Since 1984, July has been celebrated as National Ice Cream Month, with the third Sunday in July known as National Ice Cream Day. With long, warm summer days, and the kids out of school, what better way to amuse ourselves than with ice cream. Today's website picks include recipes, a peek at ice cream's history, and even a few educational games thrown in for good measure.
Although written for teachers, anyone with kids will enjoy the resources included in ABCTeach's Ice Creme Theme Unit. My favorites are the printable coloring pages, the ice cream cone dot-to-dot, the melting ice cream science experiment, and the "What's Your Favorite Ice Cream" survey form. There are a few additional resources for paid members, but most (including all I listed here) are freely available.
"The first step toward giving us the kind of ice cream we enjoy today was made by Nancy Johnson (USA) who invented the hand-crank freezer (1846)." When your thoughts turn to ice cream, this site has it all: hundreds of recipes, pictures, videos, an ice cream blog, interesting facts, FAQs, ice cream vocabulary, and history. Perusing the site, I learned that vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor, and found a kids' vanilla ice cream recipe, which is simpler and faster to make than the "grownup" version.
"I'll have an ice cream with the following: 9/4 chocolate, 5/3 vanilla, 9/4 coffee." Help Clara in her ice cream shop by making ice cream cones according to the orders. To complete each order, you will need to convert fractions into mixed numbers, correctly calculate the bill, and create the cone. You'll earn money for each correctly filled order, but make a mistake and it will cost you some earnings!
From Arthur at PBSKids, "Scoop is an ice cream game of memory, skill, and chocolate sprinkles." As each customer enters the ice cream shop, help Buster select an ice cream by clicking on his thought bubble. When the customer places an order, you will need to memorize the recipe, as it will disappear as soon click "Build It Below." With each satisfied customer, you'll earn tips.
"Although the exact origins of ice cream have been lost in history, there are many fascinating legends and myths which surround it." This page is chock full of interesting facts about the history of frozen desserts, along with links to additional pages about the history of ice cream cones, ice cream sundaes, and baked Alaska. "Before the invention of the cone, ice cream was either licked out of a small glass (a penny lick, penny cone, penny sucker, or licking glasses) or taken away wrapped in paper which was called a 'hokey pokey.'"
Buy Ice Cream Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Ben & Jerry's: Fun StuffDLTK: National Ice Cream Month | Doc Wilson's Ice CreamNestle: Kids Ice Cream |
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