Ready to bring some cool, imaginative play to your summer days? An ice cream water table is just the thing to keep the kids entertained and excited.
This activity combines the convenience of a water table with a pretend ice cream shop, allowing kids to scoop, mix, and serve their own “ice cream” creations.
Why You’ll Love This Activity
You’ll love this ice cream water table activity because it’s incredibly engaging and easy to set up. It encourages imaginative play, fine motor skills, and sensory exploration all in one.
Kids will have a blast pretending to be ice cream vendors, making and serving their own colorful “ice cream” concoctions.
Plus, it’s a great way to cool off and enjoy the summer weather while indulging in some pretend play. And cleaning up is part of the fun!
Materials Needed for Ice Cream Water Table
- Water table
- Shaving cream
- Washable paint
- Sidewalk chalk
- Bowls
- Toy ice cream cones
- Toy ice cream scooper
- Rock or hammer (for smashing chalk into small pieces for the sprinkles)
How to Set Up Ice Cream Water Table
- Make the Ice Cream Base: Fill the table with three or four piles of shaving cream. Add a few drops of washable kids paint to the shaving cream and mix until the paint is completed mixed in. Choose colors that are complementary so that when the colors get mixed up they don’t create a gray or brown color. You can make different colors to represent different flavors.
- Create the Sprinkles: Use a rock or hammer to smash sidewalk chalk into small pieces. These will be your sprinkles. Place the crushed chalk in a separate bowl for easy access.
- Set Up the Station: Arrange the bowls, the toy ice cream cones, and the toy scooper around the water table. Place the bowl of chalk sprinkles within reach, so kids can easily add them to their creations.
- Let the Fun Begin: Show the kids how to scoop the shaving cream “ice cream” into the toy cones and decorate with the chalk sprinkles. Encourage them to mix colors and come up with their own unique ice cream combinations.
After Play
When they are done playing add water to the water table invite them to wash off all the dishes to create a shaving cream soup.
This ice cream water table setup was a total hit with my kids! I love how it combined sensory play and imaginative fun.
It was a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon, and cleanup is a breeze with all washable materials.
So gather your supplies and get ready for a splashy, creamy, colorful adventure!
My Activity Books for Kids
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
