I’m in love with another of Asia Citro’s books (her second book): The Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-on Activities for Ages 4-8. My 21-month-old granddaughter, Zoey, my daughter, Christina (Zoey’s aunt), and I had TOO MUCH FUN with a dinosaur ice melt experiment adapted from the book.
Disclosure: I was given a copy of The Curious Kid’s Science Book to review. My review is honest and my own. This post also contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).
The Curious Kid’s Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-on Activities for Ages 4-8
Asia Citro has an M.Ed in Science Education and was a classroom science teacher. She has used that knowledge and experience to bring creative ideas and activities to parents and teachers around the world. I’ve always loved Asia’s Fun at Home with Kids blog because of Asia’s creative recipes and activities and inspiring photos of her kids. I had a lot of fun reviewing Asia’s first book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids (“Banana Playdough {150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids Book Review}”).
Like Asia’s first book, The Curious Kid’s Science Book is absolutely fabulous! It’s well organized, fully indexed, and beautifully designed with colorful, engaging photos. Your kids will find lots of activities they want to try after looking through the book. To read more reviews and see inside the book, check it out on Amazon.
There’s even an appendix telling where to find the supplies listed in the book.
Dinosaur Ice Melt Experiment for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Although Asia’s book is designed for ages 4-8, a number of the activities can be adapted for younger children. They’re open-ended enough that you can include a variety of ages in your activities … perfect for homeschools or classrooms with multiple ages!
The dinosaur ice melt science experiment is adapted from the book’s “Challenge: Make Ice Melt Faster.” In the book, you’ll find suggestions for objects you could freeze in the ice cubes. I decided to use a few dinosaurs from Safari Ltd. Good Luck Mini Dino Fun Pack.
There are a number of suggestions for ingredients to test to see which make ice melt faster. We made the experiment simple enough for a toddler. We used a plain ice cube with dinosaur as the control and added salt to two other ice cubes containing dinosaurs. We didn’t worry about the exactness of the scientific method and simply used the activity as a fun introduction to science experiments. Zoey absolutely loved the activity and wants to repeat it. I’ve added the dinosaurs to some new ice cubes!
Dinosaur Ice Melt Experiment for Toddlers and Preschoolers – Video
The experiment even worked on scooping and spraying practical life skills and language skills in being introduced to the names of the dinosaurs.
You’ll find our spray bottle, cloth, and tray in this post: Montessori Practical Life Cleaning Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
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Alison says
What a fun project! 🙂
Melani says
I like this activity. Would be perfect for my toddler since he loves anything to do with water. 🙂