Watermelon: Don't Break the Ice Game

As a parent, you probably know that when your kids have friends over, the friends will likely be fascinated by some toy or video game that your child has and they don't. Your child will probably be bored playing with the game they have become accustomed to using everyday.  You might have to coach your child to play the same old game with their friends a few times, even though your child really doesn't want to do that. Teaching your child to delay gratification and take turns is good parenting.  You might have to step in if the friend becomes fixated with a particular toy even after an appropriate amount of time has passed by. You might set a time limit or number of times they play one game. Another suggestion is breaking for a snack and then redirecting them to play outside for awhile.

Here is a fun food activity for a  party or group of kids.  It is based on the  "Don't Break the Ice" game  made by Hasbro.

1) Using a watermelon, slice it in half the long way down its axis.

2) Now continue making 2 to 3 inch slices down the long axis of each half.
 The rhine of each slice will be continuous AND UNCUT with one side more narrow than the other.

3) Place the narrow side face down on a cutting board.
 Keeping your knife point toward the center of the watermelon slice, carefully cut the interior of each section into 2-3 inch blocks.  The blocks always need to be more narrow at the bottom then the top so they don't fall out prematurely.

4) Set the watermelon slices carefully up on 4 short plastic cups located around the perimeter of the watermelon and on top of a flat baking tray  to catch the mess when the "watermelon ice" gets broken.

5) Each child may now take a turn with a fork, trying to pluck out a watermelon block without crashing the rest of the watermelon into the baking tray.