Ice Balloons – a Toddler Trick for bath time or outdoors

Anything that involves ice is right up my daughter’s alley so when I stumbled upon this ice balloon idea on pinterest the other day I knew I had to give it a go! This colorful, fun sensory idea is so easy to make and sooooo much fun for your toddler. The blog that we got the idea from based it around being an outdoor activity, however we thought we would try it as a bath time trick. This way your toddler will be able to physically fell and see what happens when the ice balloons start to melt and disappear into the bath.

This toddler trick is great for those toddlers that can sit securely in the bath.

What you need:

• - Balloons (We used water balloons (small ones) as they are easier for toddlers to hold )
• - Food coloring - a number of colors (preferably vegetable based colorings)
• - Freezer to freeze them in.

How to make:

- Simply take a deflated balloon and put 1 small drop of food coloring in to it. Carefully make sure the balloon is attached to the tap properly then slowly fill with water until you have reached the desired size, be care ful not to over fill!  Tie a secure knot at the top of the balloon, then repeat this step till you reach your desired quantity.

- Freeze the balloons. I popped ours in a plastic bag just incase the balloons got stuck to the bottom of the freezer or happened to pop. We froze ours over night to be sure they were properly frozen. Once the balloons are frozen, use sissors to chop the top knot off then peel the remainder of the balloon off! This is a lot easier than I thought it would be, it just peeled off with ease so this is something your toddler can help you with.

- There are so many different things you could do with these very cool ice balloons! Bath time was at the top of our list. I ran my daughter a bath then handed her the balloons in a bowl. She loved watching and feeling the balls melt and the color spill into the bath. Talk to your toddler about what they can see and feel….As we used vegetable food coloring and very little of it (1 drop in each balloon) it did not stain the bath or my daughter! =)

This toddler trick would also be great outdoors in containers of water or in the paddling pool during the summer time.