Ice Castle Festival & Play Day

Come play with us! Join Sunflower for our free annual community celebration of Play + Nature + Art, and help build a giant Ice Castle.

Remember Play? Blow bubbles, kick balls, roll hula hoops, build cardboard box houses, run through obstacle courses and play outside at our old-fashioned Play Day.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of Ice Castle, and rapidly increasing crowds over the past several years, this year we're requiring that everyone - age 5 or older - reserve a ticket in order to attend. Tickets will be limited.

We will be in the “meadow” at Patch Reef Park 2000 W Yamato Rd., Boca Raton, FL

Parking Information: Please skip the front parking lots and park in the back of the park (near our pavilions or further back) as there will be lacrosse games happening in the front of the park. 

What to bring to Ice Castle?

1. Homemade Ice Creations

We'll be building the Ice Castle base with four hundred 12-pound ice blocks (that's nearly 5,000 pounds of ice!)In addition, we encourage families to BYOI (Bring Your Own Ice) from home to add to the Ice Castle.

It’s tradition! Many families freeze ice at home and bring it to the Festival to decorate the top of the Ice Castle. People freeze ice in different shapes– using plastic containers or creative items like rubber gloves– and add objects from nature. Some interesting items we’ve seen frozen into the Ice Castle ice blocks: shells, flowers, leaves, watercolors and pine cones.

2. Big Build Supplies

Bring cardboard boxes, paper tubes and other creative recyclables– aka "loose parts" –that kids can use for building and imaginative play. We're building a cardboard box city at Ice Castle, modeled on the "scrap-based playscape" idea from our friends at Pop-Up Adventure Play.

3. BYOSnacks

This year, we will not serve any food. Water will be available and hot chocolate will be served after the building of the castle.

4. Bring some gloves, mittens or socks for your hands for handling the ice.