The kids had a blast playing with this winter activity last night. The set-up was pretty simple. I set the empty Tuff Tray outside on a slight angle and poured some water in. I left the tray outside overnight to freeze. The next day, I brought the tray in, mixed up some fake snow, and brought in some real snow. For the fake snow, I used Snowball Play from Zimpli Kids (Sewing Seeds Play). I filled the tray with approximately 1/3 of each material. Then I added Schleich and Terra by Battat animals, loose parts (winter resin loose parts from Little Play Lab Co., Bauspiel lucent cubes, clear snowflakes from Dollarama), scoops and bowls.
I usually stick to plastic, resin and metal add-ins for wet activities, so they are easy to wash after. Once the kids started playing, they decided to add a bowl of water to the tray for some extra washing and melting fun.
We have done snow and ice trays in past years, but I think this one was the most engaging. My guess is the variety of textures sparked the kids’ creativity and imagination. The ice was a fun slide for the penguins, other animals and frozen figures. The fake snow had a squishy, slightly sticky texture that was fun to mush and mix and the real snow was enjoyable to scoop and pack into bowls. I have a feeling they will be asking for a repeat of this one.