Kids’ Activity: Make Your Own Ice Cream

My boys and I had so much fun with this! We’re in Australia so instead of ‘half and half’ we used half cream, half full cream milk… and it worked well. The only thing was we were a bit vigorous with the shaking and the inside baggie broke, resulting in a still delicious albeit slightly salty ice cream! Thanks for the activity idea!

tried this today, did not work. shook it for half hour adding salt and more ice. still did not work.

“hopelessly uncrafty” will now feature on all my biographies.

Love this! I remember making butter in an elementary class as well by shaking a jar and passing it around in a circle. It was so much fun!

Something similar to this: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-butter-in-a-jar/

(not my website)

I love that you’re finding simple hands-on activities that are fun for the family!

I learned how to do this in school as a kid using a coffee can! We put a smaller container with the mixture inside the coffee can and put the ice and salt around it. Then you just roll the coffee can.

I remember doing this as a kid, and our salty ice water leaked into our ice cream bag, causing the ice cream to taste super salty!

Oh that is so cool. We have an ice cream maker (by Dash) and I love it. But it’s fun to find out about new, fun, and even simple ways to make it. Related, I found out a way to make whipped cream. You take a mason jar and put the heavy cream in with a few frozen marbles and shake for a while. It’s the most fun passing it around for turns to shake it. The whipped cream wasn’t as thick but there was something fresh about it that is lost with the beaters or hand blender wisk.

You know, crafts can be fun, but lots of other activities are just as great—and doing things you dislike doing rarely turns out to be fun for your kids. And not all kids enjoy doing crafts either! So keep on being yourselves, all you parents out there in this strange time, and just keep connecting with your kids in whatever way works for you!

When I was a kid I LOVED watching Zoom on PBS (the 90s/00s version – it was based on a 70s series). They’d do games and crafts and recipes, including making homemade ice cream similar to this way. It looks like the videos are sporadically available on YouTube now – highly recommend! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCik_Rf2BCZJblalNr89ImFw (if the link doesn’t work – try searching for the channel “ZOOMTube”)

We make vegan ice cream all summer long. 1 cup Almond milk, 1/2 cup quality cocoa powder, 1 tbsp vanilla, mix and add to silicon muffin trays. Freeze for an hour or so and add tongue depressors. Let freeze over night. Pop’em out to eat.

We used to do this in girl scout camp. If you double bag the ice cream then fill a coffee can with salt and ice you can roll it back and forth to each other.

Yummy!

I’m in the UK and they don’t seek half and half, so how do you recreate it?

As to the non crafty comment – preach! My children’s nursery has been amazing, putting together a craft pack that they could do while in isolation, but between two kids, household and working full time from home, the project hasn’t really happened. I feel even more bummed when the other mothers post pictures of their kids’ (beautiful) finished results. What we have done is baked muffins for breakfast and they’ve made “trains” out of their toys, but crafty stuff isn’t happening. Especially since we’ve run out of glue and deliveries are delayed

My sister had this recipe back in 1997 for the elderly at the nursing home for an activity. I was great then. We lost the recipe for it so when I saw this the bells went off. This is great and I now have it in MY cookbook.

I love this idea! Unrelated to ice-cream making, but related to keeping little ones busy during the quarantine – my sister opened a new Etsy store featuring beautiful collage making kits for both adults and kids – thought I would share!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtKitStudio

Your statement that the crafty things on the internet aren’t in your wheelhouse, and the implicit statement that that means you just pass them by, made such a weight lift off my shoulders.

It was somehow a revelation to me that it’s okay to say that’s not for me, so let’s do something else.

This is great!! I would love any more ideas anyone has for kids’ crafts and/or projects for UNcrafty parents! Maybe a separate post?

Here’s a fun-looking one for preschoolers, which I ran across this morning: https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/slide-shows/bean-sprouts

Do we know what kind of sprinkles these are? I love the colors of those pictured!

I made this in high school more than 20 years ago. But instead of bags we used a baby jar and put that in a coffee can w ice then we shook and rolled them back an forth.

We’re making it right now and I hope it turns out because this would be my new favorite dessert if it does!

Stephanie

What a wonderful idea!
FWIW, years ago we inherited a home ice cream maker from a friend and making ice cream became one of our favorite fun things to do. It’s like alchemy- you put the ingredients in and watch them whirl around, then magically there is the ice cream! I encourage anyone with kids, or teens, or adults, or really just anyone who loves ice cream, to consider getting one. They are fun and easy to use, and the ice cream is delicious.

This looks so fun! Can’t wait to try! I made a short Yoga for Kids video the other day for anyone looking for another activity for their children. Hope everyone is well. Sending love to the entire Cup of Jo community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfRM62LMvCg&t=21s

You just made my 3yo’s day. He was begging to make ice cream this morning, as one does. It’s like he knew ☺️

Hello there
You can have a lovely treat by using instant pudding, any flavor and milk in a baggie.
They can use their hands to mix it back and forth by squeezing the bag. You just made pudding!!!

I saw someone already mentioned it, but make your own butter! I use an electric whisk so it doesn’t take forever, but I’m sure there are plenty of alternatives. Make some easy scones or your favorite bread, your homemade butter and some salt on top.. mmmmmm delicious!