Cold weather makes you hibernate, makes you want to get cosy inside, makes you want to stay clear of the outdoors. However, create a fun activity, like our dinosaur ice break and the children will be eager to get out for some fresh air, especially on a bitterly cold day!
This is such a simple activity, but one children definitely love! All you need to do is put a small dinosaur toy in a silicone muffin tin or other small container, add some water and freeze. Once frozen, remove the dinosaur ice and take outside to smash up. You could also add some food colouring to make it colourful too.
Whilst my children were outside playing over half term, they discovered some ice and couldn’t resist playing with it, trying to break it up and generally experimenting with it. My nephews aged 3 were fascinated watching my children with the ice, this was the ideal time to pull out the dinosaurs for a dinosaur ice break!
Luckily there was a dinosaur for each child. We only had one wooden mallet, so they had to take turns, which I was very impressed with. They eagerly hit the ice with the mallet, aiming well. I was a little worried fingers would get smashed too, but not one finger was injured in this activity.
My nephews watched the older children with keen interest as they smashed open their dinosaur. It was their turn. They were totally absorbed in breaking through the ice to get their dinosaur. They hit it and bashed it, then chased after it as it shot across the patio. Then they finally managed it and achieved their goal…yay! They were very pleased with their breakthrough, then spent ages just smashing up all the ice they could find lying around.
Children are fascinated by ice and this is such a simple, yet effective activity to have fun with, learn some aiming skills and get outside for plenty of fresh air on a cold day. Dinosaur ice break is a big hit!
See Also
What a fantastic idea. So easy to do and inexpensive too so perfect. My two would love this #whatevertheweather
Wow, what a great idea, I’d never have thought of doing something like this. So simple but great fun too. Sarah #WhateverTheWeather
What an amazing idea! Little Miss is dinosaur mad and would love this, thank you for the idea and for sharing
#WhateverTheWeather
This is such a simple and fun idea. The one time that Tin Box Tot experienced icy puddles she loved stamping on them to break the ice. I think she’d love this too! #Whatevertheweather
What a great idea, sometimes it’s hard to encourage kids to get some fresh air when it’s so cold outside but activities like this really do get their imagination going so that they enjoy the fresh air even after the initial activity has happened. The kids look like they’re having the time of their lives smashing up the giant block of ice to find their surprise. I love the idea of it being multicoloured due to food colouring too. Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
My youngest two love dinosaurs so this is certainly going to be in our list of things to do #countrykids
What a cute idea – so simple but I can imagine there’d be a lot of fun involved. #countrykids
They really can’t resist breaking up the ice, can they? Not until it’s all gone. Great idea for getting them outside. And what good sharing, too. #CountryKids
This looks so fun! I would like to have a go myself. Glad no fingers got hurt – children are better at these things than we sometimes give them credit for!
This is such a simple yet fun activity. It looks like they all had a lot of fun. I’m going to try this with some of Evie’s toys. She loves ice too, it’s funny how fascinating it is to them. It’s so lovely that they were all playing together too. I can’t wait for Evie’s cousin to be a bit bigger so we can have playdates like this. Thank you so much for sharing your adventures with #whatevertheweather. xx
Ooh what a fabulous idea! My three year old is absolutely obsessed by anything to do with dinosaurs, but both girls would enjoy being outdoors and having fun with a hammer!! Hehe. I must try this!! Steph xx
What a great idea! I’m now going to freeze all my dinosaurs! #CountryKids x
Can I just say that that really looks fun! We will try this when the weather is better! I just need to look for a hammer to use. Thanks for sharing =) #countrykids
Oooh, we did something like this ages ago when O was small, I must make some for him and A to do, they would love it! No mallets here though, so I’ll need to think of something else. I love seeing kids using tools, they’re actually quite careful! Thanks so much for linking up to #whatevertheweather 🙂 x