ice cubes and tongs

This is a totally simple (and hugely popular) idea for the water table (thanks, Fern!). I placed a couple of buckets of ice next to the "water table" along with several tongs. The object was to use the tongs to add ice to the water table. It could work the other way around, too.

It was great for concentration building, which is definitly a skill children will need for kindergarden,  but done in a developmentally appropriate way.

Later the children found some egg cartons that they used for ice cube trays:

Some of their thoughts:

K: It's cold!
E: Look, snippers!
A: There's ice in these!
E: There are two ice bowls.
A: I like ice cold water.
Ms. Erin: Where do you see ice cubes?
K: In snow
M: At the store. We went to the farm and opened the fridge and we saw a big huge ice cube!

Note to self, tomorrow ask the children what ice is for...

The end!