While outside the preschoolers often seemed to enjoy eating the fresh snow on the ground, and sometimes pretending the handful of snow was ice cream. Often, the children are seen selling their ice cream to their peers, mixing and making various flavours while on the playground. What better way to follow this interest than creating our very own ice cream shop in the classroom! The children took on roles such as customers, ice cream maker, ice cream scooper and even someone to wash all of the bowls and spoons when we were done. We took their interest even further by making our very own sweet treat, vanilla ice cream. The children helped pour, mix, measure, all while voting on their favourite ice cream flavours and toppings.
Through experiences like these the children develop social skills by turn taking and communicating through their play with peers, and expand language using new vocabulary (mixer, loaf pan, condensed milk) as we followed a recipe. We explored early math and science concepts like counting as we added in ingredients, measuring the items before pouring into the bowl, and noticing how the texture of the ingredients changed the longer we used the mixer.
We hope to continue to extend and offer more learning opportunities following this interest. Maybe following a recipe to create a different flavour of ice-cream, trying a new or different recipe, or maybe even trying some with toppings like sprinkles, fruit, or chocolate sauce!
