Glowing Ice

I have recently discovered that my guys really like the simple ideas I have compared to the more elaborate invitations I set up for them.  It's not that they don't like the extravagant play.  They do.  But it seems like when I set up too much, they "complete" what I've set out then move on.  This surprises me, because I rarely have a desired outcome in mind.  Typically our activities are open ended.  Still, when I leave out too much, they seem to touch or use everything once then tire of the activity, especially JZ.  It's almost as if he thinks once he has touched/used everything he is "done".  I always invite him to continue, and he looks at me with confusion and says, "I already did it all."  This doesn't line up with his personality, because he has an incredible attention span and is not the type of child to become bored.  Yet when I leave out a simple activity or only put a few things in a sensory bin he will play with it until I have to draw him away (for a meal, nap, play date, etc.) 

Discovering this has been huge for me.  As a blogger, I'm often trying to think up original, unique, messier, more colorful ways to play.  My children have helped me bring it back to their level.  The less I set up, the more their imagination runs wild!  It's such an incredible thing to watch them play, explore, imagine, and create.  (And the less I set up, the less there is to clean.  WIN/WIN.)

Just because we are keeping it a little more simple doesn't mean we won't be showcasing a ton of great ideas anymore!  

This glowing ice we made provided over an hour of fun.  That's right I said ice.  Just ice.  I didn't even include any props.  I put down a shower curtain from the Dollar Tree to protect the floor, and I put a few dozen cubes of ice on a tray.  That's it.

I made some of the cubes using Glow Water, which we've explored in many ways around here.  The other cubes I made were frozen tonic water.  It turns a cool, blue color.  It doesn't shine anywhere near as bright as the cubes made from Glow Water, but it's still pretty cool.  I like the bright yellow better, but the boys loved seeing differences.  (And after playing they wanted me to show them what tonic water is.)

Anytime I make ice for the boys I use these perfect cube ice trays, because they love to use the ice as blocks and stack them.  (And, of course, knock them over.)

In the past when we've done activities using Glow Water I've done my best to set the black light up in a place where the boys can't look directly at it, as this is harmful to eyes.  They constantly ask to hold it, move it closer, touch it, etc.  This time I put it on a tall dresser above where we were playing, and it worked very well as you can see by the photos.