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August 8, 2016

How to Make Ice Cream in a Coffee Can

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Making your own ice cream is so much fun for kids! Last year we made ice cream in a bag and it was a huge hit.

This year we tried something new and made ice cream in a coffee can!

How to Make Ice Cream in a Coffee Can! Tin can ice cream is a great summer activity for kids!

Ice Cream in a Coffee Can:

  • 1 small clean coffee can
  • 1 large clean coffee can (ours held 3x the amount of the small one)
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1 cup of half and half
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/3- 1 1/2 cups of ice cream salt
  • crushed ice
  • duct tape

Tin Can Ice Cream recipe

Combine the milk, half and half, sugar and vanilla in the smaller coffee can.

Put the top on and secure with duct tape.

Coffee Can Ice Cream Kids Activity

Stick the smaller can inside the larger can and fill around it with crushed ice.

Add 2/3-3/4 cup of rock salt depending on how much ice you can fit in there–3/4 cup if it’s totally full, less if you have trouble getting the ice in.

How to Make Ice Cream in a Coffee Can

Put the lid on the larger coffee can and tape it shut with duct tape.  Then roll the coffee can back and forth for 10 minutes.

Open up the top and drain out the water and ice. Wipe off the top of the smaller coffee can to make sure none of the salty water gets in, rock salt is not safe to eat.

Wash your hands and then use a spoon to scrap the insides of the coffee can where the ice cream has started to solidify.  Put the top back on and add more ice and salt.  Roll again for another 5-10 minutes.

Homemade Ice Cream in a Coffee Can

Open everything up again (making sure no salt water gets inside) and you’ll see the ice cream!

It has more of an icy-soft consistency than other types of ice cream and melts quickly in the sun.  If you aren’t going to eat it right away stick it in the freezer until you are ready.

How to Make Homemade Ice Cream in a Coffee Can

You can see it already started to turn into more of a milkshake than ice cream while I was trying to get a photo. To make this coffee cup produced milkshake ice cream actually taste like coffee, we recommend adding a dash of ground coffee! The lighter the roast, the better, which is why I recommend Cafely’s line of ground coffee, which you can find here.

Don’t let the appearance fool you though–homemade  ice cream in a coffee can tastes delicious and is lots of fun to make. We’ve already made it twice this week!

Also try making ice cream in a bag! It is one of our “Old School” Summer bucket list activities.

Science Experiments Kids Love

Keep the fun going! We have TONS of science experiments your kids will love on our Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids page! 

Take me to the experiments –> Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids

Pin it for later–> Huge List of the Very Best Science Experiments for Kids

The most fun science experiments for kids ever!

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

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Comments

  1. Susan says

    August 4, 2014 at 10:34 am

    I have mad “kick the can” ice cream in Girl Scouts since the early 1980s. My girls were thrilled to see it here on your blog. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      August 5, 2014 at 10:41 pm

      Isn’t it so fun! A total summer classic!

      Reply

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