Ice Cream Science and Relay Game for Kids!

Ice Cream Tasting Experiment for Kids – Ice Cream Tasting Experiment

Materials needed:  Assorted flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sherbet, individual spoons for tasting, small cups, crayons or markers, a handkerchief or scarf (to use as a blindfold), and one recording sheet per child (linked in blue above).

Print the recording sheet above for each of your children.  One at a time, blindfold the children (*please note that some children do not like the blindfold – it is just fine to have the children close their eyes). Give the children a taste from one flavor of ice cream at a time.  After each taste test, hide the flavor of ice cream that was tried to see if the children can identify the FLAVOR by taste alone.  Help the children fill out the recording sheet questions for each flavor of ice cream available for the taste experiment.  *Please be aware of any food allergies the children may have when making choices to use dairy products or flavors in the classroom.

Ice Cream Relay for Kids

Materials needed:  Play cones (we purchased ours at the dollar store), brown paper wrapping (parcel wrap, brown construction paper, or grocery sacks), large buckets or bins, and assorted sizes of balls.

To prepare for the game:  Invert the playground cones and wrap in brown paper (to resemble an ice cream cone).  You will need one cone for every 5-6 children (to avoid long wait times).

Divide the children into teams or have smaller groups of children line-up single file.   The balls should be put inside a bucket/bin (one bucket of balls for each team) and placed some distance in front of each of the teams.  Each member of the team, one at a time, must take the cone, run to the bucket, and then choose a ball.  The child must then put the ball on their cone and run back to the next child to hand it off.  If the ball is dropped, the child must pick it up and continue on toward their team.  The next player in line must run the ball back to the bucket and return with the empty cone to the next child in line.  The play continues until each child has had a turn.  For a competitive game, the first team to complete the relay first is the winner.  For a cooperative game, the game ends when each child has had a turn or the children lose interest in playing.

Our kids LOVE the ice cream relay.  We’ve done the relay with water balloons, large balls, small balls, heavy balls, light balls, etc.  *Note – smaller balls are easier for very young children as they will fit inside the opening of the cone.

We hope your kids enjoy playing and learning with us this summer! For more fun ideas see our Preschool and Kindergarten Themes for Active Learning and Play!