With warmer weather, and clear skies back, at least briefly, I decided to pull out one last ice project for the summer. This time, I had frozen super strong, rare earth magnets into the ice cubes. The magnets we used were very small, and would not be good for babies, toddlers, or preschoolers. I also froze a few ice blocks with regular refrigerator magnets, but they were not strong enough to have any effect on each other through the ice.
My thinking was that the magnets inside the ice would stick the ice cubes together, or push them away from each other, depending on the poles of the magnets inside of them.
It worked too, but only where the magnets met, close to the surface of the ice.
The real fun came when we pulled out our wand magnet, and the girls discovered they could yank the little magnets right out of the ice by passing the wand, in the air, above the cubes.
Then, by placing the wand under the chair (our outdoor play table is still covered in a fortified rock village)...
...they could move the stack of newly freed magnets, using them to push around the ice cubes.
It wasn't exactly the play time I had imagined, but they had a great time with both the magnets and the melting ice, creating mazes, and then bulldozing their way through.
And, it got them back outside for a while.
6 comments:
Interesting idea. I would not have thought of putting magnets in ice.
What are strong earth magnets? I've never heard of them. I've planned a set of magnet lessons for my little two and this would fit in perfectly, but I wonder if the magnets provided in the kit are strong enough?
A great, imaginative play time, as always. I do like the way your mind works!
Me again! I just checked Amazon and found some. I still don't know what they are, but I do know where I can get some!
What an awesome idea, and even though it maybe was not exactly like you envisioned it, it still looks like a LOT of fun!
Claire - The rare earth magnets are scary strong, and quite small...you'd really want to watch your younger ones with them. The wand magnet we have is from our Klutz Explorabook - it's very strong too, but seems safer all coated in plastic.
I hadn't thought to freeze them either. I really need to try my kids on some fun ice/water projects....
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