Ice Cream Games for Kids

It takes little motivation to convince kids to play any game where any part of the title includes those two words “ice cream.” Kids can play ice cream games alone, in small groups, or as part of an ice cream theme party. For parties, games should be varied and introduced before kids settle down for an ice cream sundae or cone.

Computer Possibilities

A child with no one to play with can spend an afternoon involved in ice cream computer activities. Possibilities for computer games with ice cream as the theme include a game that involves quickly filling ice cream orders for customers at the Santoro Graphics website and an ice cream memory game at the Learning Games for Kids website. A game that reinforces skills is the penguin’s ice cream store at the Multiplication website.

Small Group Games

Best played by a small group of kids, the game of Hidden Scoops involves searching a room for previously hidden balls (representing ice cream cones). Kids can toss ice cream scoops (small soft balls) at large cardboard targets on which cones have been drawn and holes cut out above to receive the balls. Cherry on Top is a game played with participants sitting in a circle with their hands closed into fists. Kids pass around a red marble representing a cherry. The group chants, “I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream” while secretly passing the marble around. At the end of the chant, the player holding the cherry says, “I scream for a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top.” The chant and passing begin again. This time, however, the player holding the marble must say, “I scream for a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate ice cream,” and so on. Each player adds a different flavor.

Creative Opportunities

Kids can both make and play ice cream games. For Banana Split Roll, each child will create the following from construction paper: a dish, three different colored scoops of ice cream, a cherry and a banana. Next, they number the pieces. The dish is 1; ice cream scoops are numbered 2, 3 and 4; cherry is numbered 5, and the banana is numbered 6. All the players’ numbered cutouts are placed in the middle of the table. Kids take turns rolling a die and taking an ingredient with that number. The first one to complete the banana split by collecting items numbered 1 through 6 is the winner. For Scoop It, kids cut out 10 scoops of ice cream and a cone from construction paper. Using glue sticks, kids race to attach the scoops to their cones, one on top of the other securely enough so that they can grab onto the top scoop, and the entire ice cream cone will hold together.

Trivia Games

Kids work in groups to collaborate on answers to dozens of trivia questions about ice cream. These questions might involve the history of ice cream, the kinds of ice cream, famous people and ice cream and other facts. One possible source for questions is Food Reference website. Kids can also make individual lists of every kind of ice cream flavor they can remember to see who can come up with the longest list. Then, they can start a new list of ice cream flavors they wish somebody would invent.

Making and Eating Games

Making ice cream in a bag is fun, especially when there is a contest to see who can turn some simple ingredients into a scoop of ice cream first. The recipe at the Kaboose website gives directions for quickly combining sugar, milk, and vanilla into ice cream. Another ice cream game that turns into an edible experience is Ice Cream Taster. Blindfolded kids try to identify the flavors of little dabs of ice cream placed in tiny paper cups. The winner is the child who correctly identifies the most flavors of ice cream.