This weekend I went out to western Mass. overnight for a friend's bachelorette party, and returned with precious little voice. This was mostly on account of my having been sick (I'm currently host to a roving virus that's been making a leisurely tour of my body over the past week, wreaking havoc everywhere it goes -- latest stop, my larynx) but the nonstop gabbing and laughing, the wine, and the dip in the outdoor hot tub probably didn't help either.
In any case, yesterday afternoon when I got home, I was in search of an activity that would require minimal talking on my part. Play-dough was one option. We've made some of our own recently, and the girls have enjoyed the process of making it and then "cooking" with it afteward -- shoving it into measuring cups, mashing it with the potato masher, stabbing it with spoons. But yesterday, they were very emphatic about the fact that they did not want to play with play-dough, but they did want to cook. I was not feeling ambitious enough to undertake an actual cooking project with them, and so, Ice Cookery was born!
Age range: 18 months - 3 years
Materials needed: Non-breakable / valuable kitchen utensils and containers (bowls, measuring cups, colanders, mixing spoons), a good quantity of crushed ice (Our fridge has one of those cool crushed ice dispensers, but you could also just put ice cubes in a plastic bag and whack them against the floor until they're broken up a bit.) Towels, broom and dustpan for clean-up.
Prep / Clean-up time: Minimal prep, ongoing cleaning recommended to avoid flooding / slipping. A drop cloth of some sort wouldn't be a bad idea, but that borders on taking us out of the low-to-no-effort zone.
Time it will keep your kids quietly, safely occupied: At least 15-20 minutes, as long as it's not too hot. (To my readers in the tropics, this may not be for you.)
Developmental benefits: Enhances small motor skills, increases likelihood of your child getting on "Top Chef"
What to do? Allow Clio and Elsa to demonstrate:
As you can see, there's all kinds of scooping and pouring and mixing to be done. Yes, it's a little messy, but it's only water, so it's not, like, stressful messy. In fact, our kitchen floor was decidedly cleaner when we were done, owing to the fact that I'd had to wipe up all that half-melted ice. The only possible drawback of this activity is the fact that your child(ren) will most likely attempt to eat the ice. Granted, this isn't a big deal if it's well-crushed and made from non-questionable water. But you do need to be vigilant about weeding out larger pieces of ice so no one chokes. And, I suppose there are are some -- dentists, mainly -- who would say that chewing ice is not a great idea. They may be right. I may be crazy.
At one point, while the girls were playing, I asked them "What are you cooking?" I guess I was expecting them to say eggs or cookies -- both things they've helped "make" before and watched me make.
Elsa's reply? "Ice!"
Of course.
PS -- This is my second "Activity of the Week" (the first being the one on clementine oranges). But I want to reserve the right not to make it a weekly feature, just because. Think of it as one of those little segments on the Daily Show or the Colbert Report that gets its own name and logo and stuff, but may only show up a handful of times, until such time as the writers get bored of it and forget it completely. Is that OK? Thanks.
