Candy Heart Experiment: Candy Ice Cubes

This easy-to-prep candy heart experiment will have your kids excavating for candies in no time! Perfect for large or small groups, these are hours and hours of fun.

Several ice cubes with candy hearts frozen into them begin to melt while sitting in a red tray during a candy heart experiment.

This candy heart experiment is what you never knew you needed

As you’ve probably come to see, we love ourselves some candy heart activities! We have several bags of them in the classroom for many activities, and these simple cubes are new to the club.

I have always wanted to try making candy heart ice cubes and finally decided to take the plunge. As the saying goes, my only regret is not having tried these sooner.

If you’re new to ice excavating activities for kids, you’re in for a treat! These activities are simple to set up, use basic supplies, and kids go CRAZY for them.

❤️ Related: Looking for more Valentine’s Day activities? Our collection of the best 25+ preschool Valentine’s Day activities is your one-stop-shop.

An arial view of candy heart experiment ice cubes sitting in a red and blue tray. Each tray has a jar of water with an eyedropper in it and a bowl of salt.

Your kids will love excavating this candy heart experiment

We love an activity that can be prepped in advance, and this one is perfect to have ready in the freezer a day or two (or 20) in advance.

Plus, they’re easy to make in bulk! If you’re doing this with a large group of kids, it’s still easy to prep many ice cubes and have them ready for large amounts of eager hands.

Double plus, if you have kids of mixed ages, even if there’s a significant age gap, this one is a winner as kids (and adults) of all ages can enjoy it together. While they’re a hit for preschoolers, they’re equally exciting to elementary kids and beyond.

❤️ Keep the Valentine’s Day activities going with these faves:

Materials

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Water
Candy hearts
Jars or bowls
Ice cube trays
Eye droppers
Salt – table salt (the inexpensive stuff)
Shallow tray – the trays photographed here are from Target at back-to-school time, but these are our favorite plastic trays
Tongs or tweezers – optional

Several ice cubes with candy hearts frozen into them begin to melt while sitting in a red tray.

How to make a candy heart experiment

Begin by filling your ice cube trays with water and a few candy hearts. Freeze until solid.

When ready to begin, simply pop the ice cubes out of the trays and into the shallow containers. Next, provide your kids with salt and jars of water with eye droppers. Finally, invite your kids to squirt the water and sprinkle the salt onto the ice cubes to expedite melting, therefore releasing the candies.

How to add MORE science to this activity (you have to try this!)

As you can see in our photos, we separated the ice cubes into blue and red trays. While each tray had the same ice cubes and the same bowl of salt, the water wasn’t the same temperature. 😉

In the jar on the red tray, I filled it with warm water, whereas the jar on the blue tray was filled with cold water.

Introducing water in different temperatures adds a TON of learning to this activity! Of course, as an adult, you know that the warm water will melt the ice cubes faster than the cold, but this a brand-new concept that many kids will be exploring for the very first time.

If using this method, first call attention to the different types of water, invite kids to make predictions about what they think the different waters will do, and then test the ideas.

We. Love. Adding. Science! These minor, easy tweaks can take an activity to the next level.

A pair of tongs with pink silicone hands on the end removes a green candy heart from an ice cube.

Add in fine motor tools to your candy heart science experiments

Simple materials like tongs or tweezers also add an extra level of fun!

Kids will learn that a candy cannot always come out easily, but instead needs to be fully exposed before it can be removed. Kids can easily and efficiently use their fingers to remove the candies, but fine motor tools are also fun to keep kids engaged and learning heightened.

A hand holds four candy hearts excavated from the experiment. Each candy looks as if its starting to dissolve.

What will dissolve candy hearts?

Will the warm water dissolve the cady hearts faster than the cold?

Will the cold water dissolve the candy hearts faster than the warm?

Does the salt play a role in the process?

Is there an additional material that would dissolve the candy hearts EVEN FASTER?

Scientists ask questions of themselves and their work every day, and this activity is a fantastic opportunity for your child to do the same.

A hand holds an ice cube with a pink candy heard frozen inside.

We give this candy heart experiment two thumbs up!

If you’re new to ice cube excavation, this won’t be your last time trying it out. Trust us, once your kids get to do this kind of activity, they will beg to do it again.

The next time you’re at the store, grab a bag of candy hearts and it’s science time. If you have any leftover candy, try smashing them up, too!