Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Cooling off with a Little Archaeology

Digging for Treasures in IceContinuing with my weekly boredom busters, here's something my kids have been enjoying this week: freezing their toys in blocks of ice then chipping them free.

So simple it's brilliant. Little cars, pennies, toy dinosaurs, whatever is laying around (though I drew the line at the parakeet) they stick it in a tub of water overnight then have fun excavating it from the ice with a hammer and "chisel" (otherwise known as a screwdriver) the next day.

Lots of fun for my little archaeologists on a hot summer afternoon.

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39 comments:

April said...

Love this idea! Thanks! That will definately work for me.

Anonymous said...

Great idea!

la bellina mammina said...

Sounds like fun - will try this! :-)

Gina said...

What a great idea. This is one I haven't heard before. I will suggest it to my kids and see if it will work for them!

Mrs. O said...

My kids will be all over this one. I can just picture them having races to see who gets theirs out first.

The simplicity is brilliant!

Nikki said...

That is so funny! And yet, I fully believe that I would've loved it too as a kid. Thanks for the great idea!

Jane said...

Clever!

Julie Pippert said...

Fun!

We buried toy dinosaurs in dirt/sand box (water table). They loved excavating.

snarflemarfle said...

Really brilliant! As soon as X-man has enough control to handle a screwdriver and a hammer, we'll have to try this!

Cheri said...

I absolutely love this idea- I'm on my way to the freezer as soon as I'm off this computer!
Thanks
Cheri

Jenn in Holland said...

Brilliant!

Magpie said...

Clever.

Daisy said...

Oh, that sounds like fun! I feel like an archeologist when I expand my garden. We always find odd pieces of broken ceramics, etc. (Old house, historic neighborhood)

Anonymous said...

Oh My! This is GREAT!

Kelly @ Love Well said...

Wow. I don't know which amazes me more -- the brilliance of the idea or the fact that Alaska actually gets warm enough to melt ice.

Kidding! I'm kidding.

I'll be using this something this week in 90-degree Minnesota.

Anonymous said...

My three boys did this when they were younger. Had to draw the line when they set fire to their younger sister's toys (mostly McDonalds trinkets) and recorded it on video.

Anonymous said...

My kids will love this - thanks!A

Lei said...

Birlliant! I love it!

My Trendy Tykes said...

Neat idea!

Linda

Karen Putz said...

Great idea! Although, knowing my boys, they'd end up hurling the ice blocks in a contest...

Cherie Nelson said...

I LOVE this idea. My kids might be a little young for it still, but I'll probably give it a try!!!

Anonymous said...

My kids LOVE doing this. It's free, it's fun, it's perfect.

Ni Yachen said...

Through in some mouse bones and you can start training young paleotologists.

all over the map said...

Love this idea. Love the photos, especially the trousers above the ankle and how you know it's time for school to begin. Clever.
Poor parakeet! ha ha
We also have birdies, or budgies as we call them.

Amy said...

Another GREAT idea! We are taking Ethan to a dinosaur exhibit next week so this might be something fun to do when we get back. Thanks for the tip!

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

Okay, now that's a fabulous idea!

TheNormalMiddle said...

My 6, 4, and 3 year olds will be all over this one! COOL idea (pardon the pun)

truevyne said...

My kids do this all the time. I have to kick their toys out of the freezer at times to make room for icecream.

Michelle Alley said...

What an idea - you're a genius! My girls would flip over this. We're are definately trying this tonight!

Heffalump said...

I think some of my boys would get impatient and just throw the ice blocks on the pavement to break them.
I saw something in a magazine this week about freezing various sized containers of water and using them as blocks of ice outside in the summertime.

kddub said...

That sounds very "alaskan" although I bet its not freezing up there right now!

I'm going to file this idea away for when my sons are a bit older, they'd love that!

Anonymous said...

May I suggest safety goggles??? Cece

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...

This is brilliant!

I have been known to freeze colored icecubes and then throw them in the wading pool or tub with them so they can watch them melt and play with them, but never thought of something like this. . . . Buddy would LOVE it. The only problem would be ensuring that hammers and screwdrivers were not used on each other . . . .

Anonymous said...

That is *such* a good idea. I'll have to file that away for the future.

Nancy

Amy said...

What a fantastic idea. As soon as my daughter's old enough to be allowed a hammer and screwdriver, I'm trying this out!

Anonymous said...

You're a genius. For real.

Katie said...

So we've had to do this everyday since I found this idea on your blog! My son puts together a bowl just before bed - he found out that tootsie rolls don't work - they just made brown ice - He just fill the bowl with small toys and water (I make one for my 2 yo DD as well) and they chisel away at it with the business end of a wrench, while the dog catches all the chunks that fall off - it has been really good fun for all of us! Thanks for the idea!
I'll be putting you on my "resources" list, so I can keep looking back for new ideas. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It sounds really great. . i loved this idea!!! hope it works for me
Thanks for sharing!!!

Lenetta said...

So fun! I'll have to keep an eye out for thrifted tools since my little one has a few years before I'll let her loose with a hammer. :>) I linked this on my weekly roundup - can be found here. Thanks!