Flower Ice Eggs — Play Beyond The Lines

A dear friend left us a bouquet of flowers when we returned home from a recent trip. As the flowers began to droop I knew I wanted to repurpose them for play and exploration. I remember seeing a trick to creating ice eggs and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

What you need:

- plastic Easter eggs

- tape: I used electrical tape because that is what I came across first. Duct tape or even masking tape would probably work just as well.

- flowers

- water

- shallow dish or egg carton

- freezer

To Make:

- trim the flowers from their stems

- tape over the holes on the bottom of the eggs to prevent the water from draining out

- place flowers inside the plastic eggs and close the eggs- be sure the eggs are closed all the way to prevent water from pouring out.

- fill the eggs with water through the holes on the top of the eggs

- place the eggs upright in an empty egg carton or shallow dish. You will want them secure so they won’t tip over

- Place them in the freezer and allow for freeze time

- once frozen, you are ready to play

To Play:

When the eggs were frozen I had to set the dish out for a little bit as some of the water leaked out of the eggs forming a small layer of ice on the bottom. It took a little work to get the eggs loose and open but the eggs inside were beautiful. Some were fully formed eggs and some were partial eggs but I thought they turned out beautifully.

You can set the ice play up in any container. I moved the ice eggs to another shallow dish and added some remaining flowers. The dish was set out along with a bowl of water and a dropper for play. As an added bonus I broke out some of our Bubbling Botanicals for a fizzy surprise. The natural glitter added the perfect addition to the mixture. Both girls played, poured, stirred and problem solved to free the flowers. Along the way the play turned into flower soup to feed the fairies. I will definitely repeat this activity to add a new element to our mud kitchen play.