Homemade Ice Cream In A Bag

Last year I did this recipe with my students.  I loved it so much that yesterday I did it again with my students and our 1st grade reading buddies.  

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-bag-684806/

It really is an easy recipe, if the students actually listen to the directions.  All in all, at the end of the day I was covered with a mixture of rock salt, milk, and vanilla from helping them shake it up.  It was worth the mess!  

Here's how I set it up for a class of 32 (well actually 64).

I bought from the store:
2 gallons of milk (one per class)
Vanilla extract (16 tsp. worth)
Rock salt (2 boxes)
40 pounds of ice
Bag of sugar (64 tbsp. worth)
Quart sized bags for each student (64)
Gallon sized bags for each pair of students (4th grader and 1st grade buddy - 32 total)

1. First I scooped 1 tbsp. of sugar into a quart sized bag for each student (no little fingers touched the sugar, I wanted to be able to use the rest of it for another project). 
2. I poured the rock salt into a big bowl and the students measured out 6 tbsp. into a gallon sized bag.
3. I poured 8 tsp. of vanilla into each gallon of milk, then shook the milk pretty hard to mix it up.  
4. The students took their gallon bags outside and scooped ice about halfway into the bag. (They needed adult supervision on this, as some of them decided "halfway" was the entire bag.)
5. I poured about a 1/2 cup of the milk/vanilla combo into each quart sized bag and made sure it was sealed.
6. The students then took it and placed the sealed bag into their ice bag, sealed it up, and shook it for about 5 minutes.  Now, some students weren't listening and decided to pour the milk bag into the ice bag - so they had to start over.
7. How we adapted for reading buddies was they placed both their bags into the same ice bag and took turns shaking it together, some even had fun tossing it back and forth.
8. When it was a thick texture, like frozen yogurt, it was ready to eat.  We passed out spoons and the kids dove right in. 

This is something I would definitely recommend to another classroom.  Actually I have, and my grade level has tackled it alongside me.  It's messy, but the kids get a kick out of making it themselves.  Definitely try it!

Sincerely,