Frog Rescue - Ice Excavation

Ice excavations are great fun for kids of all ages. Younger children will enjoy pouring warm water over the ice to rescue small figures, while older children can use the opportunity to set up a science investigation thinking about which variables to change and which to keep constant to make it a fair test.

I set up this froggy rescue for my 3 year old last year with all the frogs in one large ice cube, but another idea is to freeze frogs ( or another plastic animal ) separately in small pots and try different methods of melting the ice to rescue the animals.

You’ll need

Plastic frogs

Plastic container

Freezer

Small bowls

Water

Spoons or droppers

Salt – optional

Child getting ready for an ice excavation activity

Instructions

Fill a medium sized container with plastic frogs and top up with water.

Place in a freezer until frozen.

Lots of plastic frogs frozen in ice for a fun preschool science activity

Before you want the activity to start, remove the ice from the freezer and leave to melt for 5-10 minutes.

Use droppers or spoons to drip warm water over the ice to melt it.

Older children can sprinkle salt over the ice to help it melt faster.

Ideas for recording the results

Draw pictures or take photographs of what the ice looks like at set time intervals.

ice excavation set up with beakers and syringes for an ice activity for preschoolers

Key vocabulary – ice activity for preschoolers

Ice

Cold

Frozen

Warm

Cold

Slippy

Wet

Freeze

Melt

Water

Solid

Liquid

Extension tasks

Create a storyboard or cartoon about the froggy rescue.

Imagine what the frozen frogs would say if they could ask for help.

Freeze smaller ice blocks with just one frog inside and set up a froggy rescue race! Try leaving the ice blocks in different places, such as outside, inside, fridge, freezer, in the sun and in the shade.

Try to predict the order in which the ice will melt.