"It's Stuck in the Ice!"

What a great Thursday afternoon! Not only did we get to play outside in this absolutely gorgeous weather, but the kids also worked SO hard on one particular task. 

When our class approached the cave area the kids noticed a giant yellow tub. 

"What's that?"

"What's in there?" 

As they got closer they saw all different kinds of tools: spray bottles, paint brushes, and eye droppers. 

"What are we going to do with these?"

Moments later 4 ice pucks were dropped into the tub. 

"There's stuff in there!"

"We have to get them out!"

"Let's use the paint brushes to break the ice!"

All the kids began hitting the ice chunks with the opposite end of the paint brush, squirting the blocks of ice with water, and attempting to use the eye droppers. 

"It won't break!" 

"It has to come out!"
"Ice is cold!!"

"I see a ship."

"There's a horse! I want the horse!"

They were incredibly motivated to get all of the small objects out of the ice, but how will they do it and how long will it take? Well, after about 30 minutes of diligence and persistence, they began to free the different toys from the solid ice. 

"We are doing it!"

"They are coming out!"

"Look at all the water!"

Although they never mentioned how the ice melted, they understood that using the different tools helped them crack everything open to reveal the toys. I am so impressed by their ability to stay focused for such a long time. Way to go!