Homeade Ice Cream Toy

Lately, my daughter has been playing Ice Cream Shoppe. A lot!  She is constantly asking me, "vanilla or chocolate?"  Then, with whatever toys are nearby, she'll serve me my ice cream.   That gave me an idea which came from a previous post (10 commandment craft) and some yogurt containers sitting around the kitchen (also used for the 10 commandment craft).

Why not make her a toy with ice cream and bowls?  Yes, I could buy a toy similar to this.  Yes, it may be easily destroyed in a matter of minutes.  However, I could spend some money on a toy like this that would get played with occasionally and then that toy will become another toy.  She is getting some other fun things for Christmas, as well.  Also, trying to make my idea and be crafty is too fun to pass up. 

Here is what I did:

1. Cut 4 pieces of egg carton apart. 

2.  Mix small amount of 1/2 water and 1/2 flour. 

3.  Set egg carton (point up), on top of a small paper plate and paper Mache around it.  Then let dry.

 

 

4.  Paint yogurt containers and decorate.

5.  Cover paint with a coat of Modpodge.  This will help prevent paint from chipping off.

6.  Decorate plastic spoons, if desired.

7.  Cut around bottom of egg carton till "scoop of ice cream" fits in chosen container.  ***Here is where I had trouble.  I had to cut it smaller than I intended to fit in the yogurt container.  By this time, the paper plate had separated from the egg carton in places.  I simply used  masking tape to hold the paper plate bottom to the egg carton and paper Mache.  Not ideal, but it worked.  The only advantage was, the amount of paper plate I had left would have given the scoop of ice cream a melted appearance.  One could also use a container with a larger bottom, like a chip dip container.  The only other disadvantage was that the egg carton bottom was not as round as you would get with an ice cream scoop, so I could have played around with different egg cartons or materials to make it more round in appearance, but did not.  It will still be fun to play with.

8.  Paint scoops of ice cream desired color or flavor :).  I choose chocolate (brown), strawberry (pink), mint chocolate ship (green and white mixed together or light green paint with spots of brown), and vanilla (I didn't have any color of paint besides white.  I wanted to mix a little yellow with the white, but didn't have any.  Instead  I put just a bit of yellow food coloring with the white paint.  It wasn't the best option, but enough that it wasn't bright white.

9.  I'm wrapping it up for Christmas in an empty ice cream bucket.  Perfect storage container.  On my Christmas list is a new ice cream scoop, so if I get it, my daughter can have the old one for play.

 

(This picture was before my second coat of paint)

10.  Have fun, but be sure not to sit on the ice cream.  It will melt (squash)!

*This would also have been a super fun craft for my daughter to have helped with and I'm sure many kids would enjoy!!!

 

 

 

****Updated Note:  The kids have loved playing with this.  Unfortunately, it didn't stand up as well as I hoped.  I thought the ice cream might get smashed, but that is intact.  However, the paint chipped off the bowls, despite my efforts to stop this from happening.  It was still worth it for the fun they had with it.  Had I not left it with the other toys,  (which I was planning not too )it may have lasted longer.  But, fine while it lasted. 

 

 

Love It!