As well as a water table we had lots of measuring cups*, ocean toys* and plastic bowls to play with and this meant that over the years we got a lot of use out of ours.
Like this idea? Make sure that you bookmark this page or pin an image so you don’t forget to try it out, plus keep reading for more summer activities for kids.
To make these frozen flowers you will need:
Flowers
Water
Small pots
Frozen Flowers Sensory Play:
Unlike our ice play before where I’ve used large soup containers to freeze things for this I chose to use small kids snack pots or plastic cups instead.
Why? Well the big pots are great for when your kids want to sit down and really study what they are doing, but sometimes my kids just want something quick to play with that’s not going to take them an hour, this is especially the case after school or playgroup when they’re both a bit tired and all their attention for the day is done. So this is great fun but they don’t have to spend forever to get results.
I also knew that rather than one big thing to work on together they’d prefer having one of their own each because that’s just the way they are at the moment. Also, and this is an important for most families, there’s only so much room I have in my freezer that could be filled up with ice creams or something important instead.
If you do have more room in your freezer or want to do this with a group then another option could be to use a muffin tray and fill each gap with the flowers.
To make your frozen flowers put some cut flowers in your pot and then add water. I tend to have a hunt around our garden for daisies, buttercups and anything else pretty that won’t be missed too much.
Flowers tend to float so add quite a few or you’ll end up with them all at the bottom. Not a major issue but it’s not quite as pretty!
Pop them in your freezer for a day and then they’re ready to play with – just pop the plastic under a hot tap to thaw it enough to pop your flowers out.
As with all kids activities you will need to supervise your children during this activity as obviously the ice is cold, it is one that I personally don’t mind joining in with though. We use warm water to melt the ice and sometimes grab our magnifying glass or plastic tweezers too*!
More Summer Activities for Kids
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How pretty are these! Think my Granddaughter would love to make them x