What you need:
The plastic insert from biscuits/chocolates/crackers or an ice cube tray.
Water and a freezer! Fill the plastic insert with water and leave it in the freezer overnight.
Put the frozen ice cubes into a tray with some toys. We used polar bears and pretended that the ice cubes were icebergs. Let the ice melt slightly before letting your child play with the ice cubes so that it doesn't stick to their fingers. Can they balance the toys on the ice? Talk about where the toys are using positional language such as 'behind' or 'next to' e.g. the polar bear in on the iceberg. The baby polar bear is next to him.
See who can build the tallest tower by stacking the ice cubes on top of each other. This is a bit tricky as the biscuit insert makes lots of different shapes ice cubes which become slippy as they melt. Count how many ice cubes each person used. Make a tower at the same time as your child and compare which tower is the tallest.
Skills:
Finding out and exploring - At school we focus on characteristics of effective learning. We provide opportunities for open-ended, hands on experiences which arise from curiosity. These opportunities help children to develop concepts, tests ideas and find out how things work. By balancing the ice cubes children explore the concept of cause and effect e.g. the tower will fall down if they build it too high and reasoning e.g. they need to position the ice cubes so that the flat bits are on top of each other so they don't slide off.