Three Easy Dairy Crafts for Children

June is National Dairy Month. If you are a teacher and child care provider, this month is a great time to teach children about the benefits of dairy, or to just have some fun treats. To do that, I am going to share three great projects that you can do with your children. They are all related to cows or dairy products. Make sure that you get parent's permission, or check with them to make sure none of the children have dairy allergies.

Home Made Ice Cream in a Bag

What You Need For Each Child:
1 cup of half and half
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of sugar
½ cup of salt - kosher and rock salt work best, but regular is ok
1 pint size Ziploc bag
1 gallon size Ziploc bag
Enough ice cubes to fill each gallon bag halfway

Steps:
1. Place the half and half, vanilla, and sugar in the small bag and seal tightly.
2. Put the salt and ice in the large bag.
3. Put the small bag in the large bag and seal tightly.
4. Have the child shake the bag for about five minutes to set the ice cream.
5. Feel the small bag to determine when it is firm enough.
6. Throw in some treats and eat it right out of the bag.

Cow Parade Collage
This project is inspired by the public art project Cow Parade.

What you Need for Each Child:
Pair of Scissors
Glue
Cut up magazine pages - the more colorful the better
Cow outline - Draw a large cow outline on regular paper, or download one online. Photocopy as needed

Steps:
1. Give each child scissors and their cow outline
2. Place out glue and magazine pages for the group
3. Have each child cut out collage pieces and glue them on their cow
4. Cut out the cows and make a cow parade on your wall

Rainbow Milk
Serve up milk in your classroom in a rainbow of colors

What you Need:
Clear plastic cups
Some large pitchers
Milk to fill your pitchers
Food coloring
Napkins and cookies if you want!

Steps:
1. Pour the milk into the different pitchers.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to make colors - basic colors are ok so kids can mix
3. Talk to the children about the how colors mix
4. Let them fill their cups with whatever color combinations they want
5. Let them compare with their friends, and have fun drinking
6. Best served with napkins and a cookie