Embrace the cold weather and head outside to make ice art with your kids!
Materials list to create your own ice art…
-You’ll need balloons of a variety of shapes and sizes- round, long skinny, novelty, etc.
-Water
-Food coloring or liquid watercolor paint
-below freezing temperatures, or plenty of room in your freezer
Adding color to your ice art…
The first step to making these easy ice sculptures is to add liquid food coloring to each balloon. A drop or two in the top of each balloon is all you need. Let little hands squish it around inside the balloon to distribute it.
Another option is to skip the food coloring step and create clear ice sculptures!
Filling the balloons with water….
I found the easiest way to fill these balloons was to stretch the opening of the balloon over the kitchen faucet. this provided enough water pressure to fill the balloons easily. Go slow!
When filling the balloons err on the side of under filling. It makes it easier to tie the balloons and less likely that they will accidentally pop on you!
Balloons that are wavy or even extra long may take a bit of manipulation to get the water distributed. Let your young artists help by squeezing the balloon as it’s being filled and forcing the water into different areas. (Practice this on a balloon with no food coloring!)
It’s also handy to have an extra set of hands under the balloon as it’s being filled. Taking some of the weight off also makes it less likely the balloon will pop!
Waiting for your ice art to freeze….
Obviously, if you have room in your freezer these can get placed there until frozen solid.
If your freezer is full of air fryer foods like mine, head outside. Of course you’ll need below freezing temps for your balloons to freeze. We were lucky enough to have some snow to nestle our water filled balloons into. After a couple of hours they started to get crunchy but were solidly frozen by the next morning.
Remove the balloon casing from the frozen ice sculpture….
Have an adult make a slit in the balloon with an X-Acto blade. If the balloon won’t tear off at this point your kiddo can keep working with a pair of scissors.
Balloons with long skinny features to them are hit or miss as to how much detail they retain. An extra long dentist appointment meant the sculptures were beginning to thaw when we cut the balloons off. I think this is why we didn’t have better luck with the detail parts. Whatever interesting shape you’re left with will be a fun addition to your ice art!
Display your ice art…
You’ll want to put your gloves on for this creative play! Once your ice sculptures are free from their balloon casing find a place to display them.
Nestle them in snow or prop them on a table and watch the sun stream through.
If you want even more outside winter art check out this fun invite to winter painting!
