Ice Cream Science: Make, Taste and Freeze at Carlow County Library

What to Expect

Carlow County Library runs Ice Cream Science: Make, Taste and Freeze with Anyone 4 Science as part of National Heritage Week 2026, a hands-on STEM workshop where children make ice cream from scratch and find out what is actually happening in the bowl while they do it. The science is the freezing point of a salt and ice mixture, the physics of churning, and why the texture changes depending on how it is worked, and the pay-off at the end is that everyone eats what they made.

Two identical sessions run on Wednesday 19 August, the first at 11:00am and the second at 12:00pm, each lasting forty-five minutes. Both are free. The library on Tullow Street carries a full Heritage Week programme this year that also includes the Heritage Art Camp with Jean Robertson, the Echoes from The Barrow project across four branches, and evening talks on oral history, the Kehoe Papers and the Shackleton family’s Carlow connections, so a family can pair the children’s workshop with something else in the same building.

Good to Know

• Wednesday 19 August 2026, two sessions: 11:00am to 11:45am and 12:00pm to 12:45pm.
• Venue: Carlow County Library, Tullow Street, Carlow Town.
• Free, but booking is essential and these sessions fill early. Book by email to nshannon@carlowcoco.ie.
• Run by Anyone 4 Science.
• Phone Carlow County Library on 059 912 9705 or Carlow County Council on 059 917 0300 for age guidance.
• Part of National Heritage Week 2026, which runs from 15 to 23 August across the county.
• Other Carlow County Library Heritage Week events run on 17, 18 and 20 August in the same building.

Getting There

Carlow County Library is on Tullow Street in the middle of Carlow Town, in the Presentation Building, a couple of minutes on foot from the Potato Market and the main shopping streets. Carlow railway station on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line is about a ten-minute walk. Drivers should use the Shopping Centre or Potato Market car parks, as Tullow Street itself is pedestrianised in parts and parking directly outside is not practical.