ice cream in a bag experiment australia

Easy Homemade Ice Cream In a Bag

Yes, making homemade ice cream in a bag does work! Whether you make it inside or outdoors, have a pair of warm gloves ready. This homemade ice cream science experiment is chilly chemistry for kids you can eat! Enjoy fun science experiments all year round!

Ice Cream in a Bag Recipe

Making homemade ice cream in a bag is easy and a good arm workout! This ice cream in a bag science experiment is a fun edible science activity to try at home or in the classroom. It does require some adult supervision and assistance. A good pair of gloves is needed, as this science activity gets very cold.

💡 ALSO CHECK OUT: More Ice Cream Activities for Kids

Ingredients:

• Free printable recipe below
• 1/2 cup half and half (cream and milk)
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ⅓ cup kosher or rock salt
• Gallon size zip-top bag(s)
• Quart size zip-top bag(s)
• Sprinkles, chocolate sauce, fruit (optional but really “the best part” ingredients!)

How to Make Ice Cream in A Bag

Watch the video:.

STEP 1. Place the ice and salt in a gallon-size bag; set aside.

STEP 2. In a smaller bag, mix half and half of the vanilla and sugar. Make sure to seal the bag tightly.

STEP 3. Place the smaller bag inside the gallon size bag. Shake the bags for about 5 minutes until your milk is solid. Make sure to use gloves as the bag gets very cold.

💡 TIP: If you find your ice cream in a bag does not work, try it with more ice cubes and salt and shake for 5 more minutes.

Time to enjoy your yummy homemade ice cream! Store any uneaten ice cream in the zip-top bag. Place it in the freezer and enjoy for next time!

Ice Cream Science

What’s the chemistry behind ice cream in a bag? It’s pretty sweet! The magic is in the salt and ice mixture in the bag!

To make homemade ice cream, your ingredients must get very cold and freeze. Instead of placing the ingredients for ice cream in the freezer, you mix salt and ice to make a solution.

Adding salt to the ice lowers the temperature at which water freezes. You will notice your ice melting as your ice cream ingredients start to freeze.  You can also see this with our ice melting experiments .

Shaking the bag allows the warm cream mixture to move around, allowing for better freezing. It also creates some air, making the ice cream a bit fluffier.

💡 Is ice cream a liquid or a solid? Homemade ice cream changes states of matter .

It starts as a liquid but changes to a solid in its frozen form, but it can go back to a liquid when it melts. This is a good example of reversible change, as it’s not permanent.

You will notice that the bag becomes much too cold to handle without gloves, so please make sure you have a good pair of gloves to shake it with.

Turn It Into An Ice Cream In A Bag Experiment

If you want to make this truly a science experiment using the scientific method , you need to change one variable. Read more about the scientific method for kids below.

Take this easy ice cream in a bag recipe and turn it into a science project with one of these suggestions:

• What happens if you don’t use salt? Set up two bags for making ice cream, but leave the salt out of one bag.
• What happens if you use a different type of salt? Set up two or more bags for making ice cream and choose different types of salt to test!
• What happens if you swap out the milk for the heavy cream? Or what happens if you try another type of milk, like almond milk? Set up two or more bags for making ice cream and choose different types of milk to test!

More Fun Food Experiments

• Shake up some butter in a jar
• Try Strawberry DNA Extraction
• Experiment with Cabbage pH Chemistry
• Make Edible Geodes
• Set Up Fizzing Lemonade
• Make Maple Syrup Snow Candy
• Try this easy sorbet recipe

Printable Science Projects Pack

If you’re looking to grab all of our printable science projects in one convenient place plus exclusive worksheets and bonuses like a STEAM Project pack, our Science Project Pack is what you need! Over 300+ Pages!

• 90+ classic science activities  with journal pages, supply lists, set up and process, and science information.  NEW! Activity-specific observation pages!
• Best science practices posters  and our original science method process folders for extra alternatives!
• Be a Collector activities pack  introduces kids to the world of making collections through the eyes of a scientist. What will they collect first?
• Know the Words Science vocabulary pack  includes flashcards, crosswords, and word searches that illuminate keywords in the experiments!
• My science journal writing prompts  explore what it means to be a scientist!!
• Bonus STEAM Project Pack:  Art meets science with doable projects!
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13 Comments

What is “Half and half”? Can you do it without the rock salt, cannot find it here.

We use sweetened condensed milk (1 can) and 2 liters of your favorite soda pop. It makes the most amazing tasting ice cream ever!!

Half and half is a creamer.

We used coarse ground salt.

Did I miss where you mention how much of each ingredient?

There is a link that says check out the recipe. Since It is not my own original recipe, etiquette requires me to link to it. I will highlight the link.

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I love this idea! I would love to use it in a class setting, but am wondering how much each batch makes? Is this recipe for one person or multiple? I mean, we can all use more ice cream, but minimalistically speaking, lol

Hi! We always need more ice cream but I guess it would come down to how much you would expect to serve each kiddo. I think 2-3 kids could enjoy tasting it and surely it would be helpful to have multiple hands to shake each bag since it can get tiring. Make sure to really seal bags well though so that the salt doesn’t make it’s way into the ice cream bag. I have thought about a plastic container with the ingredients and that be put inside the bag with ice and salt…

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How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag – Tasty Science Project

Making ice cream in a bag is a fun, tasty science project that both kids and adults enjoy. It’s not just an innovative way to whip up a delicious dessert—it’s also an educational experience that demonstrates fascinating concepts of science. The beauty of this project is that it doesn’t require a freezer or an ice cream machine. All you need are some everyday ingredients and materials, a love for ice cream, and a touch of curiosity about the world of science!

Ice Cream in a Bag Materials

Here’s a list of ingredients and materials you’ll need to make homemade ice cream in a bag:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup half-and-half (or milk for a lighter version)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Mix-ins like chocolate chips, fruit, or cookie crumbs (optional)

For a vegan variation, you can use a non-dairy milk alternative like almond, soy, or oat milk. Whatever milk you choose, a product with a higher fat content produces a creamier ice cream. You might get ice crystals if you use low-fat or skim milk.

For the Ice-Salt Mixture:

• 1/3 cup rock salt or kosher salt (we’ll talk more about why we use these specific types of salt later)

The quantities of ice and salt are not critical and you don’t need to measure them. Basically, you fill the bag with ice and sprinkle on salt. Rock salt or kosher salt are ideal for this project because they have a larger grain size, so they mix well with ice rather than just sinking to the bottom of the bag. But, if regular table salt is what you have, it works just fine.

• 1 small zip-top bag (about a pint/quart size)
• 1 large zip-top bag (about a gallon size)
• Gloves or a towel to protect hands from the cold

Let’s Make Ice Cream!

Here’s how you can create your very own ice cream in a bag:

• In the smaller bag, combine the half-and-half (or milk), sugar, and vanilla extract. Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag tightly.
• Fill the larger bag halfway with ice, then sprinkle the rock or kosher salt over it.
• Place the sealed smaller bag into the larger bag with the ice-salt mixture.
• Seal the larger bag. If you’re using gloves, put them on now. If you’re using a towel, wrap it around the bag.
• Shake the bag vigorously for about 5-10 minutes, or until the mixture in the smaller bag hardens to a consistency similar to that of soft-serve ice cream.
• Carefully remove the smaller bag, being sure to wipe off any salt before opening it.
• At this point, add in any mix-ins you like, or even flavor your ice cream with chocolate or fruit puree.

The final product has a creamy, soft-serve consistency and a deliciously simple vanilla flavor that serves as a great canvas for various mix-ins and flavor variations.

The Science Behind It

This fun and tasty project showcases an important scientific concept called freezing point depression . When you add salt to the ice, it lowers the freezing point of water , which is normally 0°C or 32°F, down as low as -21 °C or -5 °F. 

How does this work? Salt is sodium chloride (NaCl), which separates into sodium (Na + ) and chlorine Cl – ) ions. These ions interfere with water molecules getting close enough together for hydrogen bonding, which play a significant role in freezing.

So, as the ice melts, it dissolves some of the salt. Dissolving salt in water is an endothermic reaction that absorbs heat from the environment, which includes the ice cream mixture. The ice cream mixture in the bag actually freezes faster than it would in a regular freezer.

In this process, the type of salt matters. Salts that break into more than two ions lower the freezing point of water more than sodium chloride does. For example, calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) breaks into one calcium ion and two chlorine ions and lower the freezing point down to -29 °C or -20 °F. Sugar and other covalent compounds also dissolve in water and lower the freezing point. But, since they only dissolve into molecules rather than ions, their effect is not as significant.

Further Experiments

There’s always more to discover with this project! You can experiment with different types of salts—like table salt, sea salt, or even Epsom salt—to observe their effects on the freezing process. You might find differences in how quickly the ice cream forms, or how smooth the final product is. Also, explore variations in the recipe, such as adding chocolate or other flavorings to the mixture. Enjoy the exploration and have fun experimenting!

• Atkins, Peter (2006).  Atkins’ Physical Chemistry . Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198700725.
• Pedersen, U.R.; et al. (August 2016). “Thermodynamics of freezing and melting”.  Nature Communications . 7 (1): 12386. doi: 10.1038/ncomms12386
• Petrucci, Ralph H.; Harwood, William S.; Herring, F. Geoffrey (2002).  General Chemistry  (8th ed.). Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-014329-4.

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April 25, 2014

Scrumptious Science: Making Ice Cream in a Bag

A chilly, edible chemistry challenge from Science Buddies

Key concepts Food science Chemistry Freezing Phases of matter Solutions   Introduction Have you ever made homemade ice cream? It can be a lot of fun, and you end up with a tasty frozen treat! A lot of interesting chemistry is actually needed to make ice cream. For example, think about how you start out with refrigerated (or even room-temperature) ingredients and then need to cool them down to turn them turn into ice cream. How do the ingredients change during this process? How important do you think they get cooled to a certain temperature? In this science activity you'll make your own ice cream (in a bag!) and explore the best way to chill the ingredients to make them become a delicious reward!   Background To make ice cream, the ingredients—typically milk (or half and half), sugar and vanilla extract—need to be cooled down. One way to do this is by using salt. If you live in a cold climate, you may have seen trucks spreading salt and sand on the streets in the wintertime to prevent roads from getting slick after snow or ice. Why is this? The salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, so with salt ice will melt even when the temperature is below the normal freezing point of water.   Technically, the temperature that the salt lowers is called the freezing point. When a freezing point is lowered, such as by adding salt to water, the process is called freezing-point depression. As we'll see in this activity, freezing-point depression is not unique to solutions made of water and salt; it also happens with other solutions. (A solution is made when a substance, such as salt, is dissolved and becomes a solute . The medium into which it is dissolved is a solvent —typically a liquid, like water.)   Materials

Measuring spoons

Measuring cup

Half and half (Alternatively, milk or heavy whipping cream may be used.)

Vanilla extract

Salt (Different types of salts, such as table salt or rock salt, should work but may give slightly different results.)

Two small, sealable bags such as pint-size or sandwich-size Ziplocs

Two gallon-size sealable bags

Eight cups of ice cubes

Oven mitts or a small towel

Timer or clock

  Preparation

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In each small bag, place one tablespoon of sugar, one half cup of half and half (or milk or heavy whipping cream) and one quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract. Seal up each bag after adding the ingredients. Keep the bags in the refrigerator until you are ready to continue on to the procedure.

  Procedure

Add four cups of ice cubes to one of the large, gallon-size bags. Then add one half cup of salt to the bag. What do you think the salt will do?

Put one of the small bags you prepared into the large bag with the ice cubes. Be sure both bags are sealed shut.

Put on oven mitts or wrap the bag in a small towel and then shake the bag for five minutes. Feel the smaller bag every couple of minutes while you shake it and take a peek at it. What happens to the ingredients over time? When five minutes are up, how do the ingredients look? What about the ice cubes—how do they change over time and how do they look by the end?

Now add four cups of ice cubes to the other large, gallon-sized bag, but this time do not add any salt to it. What do you think will happen without using salt?

Put the other small bag you prepared into this large bag. Be sure both bags are sealed.

Put on oven mitts or wrap the bag in a small towel and then shake the bag for five minutes, as you did before. Again, feel the smaller bag every couple of minutes while you shake it, and take a peek at it. What happens to the ingredients over time now? When five minutes are up, how do they look now compared with last time? What about the ice cubes—did they change in the same way?

You can also compare how cold the different ice cube bags feel. Does one feel much colder than the other?

If you successfully made some ice cream, you can enjoy it now as a tasty reward for your chemistry challenge! If the ingredients in one of your bags did not become ice cream, check out the extras below for tips on turning them into ice cream.

Extra: If one of your bags did not make ice cream, try putting it back inside the large bag that had ice cubes and salt and then shake it for five minutes. Did it turn into ice cream? Why do you think you got the results that you did?

Extra: Instead of half and half, you could use milk or heavy whipping cream to make ice cream in this activity. How does making ice cream with half and half compare with using milk or heavy whipping cream?

Extra: You can make ice cream in this activity using different types of salts, but you may get different results. How does ice cream made in a bag with table salt compare with ice cream made with rock salt or some other type of salt? Can you explain your results?

 [break] Observations and results Did the ingredients that were shaken in the large bag with the ice cubes and salt turn into ice cream whereas the ingredients that were shaken with ice cubes alone (and no salt) remain fluid, and not harden into ice cream?   You should have seen that the ice cubes in the large bag with salt melted much more, and felt much colder, than the ice cubes in the large bag without salt. Because it was cold enough (several degrees below freezing), the ice cube bag with salt should have been able to cool the ingredients enough to harden them and turn them into ice cream whereas the ice cube bag without salt wasn't cold enough to do this, leaving the ingredients fluid. (If you put the fluid ingredients back in the bag with ice cubes and salt and shook them for about five minutes, the ingredients should have been cooled sufficiently to turn into ice cream!)   If you have ever made ice cream with an old-fashioned hand-crank machine, you probably packed a mixture of ice and rock salt around the container holding the cream. The ice–salt combination gets colder than pure water ice and can freeze the ingredients in the ice cream machine (and in the bags you used in this activity), turning them into ice cream. (This is the same process that occurs when icy roads have salt spread on them to melt the ice, keeping the roads less slippery at lower temperatures.) Although pure water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), water mixed with salt will only freeze at colder temperatures below 0 degrees C.   Cleanup If you haven’t already, you can enjoy your tasty ice cream treat now or save it in the freezer for later.   More to explore Boiling-Point Elevation and Freezing-Point Depression , from Iowa State University Make Ice Cream in a Baggie , from About.com Chemistry Fun, Science Activities for You and Your Family , from Science Buddies Chemistry of Ice Cream–Making: Lowering the Freezing Point of Water , from Science Buddies  

This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies

Where are you?

Make ice cream at home in a bag. no freezer required.

It’s a science experiment that has delicious results. You don’t need anything fancy, just a few simple ingredients and a couple of ziplock bags.

Ingredients

For each person:

1/4 cup of cream

1/4 cup of milk  

1 tsp sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/4 cup of rock salt  

2 cups of ice

1 x snack size and 1 x sandwich size ziplock bag

Instructions

• Add the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla to the smaller bag.  
• Squeeze out as much air as you can before sealing the bag.  
• You could also double bag the mix to stop it leaking and to stop any salt getting into your ice cream.  
• Remove as much air as possible again before sealing it.  
• Put half the ice into the larger bag and add the salt.
• Then add your milk and cream filled bag.  
• Add the rest of the ice and seal.

Then get moving and shaking!

Wrap a tea towel around the bag or use oven mitts as the ice is really cold (obviously!).

Shake and squish for about 6 – 10 minutes or until the ice cream has started to form.

Remove the small bag and rinse, to make sure that no salt gets into your ice cream.

Open the bag and enjoy plain or with your favourite topping, such as sprinkles or fruit.  

Give everyone a bag of their own to shake to avoid any arguments!

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The Science Scoop: How to make ice cream in a bag (and learn while you do!)

I’ve got a very tasty science experiment to do today!

Making ice cream in a bag is all science! This exciting experiment allows you to create your own frozen treat while delving into the world of freezing point depression, heat transfer, and the importance of agitation.

So skip the store and make your own delicious ice cream while talking about science!

How to make the Science Scoop homemade ice cream experiment

Supplies you will need.

For this experiment, you’ll need:

• Sugar (1 tablespoon)
• Ice (about 5 cups)
• Half and half (1/2 cup)
• Salt (1/2 cup)
• Vanilla extract (1/4 teaspoon)

For our lactose-intolerant friends: try using full-fat, canned coconut milk in place of the half and half. The fat content of the coconut milk should help it produce similar results.

Before you start

You can use a few variations of this experiment:

• If you’re lactose-intolerant, try using full-fat coconut milk from the can
• Chocolate ice cream is easy; just add cocoa powder
• You can add toppings too, if you have them!

Instructions

Here is how to do this experiment with your child:

Step 1: Make the ice cream bag

First, we are going to add the ingredients to the sealable sandwich bag.

Add 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 cup of half and half, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.

Seal the bag and place it to the side.

Step 2: Fill the gallon-sized bag

Add 4-5 cups of ice and about a 1/2 cup of salt to the gallon-sized bag.

Step 3: Place ice cream bag in gallon-sized bag and shake

Place the sealed sandwich-sized bag in the gallon-sized bag with ice and salt and seal it.

Place a towel over the bag and start shaking!

You will need to shake the bag for about 5-10 minutes. Every few minutes, feel the ice cream bag to see if the consistency has changed.

Step 4: Compare the results

After about a minute, take a look at the ice cream bag. What do you notice? Keep pausing to check out the ice cream bag to see how it changes over the next 5 minutes.

Step 5: Enjoy your science experiment!

What are you waiting for? Enjoy your ice cream!

You can add sprinkles or chocolate chips, place it in a cone, or even add some cocoa powder to make it chocolate ice cream.

The STEM behind the Science Scoop homemade ice cream experiment

This experiment teaches:

Freezing point depression

Heat transfer and air incorporation, how it works.

Making ice cream in a bag is more than just a tasty treat – it’s science!

This experiment is a mix of freezing point depression, heat transfer, and air incorporation. The milk mixture gradually loses heat and transitions into a semi-frozen state. The sugar also helps lower the freezing point of the liquid slightly, which contributes to the overall freezing process.

When it’s done, you have a creamy ice cream in a bag!

This experiment demonstrates the principle of freezing point depression, which means it lowers the temperature at which the ice can exist as a solid.

Normally, water molecules arrange themselves in a specific way at 0°F, forming ice crystals. This arrangement doesn’t require much energy.

When you add salt to the ice, it dissolves into individual ions (sodium and chloride). These ions disrupt the orderly arrangement of water molecules, making it harder for them to form ice crystals.

Since water molecules struggle to form crystals in the presence of salt ions, they need to reach a lower temperature to achieve the same ordered structure. This is why the freezing point of the salt water is lower than that of pure water.

The more salt you add, the lower the freezing point and the faster the ice cream will freeze.

Utilizing the principle of freezing point depression occurs in other areas of life too, like preserving food or antifreeze in car radiators.

Cool , huh?

As the ice in the outer bag melts, it absorbs heat from the inner bag containing the ice cream mixture. This transfer of heat is the driving force behind the freezing process.

The absorbed heat from the ice cream mixture causes its temperature to drop, initiating the formation of ice crystals and gradually transforming the liquid mixture into ice cream. The colder the ice bath (thanks to the salt), the faster this heat exchange occurs.

The second important piece here is the air incorporation, which occurs because we are shaking the bag. The small air pockets that are created from shaking the bag act like separators, preventing the formation of large ice crystals.

It takes several minutes to do this experiment, which will give your child a chance to practice patience (which is especially hard when it comes to ice cream!).

More experiments about food to try out with your child

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Ice Cream in a Bag Science Experiment- Icy Science Fun!

Categories Science Experiments

Summertime and ice cream go hand in hand (along with summer STEM activities !). But how about making ice cream in your hands?

That’s exactly what we are going to be doing today with this ice cream in a bag science experiment.

Making ice cream in a bag with just our hands.

Or your kids hands. The ice cream in a bag science project is always a fun summer science activity for kids!

And you will also find the ice cream in a back science lesson plan below.

Ice Cream in a Bag Science Experiment

If you have cream in your refrigerator, it’s time to transform that into delicious ice cream. This is also an awesome way to learn the melting point of ice.

All three of my kids looked at me sideways when I added salt to the bag of ice. This was the perfect time to talk about the freezing point of ice and how we get ice cream from doing so.

For another fun variation on this project, try making sorbet in a bag!

If you need more summer STEM activities, check out our list of June STEAM activities , July STEAM activities , or summer science experiments!

Ice cream in a Bag Science Lesson Plan

Here’s the sciency bit.

Salt when added to the ice cubes lowers the melting point of the ice, just like it does when we add salt to roads in the winter.

In order for the ice to melt, however, it has to absorb heat from its surroundings like the ice cream in the bag.

The ice pulls the heat away from the cream which allows the cream to freeze and become ice cream.

If you made this with ice cream without salt you would notice that the ice cubes do not melt as much in the five minutes of shaking and you would notice that the cream is not becoming solid and turning into ice cream.

What you need for the ice cream STEM activity:

• 1 gallon Ziploc bag
• 1 sandwich bag
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup of whipping cream
• 1/3 cup of coarse salt

If you don’t want to use cream, you can also make a dairy-free ice cream in a bag experiment using apple juice!

The slushie in a bag experiment (AKA, sorbet in a bag or sherbet in a bag) doesn’t have any dairy and is safe for kids who can’t have cream!

Tips & Tricks for the Ice Cream Science Fair Project

Alternately you could make this ice cream with some chocolate syrup in the bag to make chocolate ice cream, which I had planned to do, but forgot to buy the chocolate syrup. Or strawberry syrup.

Make sure you do up the small bag first so you don’t have melted ice cubes when you add it to the large bag.

If you suspect your child will drop the bag, double up the large bag, it will easily get holes when dropped – even the brand name bags. Plus, not quite as cold on the fingers.

And, to make it fit for a science fair, make sure to test variables like amount of ice, amount of salt, or different shaking methods!

Let’s Shake Ice Cream

In your sandwich bag mix together the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla. Seal the bag, letting out as much air as possible.

In your large bag, fill it with 2 trays worth of ice and 1/3 cup of salt. Add your sealed sandwich bag into it and seal it, getting most of the air out of the bag.

Now shake. Shake for about five minutes. We used oven mitts because it gets quite cold on your hands after a minute.

After shaking for five minutes put it in your freezer for half an hour.

After half an hour in the freeze, scrap/shake your soft serve ice cream into a bowl. Top with some sprinkles, or chocolate syrup and enjoy. There is nothing like a little ice magic to make a yummy summer snack.

More Ice Science Fun

How to Make an Ice Magnifying Glass (start a fire with ice?!)

Can You Burn Ice? Burning Ice Experiment (not for young kids!)

How to Make Instant Ice in 5 Seconds

Ice Painting Experiment

Share this project with a friend!

Monday 22nd of November 2021

In your large bag, fill it with 2 trays worth of ICE CREAM? and 1/3 cup of salt. Add your sealed sandwich bag into it and seal it, getting most of the air out of the bag.

Please correct error above.

Monday 24th of April 2023

Be nice mr smarty pants

@Britt, it said ice not ice cream you fucking idiot

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Home News Science Experiment – Ice Cream

Science Experiment – Ice Cream

Making Ice Cream

Let’s use some of our knowledge about freezing to make a quick and delicious treat!

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• Flavoured topping (we recommend chocolate!)
• 2 medium-sized strong zip-loc bags
• 1 large plastic freezer bag or zip-loc bag
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1/2 cup of crushed ice
• A hand towel
• A mixing bowl and spoon
• Mix the milk, cream and topping of your choice in the mixing bowl until all combined.
• Pour it into one of the medium-sized zip-loc bags. As you seal it, try and get as much air out of the bag as possible.
• Put that zip-loc bag inside the other medium-sized one – to protect your ice-cream in case the bag rips!
• Mix your salt and crushed ice together.
• Place your sealed ice-cream bags inside the large zip-loc bag, and surround it with the crushed ice and salt mixture. As you seal the large zip-loc bag, make sure you get as much air out as possible.
• Holding the bag with the hand towel, gently massage the ice-mixture so that it surrounds the inner ice cream bag. This helps with cooling!
• After ten-fifteen minutes of gently shaking or massaging the bag, your ice-cream should be ready!

There’s some really cool science at work here (excuse the pun). Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, so it’s colder than if we had just used water. This means that outside mixture is cold enough to freeze and harden the ingredients on the inside, creating ice cream!

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Ice Cream in a Bag

Teaching science with food.

Here’s a fun little experiment that will teach your kids about how matter changes states. You begin with a liquid ice cream base that becomes a delicious solid in the form of ice cream.

This experiment also shows how salt reduces the temperature of water, speeding up the freezing process in the making of ice cream.

Indeed, making ice cream is really easy — you just need a few basic ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, and (in this case) vanilla.

You will also need rock salt, also known as ice cream salt. (You could also use table salt, but ice cream salt is better because the crystals are larger, meaning it will dissolve less.) 

We used a recipe found in the book Smithsonian Maker Lab Outdoors written by Jack Challonor. (Amazon affiliate link.)

• dish towels
• 2, quart-sized zippered bags
• gallon-sized zippered bag
• plastic grocery bag

Ingredients   US Customary Metric   1x 2x 3x

• 1/4 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. heavy cream
• 3/4 C. whole milk
• 1/4 t. vanilla extract

For Freezing

• 1 1/4 C. ice cream rock salt
• 3-4 C. ice

Instructions  

• Now place this first bag into the second small zippered bag. This will help prevent any salt water from contaminating the ice cream.

• Carefully remove the ice cream bag from the salty water, wiping off any excess salt water. Open the inner bag and serve ice cream.

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Ice Cream in a Bag

This easy homemade ice cream in a bag recipe is a must-try this summer! You only need 5 ingredients to make this homemade ice cream. Kids will love seeing how quickly they can make their own ice cream. Don’t forget to add your favorite toppings like sprinkles or fruit!

RELATED : Gummy Bear Recipe

How to Make Ice Cream in a Bag

This is such a fun activity for kids in the summer! And if you’re low on ice cream in your freezer, it’s a great way to make your own treat! Kids can help shake the bags and of course finish off the ice cream.

Ice Cream in a Bag Ingredients

You only need 5 ingredients to make ice cream in a bag:

• Half and Half – OR you can use 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 cream. We have also made it with whole milk and it will still turn out but the ice cream won’t be as creamy
• Salt – the type of salt doesn’t matter. We used regular table salt. But the chunkier the salt you use, the less chance you’ll get salt mixed into your ice cream by accident.
• Artificial or Imitation Vanilla

Can I use Whole Milk? 

Yes! You can still make this recipe with whole milk. The ice cream won’t be as creamy but will still be tasty. For an even creamier version use cream and whole milk instead. You can experiment with different proportions until you find it to be a texture and flavor you prefer!

How to Prevent Salty Ice Cream

This is important – because there’s nothing worse than shaking the bags and then having salty ice cream. You want to make sure that the bags you are using are quality bags . Typically no name brands won’t give a good seal to keep the salt out.

Make sure you properly seal the bag that has the half and half mixture in it. You don’t want salt accidentally getting into this bag. To be safe, you could double bag this also. Once you’re done shaking, rinse off the little bag with cold water (including the top part above the seal) before opening it up to eat the ice cream. This will ensure that any salt on the outside doesn’t leak in.

If you use chunkier salt, this will also help prevent the salt from getting into the little bag.

Finally, be extra careful when taking the ice cream out of the bag. If there is any salt still on the outside of the small bag, it will mix with the ice cream.

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup half and half
• ▢ 1/2 tsp artificial or imitation vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tbsp sugar
• ▢ ice
• ▢ 1/4 cup salt
• ▢ Ziploc bags 1 Small, 1 Large

Instructions 

• Take the small bag out of the large bag and rinse the outside of the small bag with cold water. Make sure to rinse out the top part of the bag also (above the seal).
• Once done rinsing, carefully open the small bag to not get any remaining salt from the outside of the bag inside the bag.

Nutrition Estimate

• Properly seal the bag. 
• Rinse off the little bag after shaking. 
• Double bag if still salty. 

Did You Make This?

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Your kids will love making their own ice cream! Mix in some chocolate syrup or add your favorite toppings to make it even more delicious!

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• How to Make Cake Pops
• Gummy Bear Recipe
• Homemade Fruit Roll-ups

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51 comments on “ice cream in a bag”.

great. i did it

You can use rock salt too but regular salt also works.

How many kids can eat from the baggie-full??? Would you suggest one baggie per pair of kids or one per kid??? My class voted this option for part of our year-ender party! A favorite memory of mine!! 🙂

You can get two smaller portions from each batch. You could also halve the amounts and do 1 batch per kid.

Could I let this sit in the freezer for a couple of hours? If I made it, put it in the freezer in the morning, and then took it out in the afternoon would that be okay?

I think that would be fine. It might get a little icy so just let it sit at room temperature for a bit before you eat.

Can this be done with lactose free “milks”?

Yes it should still work.

Yes because lactose free milk IS milk. (the lactose is just removed and sugar is added)

If you want it to be smoother, use a higher fat milk.

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