Ice Eggs

This activity was a blast!
When I saw the forecast last night for warm weather today I got busy filling our freezer with 'ice eggs' for the girls to play with (ok, and me too :-D).
This activity is a combination of the Ice Bowling and Alphabet Ice blocks we played last year which were both a huge hit.

WE USED:

* balloons
(round shaped probably work best)
* small toys/glass stones
* water (tap)
* freezer

optional : spoons, magnifying glasses, food colouring/tempura paint.

Sorry that there are no photos of me making the Ice Eggs, it required both hands and was done in the middle of the night when all sensible family members were asleep ;-)
It was a bit tricky the first few times but once you get the hang of it it's a breeze.
First I lined my small objects up along the edge of the bench top (I used horse figurines from our play farm and small glass stones), then using both hands I opened up the top of each balloon by working my fingers down into the narrow neck bit. Once I had it open I just slipped the small objects inside by sliding them off the bench while still holding the balloon. Then I could fill the balloon up with water using the tap, tie it off like a water balloon and stick it in the freezer overnight.
You could also add food colouring like we did for the Ice Bowling activity but my girls weren't keen on that last time so I just used plain water.

An Ice Egg with a figurine frozen inside.

We found the balloons literally popped straight off our eggs as soon as we picked them up, but you could use scissors to cut the balloon away if it's being stubborn.

The photos don't do these eggs any justice, they looked so beautiful. The girls were enthralled; rolling them around, smoothing them with their hands and holding them up to the sky to see the objects inside.

Cracking the eggs open to retrieve the 'treasure' was a lot of fun.

The girls used spoons to crack the hard ice on the outside and dig through the softer ice in the centre.

We got out our magnifying glasses and studied the ice patterns and objects embedded inside.

So much fun, we already have the freezer loaded with more Ice Eggs for the next hot sunny day!