My preschooler is in the process of learning her uppercase and lowercase letters. To make practicing more fun we decided to play an ice cream themed game.
All of my kids LOVE to play pretend and kitchen and restaurant play is a favorite so this ice cream game was a hit!
To make the game I used 12 ball pit balls and 4 paper towel rolls. I cut the rolls into thirds to make the cones and wrote lowercase letters on the front. Then I used a Sharpie to write the corresponding uppercase letters on the balls.
I set the “scoops” and “cones” up on a table on one end of the room and the big kids and I sat at the other end. My 3 year old was the ice cream cone maker. She matched the uppercase and lowercase letters together and then delivered the cones to us. The added balancing practice as she walked across the room made the game even more fun!
I chose the 12 letters that are in our family members’ names to play with first and they were such a hit she has already requested the second dozen! This game could easily be adapted to practice numbers, words and math facts so I bet the big kids will end up with some ice cream cones to play with too!
For more ways for kids to Move and Learn check out this week’s other posts:
Learning Shapes with a Ball for Toddlers from hands on : as we grow
Geometry Jump from The Pleasantest Thing
And come back next week for the next post in the Move and Learn series!
Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories says
August 21, 2013 at 4:31 pmI love it and I know my son would, too!
Megan Sheakoski says
August 21, 2013 at 6:34 pmIt was even more of a hit than I thought it would be! Thanks Trisha!
Allison says
August 21, 2013 at 4:39 pmBrilliant. I am so in love with this idea and definitely plan to do it with my preschooler!
Megan Sheakoski says
August 21, 2013 at 6:33 pmOne,I love being called brilliant. 🙂 And two, it is super fun! Thank you!
Lorie says
August 22, 2013 at 8:35 amThis looks like so much fun. What a clever idea!
Megan Sheakoski says
August 24, 2013 at 3:16 pmThanks Lorie!!!
Nilda M. Fazekas says
September 14, 2013 at 8:45 pmRe: ABC Ice Cream…. I could hear my preschoolers say: “Me, I can match it!”
Megan Sheakoski says
September 16, 2013 at 8:21 pmHa! I hope they love it!
Alyssa says
May 14, 2014 at 1:33 pmWhat a cute idea! I just wanted to let you know that I am linking to this post at Simply Creative Kids on May 14th if you don’t mind.
Megan Sheakoski says
May 15, 2014 at 5:58 pmThanks Alyssa!
Bubbles and Giggles Nursery. Nursery for children 1 - 4 years says
August 26, 2015 at 10:46 pmVery good information. Lucky me I discovered your website by accident
(stumbleupon). I have saved it for later!
Robb says
January 18, 2016 at 3:08 pmThis is GREAT! But the people at Chuck E Cheese keep telling me I can’t take the pit balls home.