Ice Painting

Have you every made your own ice paints? Ice painting is a fun sensory and art activity for kids! Kids will love to see the paint melt as they use these ice paints.

RELATED: Ice Chalk

Ice Painting Activity

Kids will love painting with these ice paints! They are not only fun to paint with – but they are fun to make! And the best part for toddlers is that they are taste safe too.

For another twist on painting – try painting on ice.

As you paint, the ice will start to melt and you can mix the colors together.

Watch the Video Tutorial!

Supplies Needed

Only a few supplies are needed to do this art activity:

• A large ice cube tray – we used one like this which makes larger ice cubes (a regular tray would work well too but the ice paints will be smaller and melt faster)
• Tip: Check the dollar store for larger ice cube trays!
• Concentrated food coloring – we used concentrated food coloring for more vibrant colors
• Water
• Popsicle sticks – we used thicker popsicle sticks like these for easier grabbing, they are 4.5 x 5/8 inch size

How to Make Ice Paints

1. Fill the ice cube tray with water.

2. Add 3 drops of concentrated food coloring to each cube.

You can use regular food coloring also but substitute with 20 drops in each cube. Also note that regular food coloring will likely not paint as vibrant as the concentrated food coloring. Amazon sells many versions of concentrated food coloring. This is a neon set.

3. Add a popsicle stick into each cube and mix the food coloring in.

Use a spoon to mix the food coloring or use the popsicle stick.

4. Freeze overnight or until frozen.

5. Let sit at room temperature for 2-5 minutes to thaw.

6. Now you can paint!

The ice paints should melt as you glide across the paper. If they do not melt, let them sit a few minutes longer to thaw a bit more.

This is such a fun way to paint for kids! If it’s not too hot you even bring this outside with some large easel paper and have kids paint a mural with the ice paints.

See more ice activities below!