Snow Day Craft

Since it was a perfect snow day I felt inspired to try a fun, cold weather craft I had seen in the "Family Fun" magazine. It is an ice sun catcher. A circle of ice with swirly colors that you can hang outside your window and brighten up a wintry day. My son loved helping me put the food color into the water filled ice cube tray and it gave us a chance to practice our colors in a new way.

Anything done with a young toddler always comes with a little mess but it wasn't too bad. Just a slightly green tinted pair of tiny lips from when the food color found its way to my sons mouth. I grabbed it two seconds too late, which the green lips were evidence of. But all in all it went smoothly.

I have noticed from my years of attempting crafts from various books and websites that they always leave out a few tips that could have made the process easier or better overall. So I want to make sure that I pass all I learned on to you.

Tip 1. make sure the entire circle/cubes are completely frozen before wiggling the plastic cup. If you don't then water seeps under the cup and you wont have a clean hole any longer. I made the mistake of moving the cup too soon into the freezing. When it came time to remove the cup it would not budge so I had to run warm water over it, plus I had to break up the ice under the cup to remove it. That was not so fun since the ice ring is super cold to your poor bare phalanges. Which brings me to my second tip.

Tip 2. Wear ski gloves when handling the ice ring. It will save you some frozen limbs.....believe me!

What you will need:

1. Ice cube tray




2. Liquid food coloring (use 2 complimentary colors)




3. A round cake pan. I used a 9" round.




4. A plastic cup




5. Ribbon

Directions:

1. Fill ice cube trays with water and put a drop or two of food coloring into each tray.




2. Freeze ice cubes completely




3. Fill a round cake pan with 2/3 cup water




4. Place a plastic cup filled part way with water (for weight) into the top of the cake pan




5. Place cake pan in freezer for about 45 mins to 1 hour




6. Put ice cubes into the cake pan 'slush'




7. Freeze all together




8. Take out cup




9. Turn cake pan upside down and remove ice circle




10. Hang outside window with ribbon

Craft from "Family Fun" Magazine, February 2010 edition.