One of their highlights of Christmas is their Christmas Bath. This year, in addition to the Christmas hats and ball pool balls, we had some frozen flowers to defrost.

Resources

  • Bubbly bath
  • Christmas hats
  • Red and green balls
  • Frozen flowers

Method

I collected some kitchen containers in a variety of shapes and sizes. I filled them with water, added some flowers and popped them in the freezer over night.

With the warm water from the bath, the ice quickly started to melt. Ioan reminded us that ice melts above zero degrees Celsius, so the temperature of the ice must be rising.

Finn was interested that all of the purple flowers fell out of the ice, leaving the yellow ones. He worked out that the purple flowers were closer to the surface, where the ice was touching the warm water. The surface of the ice melted. As it turned to water, it freed the purple flowers more quickly. The yellow flowers were in the centre of the ice block, so stayed frozen for longer.

As the plants defrosted, some of the leaves started to unfurl under the water. Ioan giggled, saying that they looked like sea anemones.

Cian enjoyed squashing the flowers in his hand and sniffing the petals. I watched him carefully to make sure he didn’t put any flowers in his mouth.

Once the flowers had defrosted, they moved on to role play. They enjoyed making food and serving drinks. All we added to the bath were some drink glasses and the containers that the ice had been frozen in.

By the end of the bath, they were all happy and smelt beautiful!

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Communication and language

ELG 01 – Listening and attention:

Children give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

ELG 03 – Speaking:

Children use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Personal, social and emotional development

ELG 08 – Making relationships:

Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.