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 CUTE: Ice Decorations. A fab, fun, easy, quick craft, that also teaches a tiny bit of science (the whole bit about water freezing).
These ornaments feature in our new Christmas Ornament Book. 30 of our favourite ornaments brought together in one place. Sorted by age. Each craft is shared on one page – making the perfect worksheet print outs. Lovely to have them all in one place too!
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The Book
This is a (German version of a Swedish) 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!
Find all of Else Beskow’s BEAUTIFUL books in English – including Ollie’s Ski Trip: Uk Readers and US Readers here (affiliate links added for your convenience).
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!)
Happy Winter Ice Decorations!
We haven’t done any thing in the last week lol
oh so nice! Cant wait to get real cold again! ha ha ha!
Love it!
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!
Never mind me! It was the lemon cups I was thinking of, from Garden Mama in nature get crafty. Sorry! 🙂
Those are really cute, and your little guy is such a doll 🙂
Maggy those are beautiful. Wonderful craft!
What a great way to decorate the trees! It would be a great science tie-in too.
These look so fun! Just featured them!
these are awesome!
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.
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.
Great idea! We are trying that this afternoon. Will let you know how they turn out.
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!
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.
much appreciated!!!!!!!!
oh they are so cute!
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!
Oh how fun!! Great idea! 😀 Thanks for linking this up to Craftify It Thursday!
Have an awesome day!
Jennifer
Listened to you interview yesterday. It was really fun to hear your voice.
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
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!
I stumbled your post. Thanks for linking up.
Thank you! Must really look into stumbled upon more!
How very clever! Love it.
you always come up with great ideas! thanks for linking up at Crafty Saturday at TSWL! happy new year!
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
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!
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!
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!
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
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.
I miss those days that I got to craft with my kids! Thanks for sharing and enjoy your days while they last.
What a neat idea with fantastic results!
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.
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
Hi Joyce! Thank you so much for your very kind comment! Will definitely come and stop by your blog! Maggy
We’re definatelly trying this!
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
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!!
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!
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!!!
Coolest ornaments ever – wow. Wish it were colder here for just this reason 🙂
THose are a great idea and I love how they are totally recyclable!
Oh look yours have berries and stuff *gets competitive*! Must try harder!
I featured the ice ornaments today on my Christmas in July Celebration
http://passionateandcreativehomemaking.blogspot.com/2012/07/day-8-christmas-in-july.html
Terrific ornament! Share your ornament (or more) on our Linky List to get exposure for your own blog and share with your community. http://muddymonkeys.me/2012/11/28/wanted-homemade-christmas-ornaments-for-children-and-kids/
I love these, Maggy! I’ve been wanting to make some for us before it gets too warm.
Thanks for sharing at the Sunday Showcase!
Yes, they are lovely! Weather her just not cold enough to do them this year. We have tried 3-4 times already!
Oh my goodness these are beautiful. That’s it. We are taking a family holiday to the snow this year so I can make all these fabulous winter crafts that I am seeing all over the place. (As I write this we are melting in a heatwave!)
Wonderful! You get to craft whilst on holiday!
They’re beautiful!
Gorgeous ornaments! With this article going around again I just have to point out that the book is Swedish – not German.
Indeed… it just happens to be that I have it in German!
Great idea and fun for the kids!
All the books by the Swedish author Elsa Beskow are very traditional and so so beautifully illustrated!
🙂
Beautiful. Is there an English version of this story as well? Sadly, my German and Swedish are both quite rusty, and in my area, kids are more inclined to know Spanish.
Also, please note, with little ones be careful as I believe holly and mistletoe are both poisonous (although so pretty) so if you use them, use a close eye, both when creating and when they defrost!
One could put birdseed in it for the little birdies to munch on as it defrosts too! Or I wonder if flower seeds, once frozen, would sprout …oh the possibilities!
Oh yes, thanks for the warning!! Here is a whole set of Elsa Beskow’s books – Ollie is amongst them (Ollie’s Ski Trip) http://amzn.to/1xILDBp
I am definitely doing this next time we get a freeze! Also, you can do use filtered water, boil it (twice, if you’re up for it), and it will produce clearer ice.
Hi! Great craft! I think I saw you are from Germany. We are doing a booth at my daughter’s school multicultural night for our German culture. Wondering if u have any ideas for crafts, props, food, etc?
From Austria, but close enough 😉 I have lots of Austrian Christmas Cookie recipes – the three at the bottom of this recipe are v traditional – http://lifeatthezoo.com/2012/11/presents-kids-can-make-cookies-ornaments/. I also consider most of our walnut crafts as being v Germanic – https://www.redtedart.com/tag/walnuts/ particularly the walnut mouse/ baby and boat! Have fun!
Great! ! Thank you!