I scream...you scream...

"And we had the ice cream.  Words fail me to describe that ice cream.  Marilla, I assure you it was sublime."  Anne of Green Gables XIV

Am I the only one that thinks it's silly that July is National Ice Cream Month?  Shouldn't ice cream be celebrated EVERY month?

 

Some ideas to help you observe this hallowed month (other than, obviously, eating ice cream):

• Have a ball with your ice cream...really. We received The Play and Freeze Mega Ball last year for Christmas (I can only imagine our faces were a mix of fascination and bewilderment as we opened that gift) and just recently tried it out with help from the neighbor kids (as pictured above).  My daughter was amazed by how the very ingredients she poured into the ball "transformed" into ice cream, and the final product was surprisingly good!  Plus, doing torso twists while shaking the ball is great for the abs!   Nearly cancels out all the calories from eating the ice cream...really!  
  
• Add some tasty songs to your child's playlist, like Laurie Berkner's Ice Cream Cone or Frances England's I Scream, You Scream.  And my ten-year old neighbor highly recommends Hannah Montana's Ice Cream Freeze (having never heard it myself, my advice is to listen at your own risk).  
  
• Get the scoop on your favorite scoops.  My family recently spent a wonderful afternoon in Utica, Ohio, at the Velvet Ice Cream Factory.  We enjoyed a horse-drawn buggy ride, crick stomping, and ice cream all in one lovely afternoon.  
•  Download the Ben and Jerry's Flavor Graveyard onto your desktop and pay your respect to the flavors that have gone on to the big sugar cone in the sky (in 2001, I visited the real Flavor Graveyard at the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont, and I found Sweet Potato to be the most appalling flavor that was never meant to be).  
  
• For a group of children, give this flannel rhyme a try.  Cut out different flavors of "ice cream cones" from felt - chocolate, vanilla, rainbow, chocolate chip - as many varieties as you can create.  During each verse, call out a child's name and let them choose their favorite flavor.  Keep rhythm by patting your knees or snapping your fingers.  

The ice cream parlor just down the street

Has every kind of ice cream you'd want to eat

Chocolate, vanilla, banana chip, 

__________ (child's name) ate a _______ (flavor) cone to the very last drip!

(Note: After I posted this, I had the opportunity to use the rhyme with a group of 10 third graders - no flannel board, just the chant.  They LOVED getting to call out their favorite ice cream flavor.   The following day, they asked for the rhyme again, and most of them had it memorized.  So it can definitely be used for many different ages.)