Yes, there is something more exciting than putting out water and finding it turned to ice.
It's a two hour snow delay when you get to re-live The Snowy Day by bringing in snow and watching it melt (but playing with it first).
One of my fabulous coworkers told me she was bringing in a bunch of snow for her class of students with intellectual disabilities to play with.
In ten years of teaching why have I never thought of this before?!?!?
It was so much fun, with no clean up other than wiping down the table (the table is much cleaner now as well after having all that water scrubbed onto it). We worked on vocabulary (cold, hot, wet, soft, white, melt), discussed the states of water (watching the snow melt and turn into water) and made connections with The Snowy Day. I'd say that was 20 minutes well spent.