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Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles

March 30, 2015 By Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed. Leave a Comment

Today, I’m so excited to welcome Tina from Simple Fun for Kids as our guest blogger! Her website is AMAZING and she’s so full of great ideas! She’ll be sharing her recipe for Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles! It’s so beautiful! Without further ado…

HI! I’m so excited to be sharing this fun sensory activity on eLeMeNO-P Kids today!

Have you seen Erica’s own version of Ice Cream Dough? It looks super awesome, and I totally want to try it some time soon!

The recipe we used was completely different, though. Try them both and see which one you prefer!

When we played with ice cream dough with sprinkles this time, it had been almost 2 years since the first and only time we’d tried it. This time, I threw in real sprinkles – E thought it was the best idea ever 🙂 I found it was really interesting to see the difference {and similarities!} between how E used the dough at 2 and at 4 years old.

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

The “classic” ice cream dough recipe from Play Create Explore calls for conditioner and cornstarch but when we experimented last time, we found out that shampoo and body wash work just as well.

We didn’t have any extra conditioner around the house, but due to airline regulations, international visitors like to leave shampoo and body wash behind when they go home. We can’t really use them for their intended purpose, so I broke out the stash to turn them into ice cream dough.

Materials for Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles

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  • Cornstarch
  • Conditioner or shampoo or body wash {You can even mix and match if you don’t have enough of one type.}
  • Sprinkles {If you don’t want to use real sprinkles, you could use colored rice as a replacement that’s just as much fun.}
  • Cocoa powder (optional)
  • Assorted tools, bowls, etc.

As usual, I didn’t measure, just roughly aimed for having two parts cornstarch and one part shampoo. I always underestimate the amount of the wet ingredient I need, so I ended up adding a bit of body wash when there wasn’t enough shampoo left.

When you try this recipe, be aware that there’s what I call the “OMG, this is wayyyyy too sticky, I must’ve done something wrong!!!” phase. It actually means that you have the proportions right, and you just need to keep kneading it for another minute or so to have the ice cream dough come together.

I added some cocoa powder to half of the batch and left the other half as it was.

E was super excited at this point, so I quickly put out a few bowls for her and got three kinds of sprinkles I hadn’t been able to use in baking. In the meantime, she ran to get some of her play dough tools, and then she dove into the ice cream dough.

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

There was a lot of poking, squishing, cutting and rolling.

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

We quickly noticed that the colors of the sprinkles bled into the ice cream dough for an interesting effect.

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

E made the most delicious looking creations.

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

An oblong sprinkle became a birthday candle at one point – you just have to work with what you have 🙂

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

While playing, she noticed that she had finally figured out to make her own snakes, and she proceeded to make a LOT of them 🙂

Sensory Activities for Kids: Homemade Ice Cream Dough with Sprinkles!

E played over an hour that afternoon. We kept the ice cream dough around for about a week {that’s when it turned moldy}, and she played with it every day. So once again, just like when she was 2, it was a huge success!

Sensory dough that looks and feels just like ice cream! Check out this awesome recipe! #SensoryPlay

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Hi, I’m Tina! I have a baby and a preschooler, and I blog at Simple Fun for Kids (http://www.simplefunforkids.com) where I share simple ideas for crafts, sensory, science and art activities for preschoolers, toddlers and babies. We’re from Germany but currently live in Texas. Come on over to get to know my kids, my blog and me better!

Have you made ice cream dough before? What’s your favorite recipe?

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Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed. has been working and teaching in the field of early childhood education for over 7 years. Erica is currently the director and teacher at a Preschool Enrichment Program in her area. Erica believes that young children learn best through play and exploration, and she is constantly looking for new and creative ways to incorporate learning through play. She embraces this belief in all of the activities she creates in her preschool classroom, and loves sharing them here on her blog. Erica has also co-authored the book, "Learn With Play" with other kid bloggers in the preschool field.
Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

@@elemenopkids

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.
Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

+Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

Erica Leggiero, M.S. Ed.

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Filed Under: Fine Motor, Sensory Play, Summer Tagged With: hands-on play, Ice Cream

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