Kid Friendly Recipe: Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

Cooking with your kids is a great way to spend quality time with them while teaching important life skills. Ice cream in a bag is a simple, tasty treat that is great fun to whip up on a summer day. All you need are a few supplies and even fewer ingredients and you'll have homemade ice cream in no time without the help of any sort of machine or hand cranking.

Supplies. First of all you will need to gather your supplies. For each serving of ice cream (or each person who will be participating in the ice cream making) you will need one gallon sized zip top bag, one quart sized zip top bag, a hand towel, plenty of ice, and about ¾ cup rock salt or table salt. If you are making ice cream with very young children, you might also want to have some masking or electrical tape. Scissors will also be helpful.

Ingredients. Next you need to gather your ingredients. This simple and natural ice cream recipe calls for ½ cup half and half, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. If you don't have real vanilla extract you can substitute 1 teaspoon of artificial vanilla flavoring. You may also want to purchase some ice cream toppings such as chocolate sauce or sprinkles. Or you could collect some mix-ins such as chocolate chips or peanut butter.