Recipe: Welcome to the Ice Cream Shop!
This week's activity was so much fun to do at school and it really got the kids both talking and tasting! We pretended that we were at an ice cream shop. The children had the opportunity to choose the flavor of ice cream, sauce and sprinkles that they wanted to complete their own order.
I created various pictures to match the items we had available at the shop and added in additional ones so that the children could use full, complete sentences to ask for what they wanted. The lesson worked really well! Amazing how motivating a scoop of ice cream with chocolate sauce and rainbow sprinkles can be for a child to use their words!
At the Ice Cream Shop, we practiced "making choices" by offering the following:
- Chocolate OR Vanilla Ice Cream
- Strawberry OR Chocolate Sauce
- Chocolate OR Rainbow Sprinkles
*We also practiced answering "yes/no questions" by offering a marshmallow and a tiny mini cone (the smallest I have ever seen, which my co-worker found at Walmart!) to go on top of their ice cream creation.
The children were also able to help with scooping the ice cream and sprinkles as well as squeezing the sauce. Everyone's ice cream was put in a bowl and they were given a spoon, just to keep things a little less messy (cones were optional and put on top).
When it was each child's turn to order their ice cream, the conversation went as follows:
Miss Stephanie: "Do you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream?" (while showing the pictures with the ice cream containers)
Child: (using the picture sentence strip) "I-WANT-CHOCOLATE/VANILLA-PLEASE"
Miss Stephanie: "Do you want strawberry or chocolate sauce?" (while showing the pictures with the sauce)
Child: (using the picture sentence strip) "I-WANT-STRAWBERRY/CHOCOLATE-PLEASE"
Miss Stephanie: "Do you want chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?" (while showing the pictures with the sprinkles)
Child: (using the picture sentence strip) "I-WANT-CHOCOLATE/RAINBOW-PLEASE"
Miss Stephanie: "Do you want a marshmallow for the top?" (while showing the yes/no and thank you pictures)
Child: "YES-I-WANT- (a) MARSHMALLOW-PLEASE" or "NO-THANK YOU"
Miss Stephanie: "Do you want a cone for the top?" (while showing the yes/no and thank you pictures)
Child: "YES-I-WANT- (a) CONE-PLEASE" or "NO-THANK YOU"
The children really thought about what they wanted. Many were able to use very clear sentences to ask for their choices. There were even a few who refused the sauce but then asked for "two" or "both" of the sprinkles. Because they used their words and had good eye contact, they were granted their wish!
Final Note: I placed all the pictures onto a single page and photocopied with a note explaining to parents what we did in the lesson and why. I suggested that they use the pictures the next time they take their child out for ice cream or have some at home. Now that they have used the pictures in speech, hopefully they can begin to carry over the skills at home!
Open an Ice Cream Shop at your school! Happy Summer!