This post was first published 13/2/18 on my original website thepaigediaries.com
Yesterday I posted about our pom pom ice-cubes on our Instagram account, and they got such an amazing response that I thought I’d share them on the blog too! They are seriously the easiest things to make – and they are SOOO unbelievably beautiful – and so much fun too!
As you would know if you’ve been following our Instagram account for a while, I am a HUGE fan of pom poms. They are seriously so versatile – great for sensory play and perfect for colour sorting, counting, and working on those fine motor skills. I’m always looking for new ways to use them in our play, and last week I had a brainwave – freeze them! We’ve used them in water before (mainly in the bath) and once they dry, they’re as good as new. So why not freeze them??
From the get-go, I knew I wanted a BIG batch to play with, and I also knew with only two ice-cube trays, it was going to take me a good two or three days to have enough. I froze batches at night and then again in the morning, and kept all the finished ice-cubes in the ice-cube compartment of our freezer. Of course, Paige wanted in on the action as soon as she spotted me making the first batch and regularly checked the freezer for me to see if they were ready.
To make the ice-cubes, I just popped a pom pom in each section of an ice-cube tray, then filled it with water. Easy! We used around two or three packets of these Kmart pom poms (minus the black and white ones) which gave us around eight trays’ worth of ice-cubes.
Once all the ice-cubes were ready, I popped them into a large bowl then put them on the Tuff Tray outside, along with some smaller coloured bowls and spoons. Samuel and Paige used the spoons to scoop the ice-cubes into the smaller bowls, which at times proved to be quite tricky as they became slippery as they started melting. In the end, Samuel found it much easier to use his hands instead!
Paige then started sorting the pom poms into the corresponding bowls while Samuel moved on to scooping up the dirt with this spoon. #attentionspanofan18monthold
I set this activity up in the morning, and the weather was perfect – not too hot – so the ice-cubes held their shape while the kids were playing with them – although I do think these would be absolutely perfect for really hot days though as they would end up as pom pom soup! So fun! But because they ice didn’t completely melt, I was able to tip out the excess water when Paige had finished playing and pop them back into the freezer to use again.
For more simple sensory ideas like this one, make sure to grab a copy of my SIMPLE SENSORY PLAY ebook, which is jam-packed full of ideas to do with your little ones using pom poms, rainbow rice, water and ice, playdough and oobleck – and only using things that you’ll most probably already have at home #StartPlayingSTRAIGHTAway!
What are your favourite ways to play with pom poms? Have you tried freezing them before? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas, so make sure you let me know of any interesting ideas you’ve tried in the comments!
Lycie xx
