We've enjoyed some gorgeous weather here recently, & when the sun shines nothing quite beats an ice cream! :) Minnie loves it, so I thought an ice cream stand (with the pretend variety) would make a perfect role play area for her.
We made up a batch of
playdough, & once cooled we split it into four & added food colouring to create the different flavours. Minnie asked for strawberry, chocolate, & mint, & I added vanilla. For the chocolate ice cream we rolled the playdough in cocoa powder & kneaded it into the dough. For the vanilla ice cream we simply added vanilla essence & no food colouring. We added mint essence to the green dough & strawberry to the pink coloured dough, & placed in four recycled shallow trays, perfect for mini ice cream containers.
To make the ice cream cones we used some recycled corrugated cardboard that I'd saved from a previous craft.
We simply stuck the card triangles together to make our ice cream cones.
To make the ice cream toppings we used coloured beads, mini foil shapes in a shaker, & small sticks from our garden made great chocolate flakes!
Our Ice Cream Stand was ready to go! We set up a table outside with a gingham cloth, a few different sized scoops, napkins, a cash till, money & Minnie was ready to serve her hungry customers!
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| Great for developing hand-eye co-ordination & fine motor skills |
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| Exploring size & shape with the different scoops |
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| Minnie discovered the scoops made great patterns in the playdough too |
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| Anyone fancy a 99? |
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| Adding a few sprinkles & a pea! |
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| Minnie had a little mix & added some glitter!! |
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Minnie added food bags to her play area so she could wrap the ice creams up before handing them out - genius!
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| Yummmm! Comparing size... which one to go for ? |
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| You can never have enough ice cream! ;-) |
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| An umbrella just adds that finishing touch! |
The ice cream stand has been great for encouraging sensory exploration, maths, imaginary play, language, creativity & colour recognition/mixing.
We've kept the ice cream stand up in the corner of our kitchen as a mini play area (which we can easily take outside too), & simply wrap the playdough in an airtight bag ready for play the next day.
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Oh, I just love this! My little Princess Pea is the 'ice-cream' at preschool (they use symbols on everything instead of names since they can't read yet). This would send her over the moon! Maybe we'll even set this up for her upcoming birthday party. Love, love, love!
ReplyDeleteSharing on my fb page now :-)
This is so wonderful. They look so delicious. I really can't wait for my little man to become interested in imaginative play. We are almost there :)
ReplyDeleteOh this is simply brilliant! Each time I visit your sites you have an absolutely delightful craft! I LOVE!!!!! And we will be doing it this coming summer too!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty :-)
Maggy x
Oh my goodness, I love it! And it's so totally something we would do in our home. We think in similar ways! Please link this up tomorrow! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous! One of the things I am looking to incorporate is more imaginative play experiences for my little guy! I can't wait to try this out!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! I am a new follower of your blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful imaginative play idea. I love the sprinkles and the cones.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! What fun!! It makes me want to play!
ReplyDeleteKerri
Thanks everyone, this play area has been a big hit in our house :)
ReplyDeleteHolly - welcome, great to see you here:)
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful activity...I am sure you had lots of fun creating this...they look so real :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a sweet idea! Love it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know I love this and now I've featured it as one of my favourites on It's Playtime (again!) thank you!
ReplyDeleteWoww so much fun!! Thanks for sharing..
ReplyDeleteI'll have a mint choc chip please. :) (lovely to see you at the Play Academy as always x)
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! Love it! :)
ReplyDeleteFeaturing this post in High paw. Hope to see you participate this week too! :)
Have mentioned this post today on our blog. Thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeletehttp://mrsm-adventuresplay.blogspot.com/2011/06/ice-cream-parlour-play.html
Another Great dramatic Play setup!
ReplyDeleteJada roo can do
What a cute idea! I would like to have an ice cream party for one of my kids. I will have to remember this. What fun!
ReplyDeletehttp://btanders.blogspot.com
WOOOHOOOO! I'm featuring YOU tonight at Sun Scholars! Stop by and grab your A++ button. Thanks for linking up at For the Kids Fridays!
ReplyDeleteThis is just so FUN! What a fantastic play idea!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWoud love for you to link up to my weekly child centered linky party - the Sunday Showcase
http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-showcase-child-centered-linky.html
Bernadette
Thanks for the inspiration! http://littlepageturners.blogspot.com/2011/07/ice-cream-birthday.html
ReplyDelete