It's Playtime: Ice is Nice

For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Dog Days of Summer have arrived and ice play is everywhere on the web as we attempt to stay cool.  Last weeks It's Playtime link party was our most popular to-date, and it seemed to me, ice play/art was a favorite topic for bloggers to share.  This week, I've chosen some of my favorite ice projects from last weeks play date.  Enjoy....and stay cool!

I loved this Artsy Ice Experiment from Creative Connections for Kids.  They blended science with art (color mixing) and had nature (the summer sun!) do all the dirty work for them.  A great summer experiment!

Pre-school Play shared with us that sometimes planned projects take on a life of their own when a preschooler becomes involved.  A typical ice cube painting project quickly turned to Ice Cube (Body) Painting when this little one decided to explore her medium.  I wish I could paint my body and people think it's cute!  

A Salt and Ice Extravaganza came from Praises of a Wife and Mommy.  Salt is great for creating crevices in ice chunks.  Add some color and you have an artistic chemical reaction!  

The Chocolate Muffin Tree took salt and ice exploration one step further and created some lovely, Colorful Ice Sculptures.  I love the giant blocks of ice the little cubes and the big cubes created once they melted together.  

Honorable Mentions: 

The Iowa Farmer's Wife: Ice Play  (perfect for toddlers!)

Dimples & Giggles: Painting with Colored Ice

Walnut Acre: Farm Animals in Ice

If you were featured this week, don't forget to grab your special "featured button."

<a href="http://messypreschoolers.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYKQj4S7oHoLKfsA3PoeXgaNMJ5dxkdUxIphbmwXOlbFg78Gwl73-rT8AdMTgmqYmIJZrkJRYOqOEItkCbR_exui4YhZqLlwZaBHXhC5slGyqPScnxvq-zrQezw9-MdIUiecgW3fxKg/s1600/featured-messykids.jpg" width="150/" /></a>

Now, on to this weeks play date! 

It's Playtime is a community and Thursday link-up hosted by:

* Rachele : Messy Kids (That's me!)
* Anna : The Imagination Tree
* Rachel : Quirky Momma
* Jamie : hands on : as we grow
* Jenny : Let the Children Play

How to Play :

* Link up a post about a playful learning experience enjoyed by kids.
* Give us love and pop a button into your post/blog. Invite your readers to the weekly play date!

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* Stop by one of our blogs every Thursday and add your link about play. Your link will show up on each of the blogs in the It's Playtime community.

* Each week the playtime hosts will choose favorite posts to feature. (By linking you are giving us permission to use an image and link to you, if featured.)

* Be sure to visit some of the links that catch your eye. Commenting on posts that you find interesting or inspiring is a wonderful way to develop your own playful community.