• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • FAQ
    • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Community
  • Books
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Reading Ideas
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
    • Preschoolers
    • Kindergarteners & Early Elementary
  • Writing Ideas
  • Parental Involvement: Building Partnerships
  • Start Here!
    • WELCOME TO THE GROWING BOOK BY BOOK COMMUNITY
    • Subscribe
    • Contact
    • FAQ
      • Disclosure and Privacy Policy
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Book Lists
    • Books for Children by Age
    • Book Lists
    • Holiday Books and Activities
  • Book Activities
  • Early Literacy
    • Alphabet Activities
    • Circle Time Activities
    • Phonological Awareness Activities

Growing Book by Book

  • Family Involvement
    • Start a Family Dinner Book Club
  • Start Here
  • Store
discovering with babies playing with toddlers exploring with preschoolers building with beginning readers

Bring joy and play into children's lives through books.

Yes, please!
Home » Reading Ideas » Learning to Read » Beginning Sounds Activity: Ice Melt and Break

Beginning Sounds Activity: Ice Melt and Break

July 22, 2015 •

Sharing is caring!

870 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Outdoor play on a hot day is a whole lot better with a block of ice.  Add a little phonemic awareness learning in with this beginning sounds activity and you have a whole lot of literacy fun!

Ice Melt and Break is a fun way for kids to work on identifying beginning sounds.  They will have so much fun trying to free the objects trapped in the ice.  As they rescue each object, have them identify the beginning sound of each object.

A beginning sound activity that will have the kids having fun outdoor play and building phonemic awareness skills.

This activity does require a little of preparation so you will want to start 24 hours before the kids are ready to play.

Materials needed: shoebox plastic container, a variety of small plastic toys, water can, kid size tools such as a trowel, spoon or mallet 

making ice layers for beginning sound activity

Fill a 1/3 of the way with water and drop in a handful of plastic toys. Freeze. Then add some more water and drop in another handful of toys. Freeze again. Finally fill to almost the top with water and add remaining handful of toys and freeze once more.

breaking the ice

When it is time to play, take your huge block outside. Let it sit for a few minutes so that it will easily release from the container. Give the kids toy tools or spoons and let them dig out the toys.

Try melting the ice in this beginning sound activity.My kids found pouring water on it helped speed up the process.  As they find each one, have them say the beginning sound of each toy.

beginning sound excavation

Related Posts

For more beginning sounds activities, check out these posts.

Beginning Sound Pancakes

Lego Beginning Sounds

Beginning Sound Hats

P.S. For more great literacy ideas, we send out a weekly newsletter.  Sign up to receive it for FREE each week.

 

Did you get your free list of Books Kids Will Beg You to Read?

Get It

Sharing is caring!

870 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Filed Under: All categories, Learning to Read Tagged With: outdoor play, phonological awareness, summer

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

Comments

  1. Emma says

    July 26, 2015 at 8:42 am

    What a great one for summertime! We’ve done ice melt activities but never with the literacy twist! 🙂

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      July 27, 2015 at 1:42 pm

      Emma, I hope you fun with this variation!

  2. Pragmaticmom says

    July 22, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    That looks so fun Jodie! You are a genius for fun + educational!! 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. 35+ Winning Water Games for Kids - Days With Grey says:
    October 9, 2020 at 9:18 am

    […] Ice Melt and Break – Growing Book By Book […]

  2. Big Fat List of Summer Learning Ideas - Teach Beside Me says:
    June 20, 2019 at 4:28 pm

    […] Beginning Sounds Ice Melt and Break from Growing Book by Book […]

  3. PreK Activities and Moms Library #150 | True Aim says:
    August 4, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    […] Beginning Sounds Activity – Growing Book by Book Although this ice melt activity requires a tad more prep (mostly just planning ahead) than most activities, it is definitely a memorable craft that involves a shoebox plastic container, small plastic toys, a water can, and a spoon/mallet. Toddler Dominoes – Crafty Journal Toddlers can make their own dominoes with craft foam and craft foam stickers. […]

What can we help you find?

Subscribe to Growing Book by Book

lead magnet for growing book bybook
Welcome to Growing Book by Book!  Learn about the creator, Jodie Rodriguez.

Find More

alphabet activities
book lists for children
circle time button

Set Up for Circle Time Success

month by month circle time songs


Copyright ©2025, Growing Book by Book. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs | Privacy Policy