Lovely childcare

[Childcare] Ice Cream Craft Ideas! A Summary by Age Group

[Childcare] Ice Cream Craft Ideas! A Summary by Age Group

Last updated:2025/7/11

Nursery Teacher Mom Writertsukada moe
After working for five years at an after-school childcare club and three years at a nursery school, I began working as a freelance writer. I’m a mother of two children. Inspired by playing the flute in the school wind ensemble in elementary school, I joined a jazz club at university. I’ve also incorporated ukulele and piano performance into childcare. Playing, laughing, feeling sad, feeling frustrated—through all kinds of experiences, I want children to grow.

Ice cream—kids’ favorite dessert.

It’s a motif that feels like summer, so many of you probably incorporate it into your projects.

By getting creative with materials and techniques, you can achieve all kinds of expressions.

This time, we’ll introduce ice cream craft ideas along with the target age range.

You’re sure to find ideas that let children feel, “I did it!” and experience a sense of accomplishment.

Choose ideas that match your class’s atmosphere.

Because items created by children are treated as works, we use the term “制作 (seisaku)” in the text.

[Childcare] Ice cream craft ideas! Summary by target age (1–10)

[Age 3] Colorful Ice Cream with Wet-on-Wet Painting

Make Ice Cream with Wet-on-Wet Painting! Easy 3D Craft for 2- to 3-Year-Olds

[Age 3] Colorful Ice Cream with Wet-on-Wet Painting

Shall we make a cool-looking ice cream using the wet-on-wet (bleeding) painting technique? First, make an ice cream cone out of drawing paper.

For 3-year-olds, it may be easier if the teacher draws the outline in advance and has them cut it out with scissors.

Next, crumple two pieces of kitchen paper into balls.

If you make them different sizes, it will look more like real ice cream.

Dilute some paint with water, then drip it onto the kitchen paper.

Watch how the colors bleed and spread.

Once dry, glue the paper ice cream cone and the kitchen-paper scoops onto a backing sheet to finish.

Adding decorations like beads to the ice cream also makes it cute.

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Colorful Ice Cream Craft with Stickers (Age 1)

Sticker pasting is a great activity to encourage the development of fine motor skills in one-year-olds.

If you incorporate stickers into an ice cream craft, you’ll end up with unique, colorful creations.

First, the teacher should prepare ice cream cones and scoops out of construction paper.

Have the one-year-olds stick round stickers in their favorite colors onto the ice cream.

It’s okay if the stickers overlap or are placed unevenly—the goal is for them to enjoy the process.

Once the ice creams are decorated colorfully, paste them onto a backing sheet and decorate with the child’s name as well.

It will turn into a lovely piece that parents will be delighted to see.

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[Age 3] Making ice cream through sensory play

Here’s a mess-free sensory ice cream craft idea.

Place small amounts of your favorite paint colors on a sheet of construction paper.

Using several colors will make the result look nicer.

Put the paper inside a zippered plastic bag, then spread the paint around with your fingertips.

Let the children play with it plenty so they can fully enjoy the texture of the paint.

Before the paint dries, cut out an ice cream shape right through the bag.

Add decorations on top or combine it with an ice cream cone, and you’ll have a unique finished piece.

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[Age 4] Ice cream with colorful toppings

Let’s make colorful ice cream with cute, pop-style toppings.

As a prep step, draw the shape of an ice pop on construction paper and have the children cut it out.

It’s a good idea to provide a variety of paper colors so they can choose their favorites.

Decorate in various ways, such as sticking masking tape in any shapes and painting over it, or rolling up pieces of colorful masking tape into small balls and attaching them.

Finally, glue on an ice cream stick to finish.

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[Age 4] Marbled Ice Cream

Using the marbling technique to make colorful, cute ice cream is also recommended.

For marbling, use special marbling paints.

First, fill a tray with water, drop in the marbling paints, and gently swirl them with a thin stick like a bamboo skewer or chopsticks to create a marble pattern.

Next, lightly float a sheet of drawing paper on the water’s surface to transfer the pattern.

Be sure to let the paper dry completely.

Cut the marbled paper into circles to make scoops of ice cream and attach them to a cone.

Write a name on a penguin made from construction paper and display them together for a cool, refreshing piece of art!

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[Age 5] Origami Fruit Popsicle

Using origami to make fruit-themed ice pops turns out super cute, so I recommend it.

First, fold the paper into a triangle and unfold it, then rotate it and fold into a triangle again.

Unfold once more, fold the bottom corner up partway, then fold the corner down to line up with the base.

Fold the top corner down, then fold the corner up to meet the top edge.

Slightly fold the left corner, flip the paper over, and fold both sides toward the center.

Finish by folding both sides toward the center again so that the bottom part becomes the handle.

All done! Decorate with your favorite fruit designs and have fun.

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[Age 2] Ice Cream Made with Scissors

[Ice Cream Making] First Time Using Scissors (Nursery School / Kindergarten)

[Age 2] Ice Cream Made with Scissors

When children move up to the 2-year-old class, it’s often their first time using scissors.

Making ice cream crafts is perfect for practicing! Since scissor practice starts with single snips, prepare strips of origami paper cut into thin pieces beforehand.

First, let the children enjoy making single cuts, then have them glue the cut pieces onto construction paper shaped like ice cream.

Next, combine it with a cone cut from construction paper, and let the children draw patterns on the cone.

You’ll end up with a cute, pop-style craft.

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