Team-Building STEAM Ice Castles

This friendly team-building activity is the ultimate STEAM project. Science, engineering, art, and math for the win!

MATERIALS

• Ice
• Liquid Watercolors
• Bowls With Salt
• Eye Droppers
• Rulers
• Cups
• Water
• Large Trays (Ours Are From Costco)

DIRECTIONS

Material Prep

• Prep the colored water by filling several containers with water and adding a generous amount of liquid watercolors. As shown, we did warm colors for one team and cool colors for the other. Add eye droppers to the colored water.
• Set out bowls of salt for each team
• Pour a bunch of ice into the center of each tray.

How to Play

• Invite the littles to work with their team to create the tallest ice castle possible! Review the materials that they have to work with (water, salt, ice) and set them free.
• Having rulers available are a fun accessory for the kids to literally measure their progress. Hearing each team shout things like, “Our’s is 7 inches” and “Our castle is getting taller because it was 8 inches and now it is 9 inches!!” is what a teacher heart dreams of.
• As you feel the activity winding down give a verbal cue to how much time is left (ex: “2 minutes left, friends!”) instead of abruptly ending.
• Measure!

NOTE: This could eeeasily be modified for a no-teamwork approach. Set this out for a center during choice time, for a morning invitation at home, a whole-class project, etc.