Imaginative Play Scene: Arctic Play Scene

It’s hot already here in Brisbane, and so water play happens many afternoons. My son and I set up an arctic play scene on a particularly hot day, and he enjoyed playing with the cold water and ice. Below is how we put it all together.

Materials

Arctic animal figures (or any other toys)

Large plastic container (underbed storage container is perfect)

Empty plastic container (like a ice-cream container)

Cups

Food colouring (optional)

Step 1

Fill an icecream container or other plastic container with water and add a little blue food colouring if desired. I also filled a few plastic cups with water (and used red and green food colouring). Freeze overnight.

Step 2

Fill a large plastic container with water.

Step 3

Add ice cups, ice block, and more regular ice (if you want) to the large water container.

Step 4

Small cracks can form when the large block of ice is placed in the water but the block holds together well, as you can see in the pics lower below.

Step 5

Add a few arctic animals (or any toys really) and play. It’s lovely and cool. My son LOVED this activity.

Animials in the Arctic

The arctic theme is only an inspiration, and I don’t force educational learning while my children play. So we set up the play scene with a particular theme in mind but the children can add anything they like to the play environment. That said, it can be interesting to link play to real life so we set up the arctic scene with animals we found around the house that fit. I love the Schleich range, and they have cute arctic animal figurines, so even an investment in a few polar bears can take this play scene to another level.

Later that day, my son and I spent 5 minutes googling polar bear pictures. Cute! And we also talked about what other animals live in the polar regions.