Experiment Girl - Melting Ice Rainbows

I thought that this activity was going to be really cool but I was majorly disappointed with it.  That might make you wonder why I'm blogging about it but I want you to know our experience so that you can either cross it off your list of things to try or can figure out a way to do it better.  Despite my letdown with it, a few hours after we did this Charlotte went on and on to Memma and Papa about how we made the colors of the rainbow on the driveway and how cool it was so it might be a fun craft from a kids perspective.

Melting Ice Rainbows

Immediacy of results: About 10 minutes on a hot day to get the full effect

Prepwork required: Yes, must pre-freeze ice

Time required: at least 10 minutes plus prepwork

Materials

Ice cube tray

Water

Food coloring

Step 1. Fill an ice cube tray with water and use food coloring to tint the individual ice cubes.  Let freeze.

Step 2. Head outside with your little one.  Dump out the ice on the driveway.

Step 3. Marvel as the ice melts to form a rainbow.

* The suggestion that I saw online was for painting with the ice but I found that this didn't work.  Even on our hot Alabama summer day, the ice wasn't melting fast enough to use it to draw a consistent line and you had to press down very hard to get a line at all.  Charlotte just loved watching the colors melt and liked touching them to see what colors mixed together.