“Ice cream is happiness condensed.” ~Jessi Lane Adams
We found the ice cream and we ate it. Now it’s time to play in it.
I have been saving ice cream tubs for a loooong time. I even brought the little ones home from Japan…my mum thought I was nuts! But the smalls needed ice cream tubs!! And so she washed HERS out for me too, and I packed them home in my suitcase.
So when we got home from the ice cream adventure, we put together our very own ice cream play bin with things we had in the craft cupboard…
I presented it to the smalls with the tubs filled with pom poms that matched the flavour of the ice cream. This sparked their imaginations to start creating their own flavours of ice cream in the empty tubs. My favourite combination was put together by one of the boys…strawberry lemonade!! I think we will need to make some popsicles in that flavour in the near future!
The coloured rice is from our pony bin…you might recognize it!! We believe in recycling around here!
And there you have it! Simple and full of possibilities.
Scooping and pouring, creating new flavours, and making sundaes.
And the added bonus? They are learning valuable skills all the while…
Oops. This is what happens when you lean on the bin. Good thing she’s so darn cute! Hehehehe!
The smalls are still enjoying this bin every day, AND asking to go find the ice cream truck again…everyday! I think I’ve created some little ice cream monsters!! Maybe we need to do a veggie post soon?!
Thanks for stopping by!
~Arlee, Small Potatoes
Small Potatoes 
Oh my gosh! This is the cutest idea for a sensory bin I have ever seen! Your a woman after my own hear too. Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s 🙂
Thank you so much, Jen! Our accumulation of ice cream tubs was accelerated when my daughter had the chicken pox…it was the only thing that kept her mind off of the itch! I can’t blame her!
That is an awesome idea! I’m gonna start my collection soon…hehe…where do you get the pompoms, by the way?
Thank you!! I purchased the pompoms at Michaels craft store. They have big bags of the assorted sizes and colours!
My kids LOVE their ice cream bin. I did not however think to add colored rice as sprinkles or the actual containers. THANKS for the idea. Your daughter is absolutly BEAUTIFUL!!!
Thank Amy…and the wee girl in polkadots is not mine, although she IS beautiful!! I look after her during the day for her mama. 🙂
Oh, and can you give me a link to your bin if you have one? I’d love to see it!! And i’m sure others would too!
This bin is awesome, Arlee! I think we’ll be doing this in the fall when the Hooligans return. I’ve saved my coloured rice too. 🙂 And those little coloured cups look so familiar! lol
Thanks, Jackie!! Re-use, recycle, cuz this mumma’s cheap! Hehehehehehe!
Love all the colors and cute faces- frogs and snails and puppy dog tails
I love this!! Really fun idea I’ll be trying with my little girl very soon 🙂
Thank you! Enjoy!!
My five year old is obsessed with ice cream – when she was little I remember showing her for the first time that it came in many different flavours and she announced loudly in the ice cream shop that she wanted “PROPER just plain white ice cream please” lol
I love this idea…I feel my boy would eat the rice though :z At least when he eats glitter it makes potty training interesting 😀
Hehehehehe! That’s hilarious! Glitter!! Love it!
This is so amazing and clever!
Wow. Can I have one?! You can’t ever be too old for “ice cream” right?!
Never too old!! Never, ever!
your so creative! loving these ideas! i think ill wait till my little one is a litle bit older
Thank you!!! How old is your little one? I’m getting 2 babies in my care starting September, so there will be more baby play posts in the future!
she’s 2 & has way too many toys! im going to have to wait till shes maybe 3 or so theres another little one on the way so i dont want puffs in their mouth haha. & start thinning out some toys!
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I was looking for sensory bin ideas for my ice cream shop theme and found great ideas from your bin. The “spilled bin”photo looks like my home daycare on a daily basis after exploration LOLOL