This is a fun messy sensory activity, best done outside on a sunny day. The colourful ice shapes feel cold and slippery in the silky slime. Enjoy watching the colours swirl and mix together as the ice melts.
Time: 24 hours freezing time then 30 mins play
Age: Under 5's, 5-10's
Level: Easy
Materials
A variety of ice cube trays or silicone muffin trays
Several colours of food colouring
Cornflour (we used a 500g bag)
Mix up two capfuls of food colouring per litre of water and freeze in ice cube trays or large silicone muffin trays. It's fun to make a range of colours and have a variety of sizes. It's good to have a few large shapes (e.g. silicone muffin size) as these take a long time to melt.
Put the trays in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
The dinosaur muffin sized trays were great as the shapes took a long time to melt in the slime
Set out a large tub and get stuck in with hands making up a goopy slime mixture by combining cornflour and water. We started with a ratio of 1 cup of cornflour to half a cup of water.
Making goop
Add the coloured ice shapes and let kids explore the mix any way they choose.
Watch the colours swirl and mix as the ice shapes melt.
You could also introduce plastic animals.
Plastic animals added extra fun
Once you have finished playing, scoop the goop mixture into a jar to make great sidewalk paint for another day. The 'paint' dries with a chalky finish.
Save the goop for sidewalk paint
