STEM Fun: Make Ice Cream in a Bag in Just 15 Minutes

It's easy for kids to make ice cream in a bag with just a few ingredients!

I love when you can combine science with a delicious edible treat.

So I was excited to find a STEM activity that involved making ice cream in a bag. It seems like magic, but there is real science happening inside the bag! The salt and ice make a solution that gets cold enough to freeze your milk.

The recipe below for ice cream in a bag makes two small servings. Want more? Double your ingredients. This makes vanilla ice cream, but add some powdered chocolate and you have chocolate ice cream! Experiment with other ingredients to make other flavors!

Ice Cream in a Bag
What you need:

• 1 cup any kind of milk or half-and-half
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups (doesn't need to be exact) of ice
• 1/3 cup salt
• A sandwich-sized plastic resealable bag
• A gallon-sized plastic resealable bag
• Gloves

Directions:

• Mix milk, sugar, and vanilla in the small bag. Squeeze out the air and seal.
• Mix ice and salt in the large plastic bag.
• Place the small bag into the big bag.
• Shake hard for 5-7 minutes or until the milk mixture is frozen. Use gloves because the bag will get very cold!
• Grab a spoon and let's eat!

Tatiana Sayig is the publisher of Macaroni Kid Five Towns - Valley Stream - The Rockaways, N.Y. This story originally appeared on her site.

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