Learning Station - Ice Cream Scoop

The kiddos added scoops of ice cream to measure how tall they were.  When they were finished we counted each scoop to see how many scoops tall they were!

Learning Station - Ice Cream Cone Case Match

I thought I'd work the kiddos on matching upper and lower case letters again.  

Ii Week

Welcome to the week of the letter Ii!  I think all of us were excited to get to this week, because we all knew Ms. Sara would make her favorite treat...

Circle Time - Letter Ii - Per our routine, we learned the finger spelling for the letter Ii and used the feely bag to discover things that begin with our letter.  I had to get a little creative this week: iguana, insect (ant), icicle (silver pipe cleaner), ice cream, ink (bottle), and inch (measuring tape).

Tissue Paper Ice Cream Cone - The kiddos, knowing we were making ice cream after snack, were super excited about the flavors they were choosing for this ice cream cone.

Paper Ice cream Cones - With Sprinkles - I made this activity with my 3 year old class simply because the older class used up all the tissue paper in the morning.  Ha!  So I had to improvise.  The kiddos glued on their circle scoops, then added more glue for sprinkles.  Of course they needed to taste some too!


Making Ice Cream - The long awaited event!  The recipe for this yummy and easy homemade ice cream is posted next.  We measured the ingredients carefully into a baggie, then put that baggie and some ice and salt into a larger baggie and then shook it a ton!
Shake, shake, dance, shake, jump, shake some more ....

 Now eat it!  So yummy, but so cold!

Pumpkin Fairy - Look what was delivered on our porch!  Oh my, we ended up with ghost pumpkins this year!

Journal Time - Ii for Ice - We used our imaginations to pretend rock salt was ice and then we put it in our journals! 


Igloos -  We talked about Mr. Adam’s snow cave – how he built it, how it felt inside (warmer), what shape etc.  Then  I showed the kiddos a few pics of igloos and while we built we watched a few videos of folks building.

We also talked a little bit about the Inuit people, how they had no trees to build their houses with.  We also talked about keeping warm and what they ate...  



Ice Bread - Okay, not really.  We were just imagining!  Bread with blue (ice) sprinkles. 


Ice Skating Stick People - On Monday the kiddos drew a person on their stick, then we froze their feet in some ice.  They worked really well on the table, they zoomed all over the place!

Icy - Kool-Aid Pops - We decided if we were learning about ice, we should make some tasty ice!  Yum!

Digging - It's funny, the kiddos have really been enjoying digging and scooping the dirt back and forth between the flower pops from last week.

Initial Decorating - The kiddos decorated their initial with miscellaneous items from the craft bin.

In another class, the kiddos go to use the bingo paints

 
Science - Ice Melting - The kiddos were keen to get the ice melted.  We started by trying four methods in cups:  just ice, cold water and ice, hot water and ice and salty water and ice.

The hot water was fastest, then the ice water, then the salty water and finally just the ice. 

The kiddos enjoyed melting their own piece of ice while we waited for the experiment to work.  They tried sliding it on the table, in their hands, mouth and armpits.

 

A few asked for a bowl to shake it in.

We also put some colored ice into oil to see what it might do.  As the ice melted, colorful balls were created.  Cool.


Inventions - Ms. Sara pulled out the creation bin.  This bin is full of recyclables that lend themselves nicely to creating.  I wish you could hear their conversations as they were inventing, each part of their creation did something or became something.  So great!  I love to see their imaginations in full swing!

 This kiddo created the longest sword.

Learning Station - Ice Cream Scoops Tall

First we measured the kiddos and cut our paper long enough.  Then they set to work gluing and gluing scoops of ice cream until their stacked cone was as tall as they are!  Then we counted the scoops.  Our class is between 17 and 24 scoops tall!
Gluing...

Counting our scoops and look!  It's as tall as me!

 

Shaken Ice Cream!

This recipe is adjusted from Ben and Jerry's sweet cream recipe.

In a sandwich size zipper baggie:
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
1/4 cup whole milk
1/8 tsp. vanilla
1/8 cup sugar

Seal the baggie and massage it a bit to mix the sugar in.

In a quart size zipper baggie:
ice (about 1/3 of the baggie)
rock salt (about 1/2 cup)

Drop the ice cream baggie into the quart baggie and zip it shut.

Make sure both baggies were really zipped shut or you'll be so very sad!

Now:  Shake like crazy!  Pretty fast you'll have a single sized serving of yummy ice cream!

This recipe is delish with a squeeze of chocolate or carmel syrup before you start shaking.  You could also try fruit or chocolate bits.  Enjoy!

Learning Station - Ice Cream Count

The kiddos took turns rolling the die and then adding that many scoops onto their cone.  Once all the scoops were used, we compared the cones to see which one was taller.  Then we took them apart and played again.

Without this play set, you could do this activity with construction paper cone and ice cream scoops.