A snowy day art project

In case you haven't heard, we've had an insane amount of snow here!! The back to back blizzards have tested my and DH's parenting skills - we've not been able to take the kids outside as much as we usually do - but we have been able to do a few cold weather projects.

One of Talker's favorites was making this sun catcher. (I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of us actually doing the project - I was distracted by the food dye and forgot to take shots of the work in progress!!)

I based our project on this idea from Family Fun Magazine. Talker put food coloring into an ice-cube tray while Happy Apple was sleeping. When the ice-cubes were frozen, he added them to a cake pan filled with ice water that had been sitting on the front steps. The water was cold enough that the cubes didn't melt much before we took it back outside. We filled one of Talkers drinking cups with water, which also ultimately froze, to serve as the hanging hole. The whole cake pan was left outside overnight to freeze, and then we hung it from the lamp post on Thursday morning (after DH dug through the drifts so we could reach the lamp post!)

Even as cold as it was, there was still a small amount of water in the cake pan when we brought it inside to unmold - so if you're going to try this, I recommend unmolding under the sink. Also, some water snuck in underneath the cup that created the hanging hole, so Talker popped it out with the handle of a butter knife. One good thump and it popped right out, but again, this was best done over the sink.

Overall, was a good pre-schooler project - Talker got to do a lot of pouring, and he enjoyed playing with the food coloring. It was a tad messy, but not overly so, and it kept us laughing through the snow, which was worth cleaning up a few colored drips from the kitchen floor. What kinds of things have you been doing with your littles if you've been housebound lately?