The Scoop Shop

A few months ago I stumbled upon an idea using puff balls as ice cream. I now wish I could remember who I got this idea from so I could give them some of the credit, but I just can’t remember.  I put this idea in the back of my head and said I wanted to do this sometime.  I was walking through Michaels with a friend of mine and was telling her about it and we started brainstorming what to do!  We went to the “puff ball” aisle and put our brains to work. 

I had bought some Ice cream Cone shaped glasses and scoops earlier this summer because I thought they were cute.  Then this week at Michaels,  more of the scoops were on clearance for .50 cents.  Michael's, this week, also had assorted foam 60% off!!!  Which made the big packs, $3.20!  I stocked up on some sticky back foam and used that for a lot of my decorating. and making of things.

My friend found some ice cream “buckets” at the Party Store outlet for $1 each.  She also found cute little spoons!  They work perfect for this activity! 

I then decided I needed to get more elaborate with mine as my kids are a bit older and I was afraid they would get bored fast.  So, this is what I came up with!  “The Scoop Shop!!”

 

I had a wooden toy box sitting in my storage room that I had bought on a garage sale for cheap.  It wasn’t being used, so I turned it into our shop!  The box is upside down so the top can be used as the counter.  I cut out foam letters and Ice Cream shapes to decorate the box.  I also cut out ice cream shapes to decorate the buckets.  I did buy some ice cream stickers and stuck them around the outside of the buckets to make them more fun!

The cups/cones/utensils!

I found these cute “napkins or placemats” on clearance at Michael's too!  Got to just love clearance.  I used an old parmesan container, decorated it and put tiny puff balls in it for “sprinkles.”  My friend and I came up with this for sprinkles. How fun is that!  In the red container is “cherries.”  Which is red puff balls.  I used a yogurt container and just covered it with felt.

My friend got the idea of making “syrup” out of felt.  Pink is strawberry, dark brown is chocolate, and light brown is caramel.  The white circles are what I came up with for “whip cream.”  I want to come up with some more toppings, like M & M’s, peanuts, etc. that you can put on ice cream.  Once I figure that out, I will add it to the Scoop Shop.

That is our menu on the left.  I wanted to make it easy for both kids to read and understand.  Trying to work with my son and getting him to recognize words!  I also decided, when you work in a “shop” you have to have a name tag and hat!  I made these fun hats and name tags out of foam!  Which of course, was a HUGE hit!

My daughter could not wait to get started. She had been watching me make this for a few days.  She kept on asking me, “When can I play Scoop Shop?”  How cute is that?!  Here are some pictures once the kids got to work!  Enjoy!