An Ice Cream Tasting Activity Your Kids Will Love

Need something to do this weekend? I have one ice cream tasting activity that your kids will love. If I had a dollar for every time my kids said “I’m bored,” then I probably would have a couple of thousand dollars right now. Occasionally I like to throw a random activity their way, and occasionally that activity actually goes over well. This past weekend we did an ice cream tasting activity. The girls loved it, and we all got to eat ice cream. Overall, I’d say it was pretty successful.

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Why An Ice Cream Tasting?

Ummm, why not?! Everyone loves ice cream. When you’re stuck inside for the weekend and your kids are bored, I can almost guarantee that they’ll instantly perk up when you say “ice cream.” When I first got the idea to do an ice cream tasting with my girls, I told them my thoughts. They instantly were excited, and they wanted to know more details. Fast forward a day, and they were asking me when we were going to do the ice cream tasting. They were excited and so was I.

The day of the ice cream tasting they were all excited and ready to go. Now, yes, they were excited because they got to eat some sweet treats. But what they didn’t know was that I had planned this ice cream tasting for other reasons, too. My oldest daughter is a picky eater. So much so that she’s soon to be evaluated for a Sensory Processing Disorder and hopefully treated with eating therapy. My main goal with the ice cream tasting was to have fun. But I also wanted to teach my girls a few fundamental things about eating foods.

By having an ice cream tasting, you’re teaching your children several skills. One, they are learning to describe food through words other than “eww, I don’t like that.” For our tasting I made 4 cards for each girl. On each card we’re descriptive phrases such as “Best Overall,” “Best Mix of Textures and “Creamiest.” My girls didn’t just get to eat ice cream. They had to talk about the ice cream with me, too.

Get a Bunch of Ice Cream

When my girls saw how much ice cream I had bought they said I had lost my mind. For this activity, I suggest having at least four different types of ice cream on hand. You’ll definitely want to pick some familiar flavors, and then some flavors that your kids don’t eat often. The goal is to get your kids to explore flavors and textures while also having fun. I chose four flavors from Harris Teeter’s All Natural Line: Bits-O-Cookie, Mint Chocolate Chip, Southern Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel.

In addition to ice cream, you’re also going to need to make some voting cards. I took a piece of construction paper and made the cards out of that. You’ll also plastic cups. I used 8, 4 for each girl. On the bottom of the cups I labeled the type of ice cream that would be going into the cup.

Enjoy Your Ice Cream Tasting & Talk About It

Parents, you can definitely take part in the ice cream tasting. How boring would that be if you had to sit back and watch your kids eat ice cream while you got absolutely none?! If you participate, you’ll also be able to reaffirm what your kids are saying about the different things they tasted. When you all are done eating, have your kids vote according to the descriptions on the cards.

Once your kids have voted, talk about the results of the tasting. Which ice cream was liked the most? Which was liked the least? My girls did not like the Salted Caramel. But they did try without any fuss, which doesn’t happen often in our house. They learned what “texture” meant in regards to food. Most of all, they had fun! In case you’re wondering, both girls voted Mint Chocolate Chip “Best Overall.”

When Fun Meets Learning

I hope you all have fun with this ice cream tasting activity. Take this opportunity to introduce your kids to food terms that they might not otherwise use. You can also use this moment as a teaching moment with your pickiest kids. We always tell our oldest, “If you try it and you don’t like it that’s okay. But if you don’t try it at all, you’ll never know!” An activity like this also teaches critical thinking skills. Your kids will have to put several ideas together to come to a conclusion. My girls are super indecisive, so it was fun to watch them come to conclusions on their own.

What other fun indoor activities do you like to do with your children? Let me know in the comments below!

-Meg

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