Orange Peel Ice Cream

(Open ended play)

I was’t quite ready to let the orange peel leftover go just yet and prepared ice muffins in the freezer overnight. It was meant to be sensory bin for our daughter to play with.

She had other thing in mind though: ice cream making.

Material:

-floured water in a bin

-sliced orange peel muffin ice in silicone muffin cups

-a laddle

I gave her all the materials in front of her and let her play. She took the ladle, poured in some water into the muffin cup and eventually poured the ice muffin out of the cup.

I didn’t quite know whether she did it on purpose to remove the ice muffin out of the cup without peeling or she did it just so, but I was amazed by her way of thinking. My adult mind wouldn’t think that way.

She kept repeating this method to remove and pour those ice muffins into the water bin.

She picked a paper cone leftover from Ikea’s ice cream. We went there yesterday and she kept the paper cone cover. She also eventually took the Fisher Price first blocks. By now I finally could guess what she had in mind.

She was so excited and shouting the words of “ice cream” happily. She even licked her heavenly smell ice cream and said “yumm, tasty.” Ah that huge grin of satisfaction she showed me, so made my day.

We talked about how the ice melt. She realized that after some time her ‘ice cream’ was melting and dripping off her cone.

She offered me her ice cream to taste as well. It smelled good. It wasn’t sweet because it was just plain water, but the orange peel did make the sweet citrusy illusion.

What is she learning:

-motor skills

-reasoning & concept development

-language skills

-science

-creative art

-social skill

Imagination-driven play builds young child's developmental skills. When a child engages in pretend (or dramatic) play, she is actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. This is why I find this kind of play is important for her.

#ice #orange #peel