Ice decorations

We first saw these ice decorations a couple of years ago on Red Ted Art, but this is the first time we’ve had chance to try them for ourselves. They are super simple and look beautiful hung on a tree outside.

What you need

Decorations – lego, glitter, sparkly bits

Freezer

String

Ice cube tray

How to make ice decorations

Carefully pour cold water into your ice cube tray or mould.

Add your decorations.

Tie your string at one end and carefully place into the water

Place in a freezer until frozen.

Why does water freeze?

Water can be a solid, liquid or gas. In liquid form the water particles can move around freely, so the water takes the shape of the container it is in. When you cool the water down the movement of the particles slow down and the particles become tightly packed together, which means its shape cannot change easily.

Why is ice sticky?

Ice feels sticky, because when you touch it, the ice immediately freezes the moisture in your skin, which makes the cube feel sticky.

We call the temperature at which water changes from a liquid to a solid it’s freezing or melting point. The two are usually the same, but pure liquids can be supercooled below their freezing point

Freezing is the process in which a liquid turns into a solid when it’s temperature drops below it’s freezing point.

Melting is the point at which a solid turns into a liquid. Apart from a few exceptions the freezing and melting point are usually the same temperature.

If it’s cold enough you could try leaving the mould outside to see if the water freezes overnight.