Winter Fun: Build an Ice Dream House

Create a snow castle.

Submitted by
Kayla Chong

Have your child create a kingdom out of snow and ice using soda bottles, milk cartons and his abandoned sand bucket from last summer.

Snow:
Nature will take care of that one for ya!
Ice
Sand bucket
Large, empty plastic soda bottles
Empty half-gallon milk carton (the paper kind)
Scissors
Pot
Hot water
Spray bottle
Toothpick
Felt
Food coloring

Collect a bunch of empty soda bottles and milk cartons in the weeks preceding the ice castle construction.
Help your kid cut the tops off of the milk cartons and soda bottles, leaving the bottoms intact.
Next, get your child to fill the bottles and cartons with cold water. If he wants to make colored ice, have him add a few drops of food coloring to the water before he freezes it.
He can then carefully bring the full vessels outside and place them on the porch.
Let them sit out overnight so they freeze. The milk cartons will make great big rectangular building blocks and the soda bottles will make lovely turrets.
Head inside for a cup of hot chocolate!
The next morning, warm up a pot of hot water and fill the spray bottle with the steaming water.
Have your kid grab his sand buckets and spray bottle and head outside.
Help him extract the big blocks of ice from the milk cartons and soda bottles. If you spray a bit of the warm water onto the ice blocks, they should slide out quite easily.
Have your child pack snow into the sand bucket to make snow blocks.
Start building! Using the snow and ice blocks, help him construct his castle. Pile the ice and snow blocks on top of each other. A few squirts of warm water from the spray bottle before piling the blocks will help cement the pieces together. Squirt and then hold in place for a few seconds to seal the deal, so to speak.
Have your child make a few royal flags out of toothpicks and felt. Help him cut a flag-shaped piece of felt and glue it to a toothpick.
Stick the flags into the turrets by packing a bit of snow on top of the turret. The toothpick won't penetrate the ice cube, so you'll need a snow cushion to stick it in.
When the castle is finished, take a picture. You don't want all that hard work to disappear with the first thaw!