Are you hoping to create the perfect ice cream inspired dramatic play center for your early childhood learners?
Adding Ice Cream to The Free Snack Shop is the perfect SOLUTION! And the BEST part…you get to enjoy some tasty ice cream!
Download this FREE Snack Shop Dramatic Play set up to get started today! 
5 Simple Steps to Creating a Print Rich Dramatic Play Center
5 Simple Steps for turning your Snack Shop into an Ice Cream shop
- Buy your favorite flavors of ice cream
- Create ice cream props
- Download this FREE ice cream banner
- Edit labels with ice flavors from your FREE snack shop set up
- Print, cut, and prep
1 Purchase your Favorite Ice Creams
First, ask your young learners which ice cream flavors they like best. This is a perfect way to get them excited about what may be opening up in your dramatic play area. You can also ask families to bring in empty ice cream containers. However, buying ice cream for my family to enjoy is never a problem. I usually end up buying several pint-sized choices of ice cream to use for my pretend play shop. (My family loves this part because they get their favorite flavor and don’t have to share). 
When choosing ice cream flavors,try to find a variety as well as dairy free options. Using familiar ice cream flavors will get your little learners excited and encourage them to engage during pretend play. As well, introducing new or unfamiliar flavors can help build vocabulary, knowledge of the real world, and or, perhaps, a new tasting experience for some students.
2 Creating Ice Cream Props
After you have enjoyed all your yummy ice cream treats, thoroughly wash empty ice cream containers using soap and water and then let them dry. Once the ice cream containers are dry and ready to go, add matching pom pom balls for the ice cream.
- Chocolate: brown pom pom balls
- Strawberry Sorbet: pink or red pom pom balls
- Chocolate Chip: cream colored pom pom balls and small dark brown pom pom balls
Any size of ice cream container and pom pom balls will work for this pretend play. However, gallon sized ice cream containers work best with larger pom pom balls, while pint sized containers work best with medium or small pom pom balls.
3 Download the FREE Ice Cream Shop Dramatic Play Banner
Find FREE dramatic play ice cream shop banner printables in my TPT shop Everyday Dramatic Play. If you don’t already have the FREE Snack Shop Dramatic Play printables, you will want to download those too! Find them here.
4 Edit Snack Shop Labels
Once you have downloaded your FREE Snack Shop Dramatic Play printables you are ready to edit the labels using the ice cream flavors you have chosen for your ice cream shop. Make sure to use easy to read print friendly fonts. Think about the age and development of your students. Many preschoolers are just beginning to match and identify letters. Many fonts can be cute, fancy, and fun. However, keeping fonts simple for young learners is key.
5 Print, Cut, and Prep
Now it is time to put all the pieces together. First, print out all your dramatic play printables. Then cut them out and begin prepping your dramatic play area.
Here are a few other prop ideas you may want to add to your ice cream shop.
Ice Cream props suggestions:
- Small ice cream bowls or cups
- Ice cream scoop
- Plastic spoons
- Festive napkins
- Play money find a free set here!
Visit these blog posts for more inspirations and ideas!
How to set up a snack shop
