We are in the midst of a Fall Heat-Wave here. It’s incredible! It’s hot! It’s sticky! And I’m loving it! It was 27 degrees here this afternoon!!! TWENTY-SEVEN DEGREES on the 26th of September! Unreal! What’s also kinda strange is that our leaves are just starting turn. Some years, we start seeing tinges of orange in late August, but this year, here we are, almost to October, and we’re just starting to see bits of colour here and there.
I’m not sure what it’s all about, but I’m not complaining. I am so not ready to bid farewell to our warm, sunny days. The longer winter stays at bay, the better, in my opinion. 
Someone was complaining today though! This morning, while playing in the yard, Miss Mess asked if we could go INSIDE, because it was “too hot” to play outside!
Fortunately, on the weekend, I ran across this post at Mommy Savers, suggesting coloured ice cubes for bath-time fun. I didn’t realize today would be as hot as it was, and I didn’t have bath-fun in mind. I just thought the brilliantly candied-coloured cubes looked awesome, and figured the Hooligans would have fun playing with them in a big bowl of water. So I put Andrew to work, and had him whip up a couple of batches of them.
It was a fun little exercise in colour mixing for him. He’s done colour mixing dozens of times, but it never gets old.
I’m so glad I had these in the freezer this morning, because as soon as my little friend complained about the heat this morning, ta-daaa… Instant chill! And FUN? Oh my goodness! They LOVED it! We dumped the cubes into a big glass bowl of water, and added tongs, slotted spoons, and small containers. Our first tray of cubes melted fairly quickly, because the water wasn’t terribly cold. We dumped the second tray in, along with a tray of normal ice cubes. These cubes lasted much longer, because the water temp had dropped significantly after the addition of 3 trays of ice.
This probably occupied the Hooligans for about 40 minutes. When the cubes were gone, they were happy to play in the water with the containers and ice-trays.
What a cool and refreshing activity for a warm day! We will definitely do this again. It takes no time to mix up a couple of trays of these, and have them in the freezer for an easy but super-fun activity. I think they’d be awesome in the tub too! I wish I’d thought of this when my own boys were younger!
I love how you made the individual colored ice cubes! This would be fun in the water table too no matter what time of year it is! Hmmmm, I will have to freeze up some ice cubes soon:)
Did you use regular food coloring? I’m wondering if the food color would stain their hands as the ice melted. Any thoughts?
Yes, just the regular liquid kind. With all the water that’s in the cubes, and also in the bowl as the cubes melted, there wasn’t any staining.