Unfreeze Spring! An At-Home Learning Activity

Winter has come to an end and spring is finally here! Although we are spending this spring at home, we can still celebrate the changing of seasons with our kids!

Living in South Florida we are lucky to be able to spend must days outside. By this time each year our northern friends are itching for some sunshine and warmer weather. My girls love to play outside in their kiddie pool and with the hose. So this activity was a no brainer. It’s fun and easy and great for younger kids.  You can keep it playful or use it to teach your little ones about the transition of seasons. Here in Miami we did this activity outside with a kiddie pool, but if it’s still too cold to venture outside where you live, you can use your bathtub as well!

What you will need

Fairy Fantasies Designer TOOB ( You can also substitute any TOOB figures of your choice. Some favorties are: fairy, insect or flower TOOB

Tupperware(s)
Water
Food coloring (
Toy hammer (optional)
Bathtub/ kiddie pool / large container

For this activity we are going to be freezing our spring butterflies and fairies into blocks of ice. You can freeze them all individually in smaller containers or put multiple figurines into one larger Tupperware. Since I made this for my 2 and 3 year old daughters, I wanted to have plenty of individual ones.

For the larger block of ice, I placed a few butterflies in about an inch of water and then put it in the freezer. Once it was frozen solid I added a few fairies and more water until all the figurines were covered; then I froze it again. In the individual Tupperware I added a drop of food coloring before adding water and placing the figurines inside. I popped them all in the freezer overnight so they would be ready for the next morning.

How to prepare your activity

1. Using different size Tupperware, add 1 drop of food coloring to each container.
2. Fill containers with water, high enough to cover the height of the fairies and butterflies.
3. Place fairies and butterflies in containers.
4. Put all containers in the freezer and leave until fully frozen.
5. Set up kiddie pool/ bathtub with 4-6 inches of water.
6. Add in your frozen fairies and butterflies.
7. Let your kids watch and play as Spring unfreezes before them.

You can add play tools or utensils so your kids can help crack open the ice or let them just watch as the food coloring seeps into the rest of the water. My 3 year old really got into it and was hammering away. My two year old really enjoys the tactile part.

She loves ice and just wanted to hold the blocks of ice underwater until they melted. I used this activity to keep my little ones entertained while I got things done around the house. My favorite part about it was how easy the set up and clean up were!

DeAna Dunn is a former special education and science teacher turned stay-at-home mom to 3 toddlers. Living life in survival mode.