Ice Cream in a Bag
Here is a super easy activity that the family can do together. It uses ingredients and materials that you probably already have around the house. It’s super fun to do! It gets kids to use gross motor skills, there is science involved and the end result is a yummy treat they get to eat…. ICE CREAM!!!!
Materials Needed:
Note- This makes a single serving of ice cream.
½ cup of milk
½ teaspoon of vanilla
1 ½ tablespoons of sugar
6 tablespoons of salt
Ice
Gallon sized Ziplock Bag (large size)
2 sandwich sized Ziplock bags (1 quart size)
How to make your ice cream:
Put the milk, vanilla and sugar in the sandwich sized baggie and zip it closed. Shake it to mix all the ingredients. I like to double bag the ingredients. Put this bag into another sandwich sized bag and zip it closed. Try not to leave a lot of air in the bags when you close them.
Take the ice and fill the gallon sized bag ½ - ¾ full of ice and pour salt all over the ice.
Put the smaller sized bag into the larger bag filled with ice and close it.
Now comes the fun part…shake the bag. Shake, shake, shake…You need to shake the bag for 10 minutes until the liquid starts to thicken. Take turns shaking the bag.
Once you are done the shaking and the liquid has thickened into ice cream (it will be a soft serve consistency) you can add sprinkles to it, if you like, and eat it. It’s best to eat it right after you make it. You can eat it right out of the bag or put it in a dish to eat.
Some tips to help with the making of the ice cream:
The bag can get very cold when you are shaking it. I sometimes put on gloves while doing the shaking. Another idea is to put your Ziplock bag in a plastic grocery bag and tie it closed. You can then shake the larger bag (the grocery bag) and it won’t be as cold, as you’re not touching the cold bag directly.
You can turn this into an ice cream shaking dance party by putting on some music and dancing around while you shake the bag together. 10 minutes can seem like a long time to a child, so the music helps pass the time quicker and gets everyone moving.
The Science Behind it…
The salted ice in the bag will start to melt and make a salt and water mixture. The salt lowers the freezing point of the water which allows it to get colder than the ice. The very cold mixture of the water and ice causes the liquid milk mixture to freeze and become a solid.
Have fun and Enjoy!!!!!!