Welcome to our “It’s a Sweet Life – Candy Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to the oh-so-fun sweets and treats! After all, what better way to get them to keep learning than to pick something they LOVE – sugar and sweets!
For this day, we turned our attention to the creamy delight – ice cream! We dove a bit deeper into the history of ice cream and tried out some ice cream crafts and experiments! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on ice cream!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
Chances are, you and your little one(s) are already very familiar with ice cream 🙂 If not – or if you just want an ice cream fact refresher, check out the links below. They’re perfect for providing a brief intro for your little ones (or to gather up some knowledge as well!)!
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Make Your Own Ice Cream by SciShow Kids (4m)
- Why Does Ice Cream Hurt My Head? By SciShow Kids (4m)
- Who Invented Ice Cream? By Colossal Cranium (3m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
What would ice cream day be without some ice cream 🙂 BUT instead of just having some store bought ice cream, we tried our hand at the DIY Ice Cream experiments. Note: you may want to keep some store bought ice cream on hand – it’s quite a workout to get even a little bit of DIY ice cream! Note 2: alternatively, you may want to bring a fun twist to ice cream – astronaut ice cream – again, you may want to have some regular ice cream on hand as the astronaut one may not be the best testing 🙂 Fun Fact: we did learn about astronaut ice cream in our An Outstanding Out Of This World Space Week – Amazing Astronauts Day and it’s actually not eaten by astronauts in space!)
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- Curious About Ice Cream (Smithsonian) by Bonnie Bader
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: SUGAR, SWEETS, CANDY, ICE CREAM
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- What is your favorite ice cream? Describe the perfect way to enjoy this treat and the perfect day for enjoying it!
- Have you ever tried an ice cream cake? If you could create an ice cream cake out of any ice cream and candy decorations, what would it look like?
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning! Below are some of the crafts we looked at:
- Egg Carton Ice Cream Cone by In the Playroom
- Ice Cream Cones with Cupcake Wrappers: Cupcake Liner Ice Cream Cone by I Heart Crafty Things
- Easy How to Draw Ice Cream Tutorial by Art Projects for Kids
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest.
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Candy Week days, Sweets & Treats Ideas, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
