One of the great things about going on trips is being able to explore new environments, learn about different animals and appreciate an experience that we would never see at home. On our recent cruise to Alaska, S was excited to see glaciers and icebergs. Her absolute favorite item to see are animals/marine life. Which we saw a lot of on our trip.
While we were on our trip, I had picked up an Arctic play set. The play set contained a polar bear, Orca, fox, seal, beluga whale, an igloo, and an Eskimo. To prolong the learning experience, S and I set up an Arctic Small World play.
I froze water in small plastic containers, adding blue food coloring to some of the containers. The next day, we popped the ice out of the containers and S stacked them and arranged them in her water table.
She told me that we needed water, so in went some water. Which was a good addition because later S asked me why two of the ice blocks were stuck together.
We added in the Arctic animals and Eskimo to our small world. The Orca swam in the water, the polar bear jumped from iceberg to iceberg and the Eskimo built an igloo. The seal used the ice as a slide as the caribou sloshed around.
The ice quickly melted as scenes played out and icebergs moved around.
I love small world play because it teaches you about something so different from your everyday. For S, this Arctic Small World also reminded her of our recent trip. 
What an amazing learning adventure! Your pictures made me want to come over and play! The play set is adorable, as is your daughter.
Thank you Alli, come over any time 🙂
Now that is a very cool learning set! I love how you brought home apart of what you learned about from your vacation!
Thanks Louida, it was so much fun!
This is such a cool project. I’m going to pass this to my bff who teaches pre-k. I might have to this with my daughter in our “poor mans water table” (aka the bidet!!!) haha.
I hope you give it a try with your daughter. It would work even in the bathtub, sink or plastic storage tote! 🙂
Wow! This is pretty cool! I’m excited like I’m a kid again, lol. It’s so cool seeing all of the new things they have created for children now. I’m sure she enjoyed this!
Thank you, I’m always impressed by the new toys and say all the time they didn’t have that when I was a kid!
Ok, so I am totally doing this for my kids now!
I hope you kids enjoy this activity!
Such a fun idea!!! Perfect for Florida right now, since I am always looking for ways to keep the kids cool while still wanting them to play outside!
The summer heat can get so unbearable; my daughter will tell me it’s too hot out we need to go in 🙂
Love this activity! Too cute! My two-year-old would love this!
We had lots of fun. I hope you give the activity a try!
What a great learning experience. I will definitely be trying this in Summer 🙂
I hope you have as much fun as we did!
This is seriously the best kid activity I’ve ever seen. I love it! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity on The Inspiration Board at homework. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you stopped by to share. You were featured in the spotlight today!
Have a wonderful weekend!
carolyn ~ homework
Thank you so much Carolyn!
I love this, such a great way to fuel imagination and give children a total sensory experience. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids.
Thank you Fiona!
What an incredible post-seriously great way for kids to learn. #countrykids
Thank you, we had so much fun with it!
What a fabulous idea!! Love it and Pinned it 🙂 x
Thank you Maria!
This looks like so much fun. I really need to set up some small world play – at the moment we’re still playing with the doll’s house.
Dolls are so great for imaginative play!
What a great activity. I loved how you tied it together with your trip.
Thanks for linking up at HDYDI.
Thank you Sadia!
What a fantastic way to play and learn, such a lovely idea xx #creativemondays
Thank you Caroline!
Summer now here and its so hot so its vital to help my son cool off and this is one of the idea that I have! Fun and can help beat the heat =) #countrykids
I agree Merlinda, keeping cool in the summer heat is so important. Some fun water play works perfectly!
Love this! Featuring on Family Fun Friday this week – thanks for linking up!
Thank you so much Carly!