I saw this awesome recipe for Shivery Snow Dough from Learn with Play at Home a few months back and thought it was totally brilliant! A freezing cold snow dough in the hot summer sounded just perfect. I decided to make a different snow dough, but followed her add glitter and freeze steps. :)
I wanted to use something that crunched like snow, and I remembered the texture of slightly wet baking soda - the precursor to making our baking soda shells in our Hidden Fizzing Ocean World (and also our Fizzing Treasure Rocks in Day 2 of our Leprechaun Treasure Hunt).
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So I took two boxes of baking soda and added just enough water that it looked like crumbly snow (I mixed by hand). Then I added some glitter (of course) and popped it in the freezer. S loved how cold it was, but it was pretty darn frozen. We decided to add some water with our squeezy condiment bottles
to see if we could melt some of the "snow".
to see if we could melt some of the "snow".
Adding the water started the melting process and you could break off little tiny melty snowballs. It was then deemed ready for some dinosaurs! Now these particular dinosaurs lead pretty adventurous lives. If you are a regular reader, you'll recall they've been fossilized, caught in sticky mud, and frozen in gelatin. Today was their first adventure in snow, though. :)
Since the snow was made of baking soda, S wanted to try adding some vinegar (I know some of my readers have children who don't like the smell of vinegar - this play works perfectly well with water! Vinegar is totally optional.) We had fun watching the brief glittery burst of bubbles as the vinegar and baking soda reacted.
Then it was back to playing. The vinegar/water made glittery lakes on either side of a frozen path. The dinosaurs were taking many trips back and forth along the frozen path and sometimes falling into a lake on either side and needing S's assistance (apparently dinosaurs are not good swimmers)!
As the baking soda snow melted, it was so soft. I was surprised to see how long the whole mixture stayed cold. It was really quite cold even at two hours out (S REALLY liked this world and kept playing and playing and...you get the idea)!
The slurry that the melted baking soda made was reminiscent of cornstarch and water. It was nice and goopy and drippy, which is extra fun for dramatic play.
As it melted, the frozen crumbles turned into more of a snowy sludge (it was still SO COLD!) and S could make patterns with her fingers and the dinosaurs could leave footprints (they quickly disappeared, but it was pretty cool).
So much fun - and baking soda is only 59 cents a box at the Dollar Tree! What's not to love? :)
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
How fun! And thanks for mentioning us as inspiration.. even though yours uses completely different materials. I have yet to have a go and making a mouldable dough with baking soda so will have to have a go. Looks great! Pinned.
ReplyDeleteThank you for thinking of freezing snow - seriously so brilliant! And yes, baking soda is so great! Every time we use it, I am reminded of how much I love it. My favorite will always be cornstarch, but baking soda is a close second. :)
DeleteI am having a toddler group at my house on Sunday in 100 plus degree weather. This is absolutely perfect!!! Thank you so much. Can't wait to try it out! Awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis ought to keep them cool! Sounds like a super fun toddler group! :)
DeleteThis is our favorite way to make homemade snow. We love using it in the bath and to make MAGIC snowballs. I love that you added glitter to yours. http://www.bathactivitiesforkids.com/2013/02/snow-day.html
ReplyDeleteSo fun! I had not yet seen that post - looks like a blast - it should not surprise me that you have thought of it before since I am pretty sure you have done just about everything with baking soda and vinegar!
DeleteTrying out this idea tomorrow! Where did you get the dinosaurs?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sara! If you click on the "dinosaurs" link above (it's underlined) it will take you to the exact listing - we got them from Amazon! They're pretty awesome because they actually label each of the skeletons. Which I love because there's no way I could possibly keep track of all their names otherwise, hahahah!
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