Toddler Activities: Ziploc Sorbet and Ice Cream

I’m always looking for fun new activities to do with Zoë, and I came across a fun one to make homemade ice cream in a Ziploc bag. I modified it a little to make sorbet as well since Zoë is allergic to dairy.

She’s been on a real peach kick lately, so we made peach sorbet for her (and chocolate ice cream for me!). She had so much fun doing it. She’s a little young to do all of the shaking on her own, but it was even better because it’s something we got to do together.

Brian videotaped the whole thing so you can watch the video or just proceed on down to the recipe. Enjoy!

Peach Sorbet Ingredients:

• 1 cup peach juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup rock salt
• 1 pint-size Ziploc
• 1 gallon-size Ziploc
• Ice cubes

Chocolate Ice Cream Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons powdered cacao
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup rock salt
• 1 pint-size Ziploc
• 1 gallon-size Ziploc
• Ice cubes

Directions:

1. Fill the large Ziploc half full of ice, then add the rock salt
2. Seal the bag
3. Put the juice, sugar and vanilla for sorbet (or milk, cacao, vanilla and sugar) for the ice cream into the small Ziploc
4. Seal it
5. Place the small Ziploc inside the large one and seal it again carefully
6. Shake until the mixture becomes ice cream, about 5 minutes
7. Take the small Ziploc out of the large one and scoop the sorbet or ice cream into a bowl
8. Serve promptly because it melts quickly!

Tips and Modifications:

1. Make sure the Ziplocs you use seal well – we used the type with the slide top and they leaked quite a bit while we were shaking them
2. You can make vanilla ice cream by using ½ teaspoon of vanilla and no cacao
3. Try out other types of extracts or juices for new flavors

If you try out this recipe, let me know what you think! I’d love to hear about any modifications or new flavors you try as well.