Ice Drawing Game

Turn an ice-covered can into a frosty canvas for your cool kid.

Submitted by
Sonam Adinolf

Those smiley faces your kid draws all over the mirror are kinda cute. But you can't say the same for the fingerprint-smudged car windows—and the smudged living room windows and the smudged bedroom windows. ... Put away the Costco-size bottle of glass cleaner and superabsorbent paper towels and let her make her smudgy drawings on the side of a can with this game.

A metal coffee can with a lid:
The bigger, the better, so pick up a jumbo-size can of coffee and mix yourself a café au lait while you work.
Salt:
You'll need a lot, but just think of the sodium intake you're saving the family!
Ice

Have your kid rinse out the coffee can while you gather the ice and salt.
Next, have her scoop two big handfuls of ice into the can.
Let her sprinkle a couple of handfuls of salt over the ice.
Continue adding ice and then salt until the can is full.
When the can is brimming with salty ice, get her to put the lid on—tightly, please!
Now, let her pick up the can and shake, shake, shake.
Tell her to watch out for a little "magic" on the outside of the can while she's shaking. Within a few minutes, the can will start getting frosty.
When the can is good and covered with frost, let your little artist get to work drawing. She can finally use those grimy fingers to mark up something other than the windows.
If she messes up or just wants to start over, have her shake the can again to grow more frost for a fresh "can"-vas.
Let her go crazy over and over, drawing faces, flowers or trees. It's all fun and games until the ice melts!