Sweet Summer Treats: Ice Cream

We read lots of fun ice cream stories this week, including Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis and Gorilla Loves Vanilla by Chae Strathie.  Gorilla Loves Vanilla was especially funny, while Ice Cream Summer showed us all kinds of learning that can be done with ice cream, which was perfect for the activities that we had planned.

The Learning Resources Smart Scoops Math Activity might be my new favorite Learning Resources product.  It is so much fun and there is so much you can do with it.  You know I've said before that I like it when things have multiple uses across multiple ages, and this one fits the bill!  Ava can practice patterning and addition/subtraction with it, while Wyatt can practice sorting and counting.  And they can both have a ton of fun with imaginative play.  We had an ice cream shop going for a a few days in our living room!

We got a ton of play out of some packs of ice cream, popsicle, and fruit shaped erasers from the Dollar Spot at Target.  Ava used them to addition and subtraction, and Wyatt used them to practice counting.  I don't know about your kids, but my kids love little bits and bobs and they keep them entertained forever.  Even when they weren't doing math with the erasers, they were having a ton of pretend play fun with them.  

Don't worry, we didn't forget to end our day with ice cream!  We made a trip for milkshakes and added in some family playground time to round it out.