Explore and Observe : Freezing!

We made ice cream today as part of Christian's lessons. We have been working on our senses (sight, smell, sound, feel, and taste) this week and this tied in well to those. It also worked for us because Christian thinks that when you put things in the freezer, they melt. So our "bag freezer" is going to help him see what happens to liquids in the freezer first hand and the difference between frozen and melted. Anyway... on to the instructions.

Ice Cream in a bag:
You will need:

1. 1 cup of milk
2. 2 tablespoons of sugar
3. 1/4 cup of salt
4. ice cubes
5. 2 resealable sandwich bags (ziplock or other brand)
6. 1 larger resealable bag
7. towel
8. plastic shopping bag
9. string or twist tie

First add the sugar and milk to a small resealable bag. I let the kids taste it, mush it, and we used the term "melted". Let some of the air out and seal it. Then put your milk bag into another small resealable bag.
Next, Put ice cubes in the big resealable bag. We put just enough to fill the bottom to start with. Add the small bags of milk and surround with more ice. We put just enough to reach the top of the milk. Put salt on top of the ice and let a little air out when you seal the large resealable bag.Then, Wrap a towel around the bag of ice. Tie up your towel to keep it around the bags. Place the bundle into a plastic shopping bag and then tie.

After you have everything sealed and tied shake the bag! Have fun with it... get friends to help... but continue to shake for 15 minutes. We ended up sitting in a circle and tossed the bag around.


Finally, when the 15 minutes is up take the small bag out and rinse off the salt. I let the kids put it in a small bowl and describe the changes, before digging in and enjoying the ice cream!