Home » Kids Craft, winter

Kids Get Crafty: Ice Ornaments

29 December 2010 46 Comments

As the UK experiences what some would say is a “proper winter”, let’s embrace the snow and ice and use it to make some beautiful decorations. How I wish this was my idea.. but of course it wasn’t! I saw it as part of a discussion over at Mumsnet – Winter Ice Decorations. They are simple and OH SO CUT: Ice Decorations. A fab, fun, easy, quick craft, that also teaches a tiny bit of science (the whole bit about water freezing).

The Book

Olles Reise zu König WinterThis is a (German) book about enjoying winter and “shooing away Spring” when it tries to come too early. As our ice decorations are all about enjoying winter and WANTING freezing temperatures I thought it would be rather appropriate. The story is about a little boy, who cannot wait for the first snow, so he can go out on his new skis. When it finally arrives he ventures out into the woods to wind the King of Winter. Once there, he plays with all the helpers that make skis, toboggans and ice skating books. Father Winters makes sure that Lady Spring stays away until her time comes. In the end however, Lady Spring does return. The little boy is sad, but the book reminds us that spring is indeed beautiful.

It is a very “traditional” book. The drawings are old fashioned and I love the lesson about enjoy enjoy the different seasons for what they are. This is one of classics and hopefully will be cherish!

The Craft

These are incredibly easy to make

Materials: dishes, some bits & pieces (we had berries, holly, helicopter thingies, a shell and some sticks), some string, water

1) Fill the dishes with water

2) Add a piece of string (make sure it is properly submerged or nice and long. One of our decorations fell of the tree as the string wasn’t frozen in properly. Not a disaster, we used it for our snowman

3) Place your items in the water – no point faffing too much, as they just float off anyway. In Red Ted’s words though “I like playing with water” and needless to say this was his favourite step

4) Place outside overnight to freeze  (we woke up, to them all being covered in snow)

5) Hang and enjoy!

(and don’t be too sad when the temperatures rise and they all start melting/ dropping off… all part of it!)

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46 Comments »

  • Adele said:

    We haven’t done any thing in the last week lol

  • Salma said:

    oh so nice! Cant wait to get real cold again! ha ha ha!
    Love it!

  • Luschka @ Diary of a First Child said:

    These are sooooo beautiful. Weren’t they featured in Get Crafty a few months back? I think they are beautiful, and would make awesome outdoor party decorations – maybe hung outside the windows in winter!

  • Luschka @ Diary of a First Child said:

    Never mind me! It was the lemon cups I was thinking of, from Garden Mama in nature get crafty. Sorry! :)

  • Amanda said:

    Those are really cute, and your little guy is such a doll :)

  • Little Wonders' Days said:

    Maggy those are beautiful. Wonderful craft!

  • JDaniel4's Mom said:

    What a great way to decorate the trees! It would be a great science tie-in too.

  • Elizabeth @ Ucreate with Kids said:

    These look so fun! Just featured them!

  • sherri said:

    these are awesome!

  • KJ@letsgoflyakite said:

    These ice ornaments are a great idea. On Christmas Eve, we made an “ice wreath” filled with carrots and cranberries for the reindeer, but I like your smaller ornament better as the wreaths are quite heavy.

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    Elizabeth – thank you for the feature! Much appreciated!!

    KJ – oooh, the wreath sounds lovely! Can imagine that it was heavy!!!

    JDaniel4′s Mom – yes, definitely a great little science project too – funnily enough, Red Ted actually asked me whether we were making them “for the birds” as it is the same tee we hang popcorn and bird feeders in! Bless him.

  • Jae said:

    Great idea! We are trying that this afternoon. Will let you know how they turn out.

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    Oooh good luck! Make sure you leave the out long enough to freeze, I almost ruined one as I check on it too early… Like a kid myself!

  • NIna said:

    I love this. I saw some of these the other day at a preschool I was visiting. I must get around to doing them with the kids.

  • Garden Gifts said:

    much appreciated!!!!!!!!

  • fabmums said:

    oh they are so cute!

  • Christy said:

    We make ice decorations every year too. We usually use a bundt pan to make an ice wreath. We haven’t done it yet, but probably soon. Yours came out great!

  • Jennifer @ Life with the Lebedas said:

    Oh how fun!! Great idea! :D Thanks for linking this up to Craftify It Thursday!

    Have an awesome day!
    Jennifer

  • Ice Ornaments · Lesson Plans | CraftGossip.com said:

    [...] ice ornaments are amazing beautiful. Red Ted Art shows what they put into their creations. Is this odd, that for some reason, looking at this picture [...]

  • JDaniel4's Mom said:

    Listened to you interview yesterday. It was really fun to hear your voice.

  • Chris at Thinly Spread said:

    We love making these! We got a bit carried away with our ice lanterns pre Christmas but will definitely be making a few to pop in our apple tree to mark the new year! Thanks for linking to festive Friday! x

  • SnoopyGirl said:

    Oooo… I can’t wait til it gets cold again. I want to make some of those! We are having a warm spell today, but winter is not over! I saw something similar where they spelled out noel with the berries and branches and made luminaria from them. Such fun! Happy New Years!

  • JDaniel4's Mom said:

    I stumbled your post. Thanks for linking up.

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    Thank you! Must really look into stumbled upon more!

  • Pamela Manes said:

    How very clever! Love it.

  • To Sew With Love said:

    you always come up with great ideas! thanks for linking up at Crafty Saturday at TSWL! happy new year!

  • Darcey said:

    Great post! I love that you can put just about anything small in these ornaments. they came out great! I’ve included your post on my favorites for the week here: http://play2grow.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekly-favorites-for-january-2-2011.html

  • Natalie said:

    Yes, this is classic. I wish we could do it, but on the other hand, I rather enjoy staying above 0 Centigrade :) Thanks for joining WMCIR!

  • Judy said:

    That looks like so much fun…I’ll just have to wait until it’s actually cold enough for those to stay frozen for any period of time here :)

    Thanks for sharing!

  • The Prudent Homemaker said:

    Fun! We would have to put these in the indoor freezer here and then find the one or 2 days a year when it froze for a few hours outside–but they look fun! Might as well take advantage of the change in weather for some fun!

    That is a beautifully illustrated book; so darling!

  • Mary said:

    Thank you for participating in the very first Masterpiece Monday! I hope you’ll come back again, it was fun having you share! Take care, Mary

  • Audra said:

    This is outstanding! I mean, really outstanding!!
    How I wish it would snow where I live, just so I could do this with my kids.
    Thanks for linking up to Socialize with me Monday til Sunday.

  • Carrie said:

    I miss those days that I got to craft with my kids! Thanks for sharing and enjoy your days while they last.

  • Dorie said:

    What a neat idea with fantastic results!

  • Julia said:

    Nice! We tried something like this but haven’t taken ours out of the mold. It’s great way to use the evergreen and cranberry decorations we’re taking down this week.

  • joyce:waddleeahchaa.com said:

    Just came across this wonderful winter art, science, fine motorskills and great language building activity not to mention HOW FUN! I will be sharing this with the teachers at my school and also my family members who homeschool. Thanks for the post and I am a first time visitor. We are featuring winter on our blog this week hope you will stop by and visit. :) joyce

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    Hi Joyce! Thank you so much for your very kind comment! Will definitely come and stop by your blog! Maggy

  • Michelle Willow said:

    We’re definatelly trying this!

  • Rosi Jo' said:

    I just love it.
    It looks easy, but the effect is amazing!
    Unfortunatly, or maybe fortunatly, where I live isn’t cold enough to create theese wonderful ice ornaments

    Thanks, Rosi

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    We are “Lucky” enough that you can do these most years, but only for a few days: i.e. we get a short cold spell and that is it! Best of both worlds!!

  • Julie said:

    Morning… decided to drop by to find something me and my munchkin could do today and found this. I LOVE it, however, we live in Texas, so it would only last a day or so when it is really cold. Maybe we will have to visitthe grandparents next winter to do this, because this is just uh-mazing!!! Hope your having a wonderful weekend!

  • Red Ted Art (author) said:

    Ah Julie, lovely of you to say!! :-) we don’t get quite enough cold weather either – ours lasted about a week? But as it is “free” and so easy, it is worth doing anyway! Even if you do it in the freezer!!!

  • ice play | NurtureStore said:

    [...] ice fishing :: create ice decorations :: explore melting :: paint with [...]

  • Chrissy @ The Outlaw Mom Blog said:

    Coolest ornaments ever – wow. Wish it were colder here for just this reason :-)

  • sparkling74 said:

    THose are a great idea and I love how they are totally recyclable!

  • Actually Mummy... said:

    Oh look yours have berries and stuff *gets competitive*! Must try harder!

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