Ice-cream, U-scream


by Catherine Fournier

Domestic-Church.Com - Fridge Art - Ice-cream, U-scream

This delicious Fridge Art activity helps teach the family the rewards of following 'God's Road Map.' We need to read and learn about what Jesus taught us, and listen to God in prayer to find directions. All you need is a car, some kids who like ice-cream (!), a map of your city and money for ice-cream.

1) Before you let the children know what is going on, get the address of an ice-cream shop you've never been to before. It could be a Dairy Queen on the other side of town, or an ice-cream parlour in an Italian neighbourhood. Write down the address and mark its location on your map. You could hand draw your own map if you need to, but a printed map will have a stronger impact. Put the map in the car, or in your pocket, without the children seeing it.

2) At the right time, ask everyone if they'd like to go for ice-cream. Wait until the chorus of excited yelling dies down, and add that you'll be going to the new ice-cream store, following the children's directions.

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3) Load everyone in the car, and start it up. Now, ask the children which way to go. Hopefully, they'll start by telling you to pull out of the driveway. At every intersection, ask the children, "Which way next?" This will be enormously exciting and amusing at first, but eventually frustration will sent in. They will be hot, hungry and discouraged.

4) Then tell them, "Oh, I forgot! I have a map!" Let the children study the map for a few minutes and then use it to guide you to the ice-cream store. If they're old enough to read a map, let them navigate.

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5) Drive to the ice-cream store.

6) When you are all finally enjoying your ice-cream cones, ask them about what happened.

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Point out how frustrating and difficult it was to get where you wanted to go without directions. Exploring can be fun, but it wastes a lot of time and there's no guarantee that you'd find what you're looking for.



Graphic Ask them, "Do you think we would ever have found this store without the directions?
Graphic Ask what 'directions' and 'map' are we using to get through life and into Heaven? (The Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Church, the sacraments, parent's instruction, prayer and many others)
Graphic What happens when we decide to ignore directions and wander off without them? We end up pretty unhappy and lost. Think of a situation when you've ignored the 'directions.'
Graphic How often do you ask God for directions? When was the last time you prayed about a situation or read the Bible to discern God's plan?


Ice Cream At Home

To enjoy the sweet deliciousness of ice cream without the drive, but still with the 'adventure', try making ice-cream at home. If you have an ice-cream maker, you will already know that the trick to making ice-cream is constant stirring while it freezes to keep the ice crystals small and the ice-cream relatively soft. Ice-cream makers achieve this by using some sort of stirring paddle suspended into the ice-cream mixture, and surrounding the ice-cream container with an ice salt mixture to promote freezing.

Ice cream can be made without a special ice-cream machine. Just pour the ice-cream mixture into a shallow metal dish or bowl and place it in your freezer. Stir it vigourously about every half hour, scraping the frozen mixture away from the sides of the dish, and breaking the lumps up a little.

Some ice cream recipes:

Flavour Combine
Vanilla 1 quart heavy cream, or 2 cups heavy cream and 2 cups light cream
3/4 cups white sugar
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(add chocolate chips, peppermint extract, instant coffe, chopped almonds toasted in butter, or butterscotch as desired)
Chocolate 1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate melted into 2 cups milk
3 eggs, beaten into 1 cup white sugar
2 cups light cream
1 tablespoon vanilla, 1/8 teaspoon salt
Fruit (strawberry, peach, raspberry) 4 cups fresh fruit crushed, sprinkled with 1/2 cup sugar and lemon juice to taste
1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup light cream
Lemon or Orange 1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice
2 cups very hot light cream, 2 egg yolks slightly beaten
2 cups heavy cream
Frozen yogurt 6 cups unflavoured yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
sugar to taste, additional fruit or other flavourings to taste

The Emperor Nero had a special group of runners to bring snow from the north of Italy to freeze his ice-cream. Fortunately, we do not have to go to such extremes.

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