Dear Moms,

Have you encountered a similar situation where the school has asked you to send your child dressed up as a vendor?
We had to dress up Aruja as either a chocolate vendor or an ice cream vendor.
The super thing was that we not only enjoyed making these accessories but, they are also reusable for all the following pretend play.

You will need:

An empty box. The one I used was of some glasses.
Foam sheets in different colors.
Ice cream sticks
Pom poms in different colors.
Glitter paint tubes
Red beads or seeds for the cherry on our cones.
Colored card paper
Printed card paper (I have actually used the background paper which comes behind the stickers and the blue scene is also some left over background paper.)
Stickers of sweets or ice cream
Satin ribbon
Glue, scissors, cutter, punch, cello tape
And lastly, Minnie mouse headband or you can also use a homemade chef hat or any other cap / hat to give an effect of the vendor’s personality 🙂

Steps:

For the ice cream cones: –
Use the card paper and make simple cones. The size should be appropriate to your pom poms
Arrange the pom poms on the cones as scoops.
Add drops of glitter paint from the tubes of paint directly.
Add a colorful bead / seed at the top as a cherry.

For the ice cream candies: –
Use the foam sheets and cut them randomly in ice cream candy shapes.
If you are not comfortable with the free cutting, there are various templates available on the internet. You can use one such printouts for your right proportions or shapes.
Glue the ice cream sticks to the candy portion. You can see this in the above picture, the raspberry, grape, butterscotch and orange candies. Yummy!

For the box: –
For the box two things are important – one, it should be able to hold the cones and candies in slots created and second, we should be able to tie a ribbon to both sides so that the child can actually wear the box. This is essential to leave the hands of the child free to actually sell her ice cream 🙂 .
In case the ribbon is not possible, just ask the child to place the box on a table. That should also serve the purpose.

To begin with, cover the box with decorative paper. Only on the front is also ok. Use the glitter paint tubes to write the name of your shop on the front and decorate with the stickers.
Create slots to insert the cones and ice cream candy sticks.
Tie a ribbon on both sides equally so that the box will be at the center and the exact length can be decided when the child wears it around her neck. I had left it to be tied by the teacher so that, any adjustment was possible.

Kiddos or for that matter, even mummies, NOW, don the cap and be ready to sell your wares 🙂

When you are finished with this activity, simply pack the cones and the candies in the box itself. They will be ready to be used the next time someone wants an ice cream.

I normally used to write shorter posts but, then I realized in DIY activities, even a small tip helps us carry out the project in a better way.

Enjoy your ice cream and don’t forget to let me know which one your child liked the best.

Love,
Poornima