Ice Cream Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Toward the beginning of the summer, a close friend of mine decided to start a summer reading program with her kiddos and came up with a different, fun, play theme for each week. We loved the idea and decided to join in the fun! The first theme of the summer was ICE CREAM- how could we resist? I’m only just now getting our activities up because it all happened pretty quickly and to be honest, I couldn’t quite get my act together fast enough. ;) I shared many of these activities on my social media platforms but just never got around to putting them all together here, until now that is. ;)
With each theme, we gathered up some books and got to color in a star for each themed book we read (find the free printable here). We almost always checked with our local library before purchasing any new books (of course unless we already owned enough from that theme). There were a few books here and there that I knew I just wanted to own so I went ahead and bought a few- always worth it! Here are some of the ice cream-themed books that we read and loved for this theme:
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Should I Share My Ice Cream?
Ice Cream Soup
Splat the Cat I Scream for Ice Cream
Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise
One of our favorite ways to learn and play with these summer reading themes was with learning activities in our learning journal. You can check out our other themed journal activity posts here:
4th of July-Themed Journal Activities
Zoo-Themed Journal Activities
Ocean-Themed Journal Activities
Watermelon-Themed Journal Activities
Dinosaur-Themed Journal Activities
For more information about learning journals and how to start one, check out this post!
And now here are the ice cream-themed journal activities:
We love to use our journal for pre-writing activities! The slanted lines used to write this “v” shape are the same lines that are used to write the letters “v,” “w,” “x,” and “y.” Being able to write/draw straight lines developmentally comes first, and then slanted lines follow closely behind. I drew dashed lines in the shape of v’s to look like ice cream cones and drew colorful ice cream scoops on top. Kade (4) used a marker to trace over each cone working on those slanted lines.
Here is a great way to introduce simple addition! When we did this journal activity, I was able to talk to Kade about the plus sign and what it means. We talked about how he is taking two numbers and adding them together to see how many it makes all together. We used different colored pom poms to represent ice cream scoops and added one color at a time. I color coded the addition problems and set out the coordinating colored poms. For the first problem, “3+2,” I wrote the “3” in orange and the “2” in purple. Kade added 3 orange pom poms and 2 purple pom poms to that ice cream cone, then counted them all up and told me how many scoops it had all together.
This activity focuses on the letters in your kiddo’s name. In advance, I wrote the letters of Kade’s name out on dot stickers. He had to then place the stickers with the matching letters on top of the correct ice cream cones. You could do this with matching colors (make each cone a different color), matching shapes, uppercase/lowercase letters, or write numbers on each cone and have kiddos place the coordinating number of dot stickers above each cone. Dot stickers are a MUST for an active learning journal- your options are endless!
The excitement level for this page was through the roof thanks to the sprinkles. What is it about sprinkles to a kid that makes anything and everything so much more magical?! Just kidding, I actually totally get it and kind of feel the same way. Each of these little ice cream cones had a scoop of ice cream with a different number of sprinkles. Kade counted them up, found the right number, and placed it on the cone. We used magnetic numbers for this activity but you could use dot stickers with numbers written on them in advance, number stickers, or even small post-it notes!
This activity works on differentiating between uppercase and lowercase “I" for ICE CREAM! I included a color code (which Kade always thinks is super cool because “codes” just automatically make you feel like you’re on a secret mission I guess) and Kade covered the uppercase and lowercase letters accordingly using colored bingo chips. We use these little chips like crazy for journaling, too- they are perfect! You could also cover with pom poms, dot stickers, buttons, or do-a-dot markers.
Another color code! This time we were working on differentiating between lowercase “a” and lowercase “e.” Kade has both in his name and tends to get the two mixed up so I tailored this activity specifically for him. You could do any two letters (or numbers, or shapes), or even do more than two and just add more colors to the code. We used do-a-dot markers for ice cream scoops this time.
We did quite a few of those learning journal activities in the morning when Tatum (2) was around and she always likes to be a part of whatever big brother is doing. I did not have an official journal for her yet at the time (we do now), so I created a couple simple activities for her to do at the table with us. She used large dot stickers to match colors (with my help) onto her colorful cones. This was a very easy set-up and great way to practice identifying and naming colors, while also working on matching, and fine motor skills (peeling the stickers and placing them on a designated circle).
To access my digital learning journal guides with all my learning journal activity ideas organized by age group, check out my Digital Learning Journal Membership!
A "learning journal" is a blank sketchbook that is used to hand draw & personalize learning activities for your child based on different developmental skills. This membership makes your learning journal experience a breeze by providing you with a digital toddler, preschool, kindergarten, & early elementary aged journal activity guide. The 4 guides are organized by developmentally appropriate, seasonal & non-seasonal activities, & are frequently updated with new ideas.
Here is another simple activity I set up for Tatum (2) to do while I did active learning journal pages with Kade (4). We worked on counting from 1-3 but you could go as high as you want. I had her using do-a-dot markers to add the correct number of dots or “sprinkles” to each cone. She needed quite a bit of support and was dying to just dot that thing all over her paper. Once we did the counting together, I let her just go to town with the do-a-dot marker and she was loving it.
Here’s another fun way to work on color sorting while also incorporating a little bit of sensory play and fine motor development! We are big pom pom fans over here so we use them ALL THE TIME. To prep this activity, I put some large pom poms on a tray along with matching colored silicone cupcake liners (also a favorite of ours), and a couple scoops.
Tatum (2) worked on scooping and transferring the pom poms into the matching colored cupcake liners. Kade (4) naturally wanted to join in and play as well- we ended up keeping this out for awhile that week because they kept wanting to come back to play more!
We busted out our colored rice and some mini pom poms for this activity and created a sweet little ice cream sensory bin! I added some little bowls, spoons, scoops, and some random cone shapes for “ice cream cones.” I can’t find these silicone cone toys on Amazon that we have and used in this bin but I did find this set which would be PERFECT for this activity! Sensory bins are great for creative, open-ended play. It was so fun to watch both kids using their imaginations to make different kinds of ice cream and then pretend to eat and serve it to each other (and me).
I shared how we made this rainbow rice (which we’ve had for a couple of years now) in this post! It is truly a must for sensory play- so fun, colorful, and soothing to play with!
Just so obsessed with how these little art projects turned out and the kids had so much fun creating them! We made the puffy paint with equal parts shaving cream and liquid glue, and then added food coloring to each batch. I made the cones out of cardboard by cutting triangle shapes and then drawing on them with a black sharpie. I used double-sided tape to attach the cones to a piece of black card stock paper and the kiddos went to town with the puffy paint ice cream scoops.
Tatum’s ended up turning out more like melted ice cream but she was LOVING the process and in my opinion, it’s more realistic this way. ;) When they finished painting their ice cream scoops, before the puffy paint started to dry, I gave them a bowl of colorful sprinkles to decorate their scoops. This was the perfect finishing touch!
Finally, to conclude our ice cream week, we took a “field trip” to an ice cream shop when we visited Mimi & Pop pop. Such a great way to celebrate and kick-off the start (or end) of summer!
If you enjoyed these ice cream themed activities, be sure to check out our other themed activity posts here:
4th of July Activities
Zoo Activities
Ocean Activities
Watermelon Activities
Dinosaur Activities
Bug Activities
Frog Activities
Apple Activities
And don’t forget to pin some of these activities or tag us on social media if you try them out!
