Shouldn’t the ice cubes be more dense than the water because they’re the solid form of water?
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Most materials get denser when they turn from liquid to solid. In that way they’re kind of like a pile of lego bricks that you stick together to make one cube. The resulting cube is more dense than the pile of bricks because there’s less space between them when they’re together.
Water is different. It’s more akin to a pile of [kinect pieces](https://assets.fishersci.com/TFS-Assets/CCG/product-images/89790-6-Ft-Ferris-Wheel-Model_300dpi.jpg-650.jpg) that you stick together to make a tower since it forms [water crystals](https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2012/dhgerte.jpg) as it freezes. As a loose pile they can fit closer together, but as a crystal there is more empty space between them. Since it’s the same mass but more volume when frozen, ice is less dense than liquid water.
I could go on about why things less dense than water float, but that doesn’t seem to be the part you’re hung up on.
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