Ice Cube Melt Race

What you need

• ice cubes
• two shallow plates
• salt
• small spoon

How to do it

1. Put one ice cube on each plate
2. Sprinkle salt on one and leave the other plain
3. Watch together and check every few minutes to see which melts first
4. Talk about what changed — smaller, wetter, gone

Why it matters

Watching ice change and melt gives them an early, hands-on taste of how things in the world transform.

What they're learning

cause and effect

seeing salt speed up melting is an early science observation they'll build on with real experiments later

prediction and guessing

guessing which ice melts first practises the same thinking used later in simple science and games

waiting and checking back

returning to check progress over time builds patience for anything that takes a while, like baking or growing plants

What to look for

Watch for them checking back on the plates unprompted to see what's changed.

A tip

Do this at the table during breakfast so checking back happens naturally between bites.

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