How to Make Ice Cream in 4 Easy Steps

Happy Sunday! My view this morning overlooks the lake and I am happily writing my to-do list of blog posts and TpT resources to work on this summer.  Before I start this post, I want to remind everyone about my little giveaway going on over at iTeachSecond.  Today is the last day to enter so click on the picture to find out more!

Now, on to the purpose of this post - ice cream! Have you ever had one of those times when you just didn't want to do a big activity, but decided to anyway - and it was really worth it? That's what happened on day "I" of our end-of-year ABC countdown. I did not originally plan to make ice cream in the classroom.  First of all, it was about 100 degrees all week that week and while EATING ice cream sounded good, MAKING it just seemed like too much work.  I'm really glad I changed my mind, though... it was super easy and really fun (and maybe a little mess, too!)

I started by asking my kiddos how they thought ice cream was made.  What are the ingredients? What do you do with them?  We then read a great book from Reading A-Z on making ice cream and compared our ideas to the real thing.  We wrote a quick 4-step summary , which would serve as our plan sheet for writing later that afternoon. Gail Gibbons also has a great book about how ice cream is made. We read that one before we started our own ice cream making project.

Making the ice cream was easy! First we laid out the ingredients.

 We had one table set up to put together the big bag with the ice and the salt

 And another table for the smaller bag with the half-and-half, sugar and vanilla.

I had my kiddos work in partners - one person did the big bag, the other did the small bag, then they switched and did it again so everyone had their own ice cream making bags.

Then the fun began! Put the smaller bag inside the bigger bag - make sure it is covered with the ice  and SEALED TIGHTLY. 

 

Then start shaking!

It took about 5 minutes for my most exuberant shakers to have ice cream - and once everyone else saw it, they started working even harder! The ice cream was delicious!

After we cleaned up, we used our how-to summary from the morning to write an informational piece on how to make ice cream. I stapled a copy of the recipe to their writing and sent it home for them to try.  Two of my students have already done it at home with great success!

You can download the recipe I used, along with the planning sheet and writing paper by clicking on the image below.

Making ice cream is a great activity for the end of the year, or during the summer. Have you ever made ice cream with your kiddos?