On Tuesday I wrote about how my family has been affected living in the epicenter of the American coronavirus outbreak and I plan to continue writing about our experiences in the coming days. Late last night, though, we got word that every school in my kids’ district is closing- and we will be participating in at-home, mobile learning for up to 14 days.
Needless to say, I’m scrambling for ways to make it work having my kindergartner, 3rd and 5th graders home while I also need to work. One of the things I’m doing is digging up some of our favorite quiet time play activities and this one quickly came to mind.
Whether you can use it for corona-schooling (as one of my neighbors puts it) or just spring break. I thought I’d share it again today so you’d all have it too. Enjoy!
I’m so very excited to FINALLY get to share this post with you guys! We are partnering with our new sponsor, Delta Faucet, and their amazing #HappiMess project to bring you one of my favorite kids’ sensory activities of all time!
As part of this project, Delta Faucet has asked us to create two new “messipes”, one which we are unveiling today and one that will be available via take-home “messipe cards” displayed in show rooms nation-wide. (How awesome is that?!) So keep your eye out for them and send me a pic via facebook, instagram, or twitter if you see one!
And what exactly is a “messipe” you ask?
Delta Faucet thinks that mess is the evidence of a life well lived and means you were out there making, creating, doing and playing. (Um yes – we totally agree.)
So they are using these messy craft and activity ideas to help us all embrace the #HappiMess movement. Whether you’re getting your hands dirty in the kitchen or mixing together a mud mask, we want you to embrace your messy moment.
Now, without further ado, here’s Kristin with a messipe I just know your little ones are going to totally flip for…
Playdough is a childhood favorite for a good reason. All that squishing, squeezing, rolling and molding is a completely engrossing tactile experience for a kid.
You’ve seen playdough kits where kids can make the dough into different types of shapes, animals or foods. But what about changing up the dough itself right along with the tools used to play with it?
What about making a dough that’s similar to ice cream and letting them go to town with cones and sprinkles?
A dough that smells like ice cream, scoops like ice cream and even tastes a lot like ice cream but DOESN’T MELT like ice cream… Sounds like the best thing ever!
If you have little ones, I bet you can already visualize how excited they’d be about having free rein with this activity.
We’ve created a recipe that doesn’t need to be frozen (some of the common ice cream doughs are frozen). This recipe only requires 3 ingredients and can be made with your mixer.
The dough is also safe to be eaten. We wouldn’t recommend consuming a whole cone but totally understand that it’s such a temptation to sneak a bite while playing with this sweet stuff so we made it 100% edible.
You’ll need a jar of whipped frosting. This is different from regular canned frosting because there’s more air in the frosting, making it easier to be turned into ice cream dough.
You’ll also need coconut oil and powdered sugar.
I tried making the dough with my dough hook in the kitchen aid mixer and found that I liked the paddle attachment better. I’m sure this would also work with a traditional hand mixer.
Ice Cream Dough
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whipped frosting
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 3/4 cup powdered sugar
To Make
Mix the frosting and the coconut oil until smooth. You don’t want melted coconut oil, you want it to be more of a solid form.
It’s hard to measure frosting, so that’s where the wiggle-room comes into play – just keep adding a little oil at a time until it’s completely combined (no lumps).
Slowly and carefully start adding the powdered sugar. You may find that you need to add a little more or less to get to ice cream consistency.
To Play
Try making a few different flavors and scoop the various the ice cream doughs into a bowls.
We bought some cones and a few different sprinkles, so my daughter and her friends would be able to pretend play ice cream shop.
From waffle cone bowls to cherries and whipped cream – you could really go as crazy as you want here.
The girls played with the dough for over an hour.
Even though the dough is sugary, I didn’t seem them eating too much of it but I’d still reserve this activity for special occasions – especially for littler ones.
Trust us, they’ll think this is such an AMAZING thing to get to do you’ll want to save it’s debut for a birthday or to celebrate a big achievement.
Even my bigger girls really enjoyed the experience of scooping and mixing flavors. They took turns taking orders and making creations for each other.
In fact, they had so much fun, this was the after-math!
I laid down a sheet of kraft paper on the table before we started and it ended up being a great idea.
Notice how there was no melting, even after an hour?
That meant no soupy, sticky, messy cleanup. I was able to quickly scoop up all the sprinkles and left-over dough and take a quick trip to the trash can and I was done!
This really is a super fun activity that makes both little kids and big kids giddy to get to dig into. We hope you’ll try it the next time you’re looking to make a day extra special.
And thanks again to our sponsor Delta Faucet for including us in their #HappiMess revolution!
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Kristin