Marissa's Mommy Moments: Painting Ice

It seems that Mother Nature is a little bit confused right now... It's the middle of April and we're having an ice storm! It's a snow day, so Monkey couldn't go to school because the buses were cancelled. I didn't want to venture out to drop him off or pick him up with Boo still being so little, and it's a good thing, because the power went out at his school and I would have had to go pick him up right away anyway! All that to say, I had all three of my babies home with me today. Monkey is still into all things art related, and I think when he is around it helps Peanut get a little more interested in our activities.

We were all hanging out, possibly watching the Food Network, and we started hearing some crazy noises from outside. All the ice from the roof was sliding off and crashing into our backyard. It is crystal clear ice, and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for painting on! We've painted on ice before using watercolours on blocks of ice I made in the freezer, so this time I wanted to try our regular Crayola paints.

Supplies: paint, paint brushes, baking sheets, ice

If you are not unfortunate enough to have a freak ice storm in the middle of April, you could just freeze a baking tray of water for the same effect.

We got everything set up before I ventured outside to grab the ice.

I grabbed my coat and boots and risked my life to get the boys some big chunks of ice. You may think that's an exaggeration.. it's not! The backyard was sheer ice. Luckily there were some big chunks of ice not too far from the door.

Once I was back inside the boys got to work right away!

Peanut started with orange, of course. It's his favourite colour and he was actually upset with me for putting all those other colours on the paint tray!

The ice was already starting to melt after only a few minutes, but I actually think it worked even better because it was melting. It made spreading the paint easier, and the way the paint mixed with the water turned out to be quite beautiful!

The way the colours ran together reminded me of watercolours (which makes sense because it is water and colour heehee).

Here are the finished products! I love the way they look. We enjoyed watching them melt, but I think the boys' favourite part was dumping them into the sink!