You could say that at about
4 degrees celsius clumps of water molecules start forming
crystalline structures, which cause the water to increase its volume (
expand), but when it actually
freezes it
shrinks as it creates larger, better fitting crystalline structures.
It's the expansion at 4C which makes your containers burst, not the freezing of the water (at 0C).
Incidently, if water is not allowed to expand to
rearrange itself, it stays in a
semi-liquid state. When the container bursts (depending on the conditions) the water may freeze
midflight. You might notice this as
upward juts of ice in your icecubes (when the outside of the ice freezes very quickly, before the inner water expands).