This summer is a hot one! But luckily, there are so many fun ways to cool off and beat the heat. Whether you need tips for staying cool, ideas for playing in the water or a cold healthy snack, we’re here to help! Today, we have Gaga, a professional photographer and mom of two from the island archipelago of Vanuatu here sharing tips and recipes for making healthy fruit popsicles with kids.
Feeling hot hot hot!
It’s hot, oh so hot! The summer heat has been intense this year and we’ve been looking for an efficient way to cool down and have happy kids. Our solution – POPSICLES! But not just any old boring store-bought popsicles, healthy fruit-filled popsicles we make at home!
If healthy and popsicle don’t sound like they could possibly go together, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised! Making healthy fruit popsicles is actually very simple and a great way to connect with your kids. They love helping out in the kitchen and being a part of the process from A to Z.
If you’re looking for fun and easy ways to make healthy popsicles, wait no further! I have ideas for you!
Gather your fruit
The first thing to do is to gather your main ingredient – fruit! If you have fruit in your garden (like we do in Vanuatu), collecting fruit is a great way to get outside together as a family. We love to let the kids pick fruits up from the tree (or the plant). If you don’t have fruit in your garden, we highly recommend your local farmer’s market, which should have the ripest and juiciest fruits of the season. It’s a perfect way for the kids to get involved. They can interact with adults, help select the fruits, pay for the fruit, and get to carry the fruits home. Just be careful or they just might eat it all before getting back to the car!
If you don’t have a local farmer’s market or want fruit that’s not local or in season, supermarkets and grocery stores will carry a wide range of fruits. You can find your fruit of choice, fresh, frozen, jarred or canned.
Our favorite fruits for making popsicles are:
- pineapples
- coconuts
- grapefruits
- passion fruits
- lemons
- strawberries
- apples
- watermelons
- pears
- oranges
- pawpaws
- bananas
- peaches
- melons
- blueberries
- raspberries
- mangoes
- kiwis
- lichees
The rest of the gear
You won’t need a lot of other supplies or ingredients to make healthy fruit popsicles, but here are a few things that you’ll need: a knife, a spoon, a container to put the peeling and the seeds, a blender, and popsicles sticks and molds. You can use any kind of popsicle molds, from fancy ones to regular ice cube trays. We found our reusable ones at the supermarket.
Here are a few different types of popsicle molds:
- For the classic pop – these silicone molds have everything you need to get started and make classic popsicles
- For a crowd – this one makes 10 popsicles at a time comes with sticks and bags
- For squeeze pops – reusable silicone squeeze pop bags you can fill and take with you on hikes or outings
- For little hands – small round popsicle molds that are easier for babies and toddlers
- For the impatient parent – this countertop mold makes popsicles in as little as 7 minutes!
- For the eco-friendly chef – these stainless steel molds are plastic-free and state of the art
Getting the fruits ready
When you’re getting the fruits ready for popsicle making, definitely get help from little hands! Depending on your kids’ ages and capabilities, there are a number of ways to get them involved and helping. Older kids could peel or cut the fruits. Younger kids can remove the seeds with a spoon (if needed). Work together to show kids how to safely cut the fruit into chunks. If you have an outdoor terrace, garden or table, I recommend taking these activities outside. Find a comfortable spot outside, as this part of the process might be messy! That’s part of the fun!
Liquids
When you have all your fruit peeled, chopped, deseeded and ready, let the kids help (or at least watch) with the mold prep and blending process. You’ll need to add a bit of some sort of liquid to your fruit so it’s liquid enough to pour into the popsicle molds. The liquid you choose can be as simple as water! Yep, that works. My kids actually love ice cubes, so water popsicles (ice cubes in a popsicle mold without adding anything else) and coconut water popsicles are a hit!
Other liquids to consider are lime juice, lemon juice, coconut water and fruit juice. As long as no sugar is added, I consider it healthy. You can make your own lemon or lime juice just by squeezing or pressing a lemon or lime into some water. Coconut water can be taken directly from a coconut or purchased in a bottle. If you have a coconut, you can add the flesh of the coconut to the water and blend it all. This results in a creamy liquid that is yummy.
You can also opt for the dairy version of liquid, with yogurt or milk. Or consider almond milk or coconut milk.
Get a little gourmet
Now basically, to be honest, anything that makes a delicious smoothie will make a delicious popsicle! That’s when the blender becomes very handy here. If you really want to take your popsicles to the next-level, there are a few other ingredients you can add to really spice them up! Here are few things we love adding to our popsicles to give them a little something extra:
- coconut flesh
- chia seeds
- almond spread
- peanut butter
- chia seeds
- flax seeds
- honey
Be creative with what you have on hand in your pantry. With fruit popsicles, it’s pretty hard to go wrong.
Blend & freeze
You can either add your cut up fruit directly into molds and pour the liquid over or you can put the fruits and liquid into a blender and liquefy and then pour the liquid into the popsicle containers. Either way makes wonderful and fun popsicles! One leads to fun blended concoctions of flavors and the other gives you delicious chunks of fresh fruit in your popsicle. Either way, it’s pretty exciting for kids to make home-made popsicles and get involved in the process. Make sure to supervise to avoid a disastrous spillover or extra mess!
After pouring the liquid into the molds, pop them into the freezer. Now comes the difficult part…waiting. Usually, you will have to wait overnight (or at least 8 hours) to be able to eat them. Torture, I know! But sometimes the reward of waiting is the best! If you’re super impatient, you could get one of these countertop popsicle makers. That way you don’t have to wait nearly as long.
But, in the meantime, you can again get help with clean up from your little helpers. Let them wipe off the countertops with a sponge, rinse the blender and throwing the scrap in the garden compost.
Ready to eat
When they are all ready to be eaten, run the popsicles under warm water for 10 seconds or more to release them from the mold. Remove them from the molds and enjoy right away…outside!
My last advice: popsicles taste even better when shared with friends!
Bon appetit!
Favorite healthy popsicle recipes
- Fruity coconut = coconut water + flesh of coconut + chunks of banana + passion fruit + strawberry
- Banana coconut = coconut water + flesh of coconut + chunks of banana + chia seeds + almond spread
- Plain ol’ pineapple = pineapple juice + chunks of fresh pineapple
- Pink fruit = banana + pawpaw + red grapefruit + strawberry
- Avocad0 = chunks of avocados + almond milk + honey + vanilla extract
And if you have any leftover after pouring into your popsicle molds, well, pour it in a glass, add a few ice cubes and enjoy your little smoothie in your hammock!
What’s your favorite healthy popsicle recipe?
About the author
Gaelle and her husband Benoit are the couple, parents, and partners behind Groovy Banana. They are French and have been living in Vanuatu, a little archipel in the middle of the South Pacific, the last 7 years. They have been photographing smiles, romance, and laughter since then. In 2015, they welcomed a son and 2 years later, their daughter joined the Groovy Banana team. Becoming parents changed their way of thinking; making them realize so many things about life and kids in general. They love spending time with their kids, playing with them, and raising them into the best little humans they can be, as free and happy as possible. Thanks to the flexibility of their jobs, and their way of living, they are able to worldschool/wildschool/unschool their kids and are loving it!
You can find more from Gaga in the following locations:
Instagram: @groovybananaphotography
Facebook: @groovybanana
Website: www.groovy-banana.com