A new playgroup that'll make you forget the heatwave.

During the heatwave I kept my two-year-old inside air conditioning for a whole day; by the evening he was driving me mad. But there is a better way.

Launched just in time for the NSW heatwave, Alexandria’s Ice Zoo in Sydney has started snow play sessions three times a week.

The playgroup, held on a large corner of the ice rink, is an opportunity for children under six to experience snow and ice in flat shoes with an educator and a skating Olaf from Frozen.

On the hot day I went along, childcare educator Monica Jones and Australian figure skating gold medallist Bianca Ha entertained around five kids for over an hour - in an ice-cool room.

"Snow play is a good way to build children's confidence so they're not scared of going onto the ice and falling," says Ha.

"While they're playing with snow, because there is so much snow if they fall they won't hurt themselves and that makes them less fearful of the ice."

My son was pretty taken with Ha, who has been skating for 11 years, after she performed a few Olaf twirls and jumps during our session.

He looked slightly terrified when she lifted him for his own twirl but he has not stopped talking about Olaf since.

"At the start of the session everyone was so scared of me being the snowman, and so I had to find a way to slowly introduce myself and get them to trust me a bit more," Ha said.

She says the playgroup is a great way of teaching kids about skating through play.

Although the ice rink's advertising of the event isn't great, some of the mothers there found out about the playgroup from a Facebook mums' group.

"It's a change from swimming and it's a great idea," says Linda, who was there for the first time with her two-year-old son Oisin.

"He hasn't seen snow before and we'd like him to learn to ski at some point. He loves digging sand so this is great he can build snow castles instead."

Ice-skater Eliza saw the session as a way to introduce skating to her toddler daughter, Kyla.

"I'd love my daughter to love ice skating so I thought I'd bring her to get used to the ice and then hopefully when she's a little bit older we can get the ice skates on and play together," she said.

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Local mum Anita saw it as an educational experience for her daughter, Charlotte.

"I think it's important for children to experience different sensory experiences...and we don't really get cold in Sydney," she said.

Childcare educator Monica Jones, who runs the sessions, says the snow play is also a great way for mothers to make friends.

The 25-year-old says most mothers join in playing on the snow, but they can also leave their child playing and have a coffee and chat on the side of the rink.

"It's really fun, it's very interactive and it's something different. Because it's so hot it's a nice way to cool down in summer and it's great for mums to get to know each other and chat."

The snow play sessions run on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11am-12.30pm.

It's a good idea to wear gloves and covered shoes. Find out more here.