Upcycle Ice creams – YUM

Let’s cool down making this fun ice cream sculpture using recycled materials! This project is
a fabulous way to introduce the concept of texture- smooth scoops of ice cream, crunchy
additions like chocolate chips, wafers, nuts, or sprinkles, and of course the cone!

To create your own icy treats you will need an empty toilet roll, a few pieces of paper-
preferably different textures- cotton wool balls, crayons or colouring pencils, a black pen,
PVA glue, sticky tape, and something to use for a cherry or lolly on top.

Start by cutting the toilet roll up one side and flattening it out. Use a black pen to draw cross
hatch lines all over the card to pattern the cone. Cut a long narrow triangle from each side
of the card and keep aside. Use the larger triangle from the middle to roll into a cone and
secure with sticky tape.

Next work on creating the scoops of ice cream. What’s your favourite flavour? Vanilla,
chocolate chip, strawberry? Use your crayons or pencils to add colour, pattern, and texture
to your chosen paper. Try layering colours, adding dots, dashes, or rippled lines. Here I have
used a piece of copy paper and brown crayons to create my scoop of chocolate, and for the
strawberry ice cream, some softer tissue paper patterned with pink crayon dashes.
When you’re happy with your colour and texture, scrunch the paper into balls.

Now it’s time to assemble your ice cream! I found using a hot glue gun made this process
quicker and easier, but if you don’t have one, PVA glue will work also. Add some glue
around the rim of the cone and attach your first scoop of ice cream, pressing it down into
the cone to secure it. Layer the remaining scoops one on top of the other, allowing the glue
to dry between layers.

Lastly add any extras to your ice cream. Here I have added a patterned offcut from the toilet
roll for a wafer, and a button for a cherry on top, but there are many ways to individualise
your creation! How about colouring some paper dark brown and hole punching confetti to
use for chocolate chips? Or painting on some caramel sauce? Using tiny beads or tiny strips
of coloured paper for sprinkles? Cut toilet roll pieces for roasted nuts? So many ways to
make these sweet treats extra delicious!

If, like me, you have a surplus of empty berry containers in your recycle bin, consider cutting
a little hole from the middle to create a stand for your ice cream to sit in. In fact grab out a
few containers and try making an ice cream sundae using the same approach.

After all, you can never have too much ice cream- right?!