I like to have some fun playdate activities up my sleeve in case my kids and their friends run out of ideas for what to do. Play clay is a crowd pleaser and always works well when my younger son has a girl friend over (not to be confused with a “girlfriend,” of course!)

To mix things up, I’ll provide some fun tools and props. With a few kitchen supplies, kids can create a play clay sweet shop:

• Rolling pins
• Cookie cutters
• Ice pop sticks
• Lollipop sticks (or wooden skewers with the pointy tips cut off)
• Ice cream scoop

Your sweet shop workers will need some ice cream cones! With scissors and hot glue, you can transform toilet paper or paper towel tubes into flat-bottomed wafer cones and pointy waffle cones.

Supplies:

• Toilet paper tube (or a paper towel tube cut down to about 4″)
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun and glue stick

For a pointy cone:
With scissors cut a toilet paper open down the length. Cut off a triangle as shown (you can slide it into a cone shape to get an idea of what you’ll need to trim off). Slide it back into a cone shape and, holding the point tightly, squeeze some hot glue under the overlapping seam (grownups only!). Trim the top to straighten it.

For a flat bottom cone:
Use the scissors to cut a toilet paper tube down the length. Cut a 3/4″ strip off for the top lip and then shorten the remainder of the tube to about 3″ for the cone base. Squeeze the base so that it tapers and cut off a triangle of cardboard as shown, so there isn’t a huge overlap. Taper again and squeeze some hot glue under the overlapping seam (grownups only!). Trim the top to straighten. Squeeze a line of glue around the wider top and place the strip on top of it. Trim the seam as needed.

After ice cream and candy-making, the kids will probably want to set up a shop. The recycle bin can offer some more props for displaying their goods. For a lollipop holder, paint a berry basket, flip it upside-down and punch a few holes in it (you can use a skewer). Use recycled jars to display ice cream cones.

No cavities from this sweet shop. Have fun at your play clay playdate!