Last week in first grade, students learned about states of matter as part of a larger study of winter. To deepen their learning, they worked in groups to complete the Ice Cube Challenge. Their goal was to return a large ice cube to its liquid form as quickly as possible. The only parameters were that the heater and the faucet were off limits, and they had to collect the water to be measured. By experimenting with gloves, towels, blocks, and tools from the Makerspace, students discovered that using friction and increasing the surface area were successful strategies.