Painting ice process art

Vicki Manning
Feb 19, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Apr 28, 2025

Process art is an artistic approach that prioritises the creative process and the experience of making. Through experimentation and expression; your child is freee to engage with the materials and techniques without predetermined goals or expectations. In essence, the focus is on the "doing" of art, not just the "what have you made".

Children painting rainbow colors on ice with brushes. Text: "Painting ice, the perfect sensory activity for pre-schoolers!"

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We've had some really cold weather recently so there's been a lot of ice about. On one of our walks, while we were crunching on some fabulously frozen puddles, my six year old showed me a chunk of ice he'd found, and I was reminded of a process art activity I've been meaning to try for ages.

Child in green jacket holds up a piece of ice.

When we got home after our chilly walk I half filled a couple of Tupperware pots, put a lid on and popped them at the bottom of the freezer overnight (so they would freeze flat).

The next morning I took them out and put them into a tray along with our Faber Castell watercolour set to create some painting ice proces art.

This is one of those activities where the kids are champing at the bit - I barely got time to set it up and they were diving in!

My youngest went straight for the two-handed approach! He quickly got the hang of moving his brush around on the paint pad and transferring it to the ice.

Child's hand holding a brush, painting teal and yellow swirils onto ice

My six year old enjoyed blobbing contrasting colours and watching them swirl and blend as the ice melted.

Two young boys painting a rainbow onto ice

They played really nicely together, which is pretty unusual as the strong personalities and big age gap can often get in the way! But this is another great thing about process art - because there are no expectations or level of skill required, it is perfect for all ages.

Rainbow painted onto ice with colours trailing over the edge

Mr 6 and I painted a rainbow together and watched as the colours ran down the sides of the block - it was fascinating how the ribbons of paint bled down, swirled and mixed together!

Process art is brilliant for helping your child to think independently and imaginatively, as it encourages experimentation and there is no 'right' way of doing it.

Some of the other areas children develop and learn through painting on ice:

Fine motor skills (using a paintbrush)
Colour-theory (how colours mix)
Temperature (how ice melts)
Socials skills (taking turns)
Vocabulary (cold, liquid, solid etc)
Self-expression (being creative)

They spent a good half hour painting and experimenting and in this time the ice didn't melt completely - it lasted surprisingly long on a central-heated house! So after they'd finished painting, I rinsed the blocks, popped them outside and the boys continued playing with them until they melted away.

I love these kinds of activities - they cost nothing, they are so creative and there are no toys to be tidied away! I will definitely be trying this again - maybe outside in the summer as a fun way to cool down.