Homemade Cool Treats for the Last Day of School

On our calendars it says THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Who could have imagined that our last day was actually Friday, March 13th? Boy, I miss you all! Celebrate anyway with lots of play and maybe some kitchen activities like creating homemade popsicles.

Making your own popsicles at home allows you to control the ingredients, get creative and mix flavors you know your children will like, and save you money. You can pick up inexpensive popsicle molds at the store or order them inexpensively. These recipes are also easy enough that your children can get in the kitchen with you and measure and pour and you can chat about the science of mixing and freezing.
Here are some popsicle recipes that any kid should love.

Banana Popsicles
4 bananas
4 ounces avocado
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder (can omit if child doesn't like or cannot eat chocolate)
4 Tbsp. Peanut or other nut butter or Sun Butter
1 cup milk, can be non-dairy

Place all ingredients in blender and mix until smooth.
Pour into popsicle molds and freeze at least 8 hours.

Root Beer Float Popsicles
1 15 oz. can root beer
1 cup vanilla ice cream, frozen yogurt or coconut milk ice cream, slightly softened

Fill each of 10 molds ½ to ½ full of ice cream
Fill rest of mold with root beer. You will have to let foam settle down and pour again to completely fill.
Freeze overnight.

Pineapple Orange Popsicles
2 cups fresh or frozen pineapple
3 ripe bananas
1 cup 100% orange juice

Mix all ingredients in a blender and pour into 10 popsicle molds. Freeze about 4 hours.

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup lemonade
2 Tbsp. honey (optional)

Blend the strawberries and lemonade first, then drizzle in honey if using. Pour into 8 popsicle molds and freeze about 4 hours.

Frozen Fruit Crush
This recipe is fun because you can mix the fruits to match your tastes. Get creative!
4 cups of your favorite juicy fruit, (i.e. mangoes, oranges, berries, kiwis)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (preferably fresh, but bottled works!)
3 Tbsp. sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until the fruit mixture is thick and smooth.
Here you have 2 options:
1. Pour the mixture into popsicle molds and freeze OR
2. Pour the mixture into ice cub trays. Freeze until hard. Then throw the fruit cubes back into the       blender on medium speed until crushed. Serve in bowls.

Gummy Worm Lemonade Ice Popsicles - This recipe is from a previous post, but is worth repeating because of its fun factor. Of course, you don't have to add the gummy worms and you will have simple Lemonade Popsicles.

1 & 1/2 C favorite lemonade
1 & ½ C or 8 Oz gummy worms (Trader Joe's has healthier, naturally colored gummy worms)

Pour the lemonade, pour into a container with a spout.

Stuff about 3 gummy worms in each of 10 3-ounce popsicle molds. Adjust if your molds are different sizes. Fill the molds with the lemonade, just enough to cover the worms. Freeze for at least 10 hours.

Homemade popsicle recipes have been around a long time and continue to pop up on many sites and in many recipe books. You can actually use these recipes as guides for mixing your own favorite flavors!

And don't forget about the old reliable milkshakes and floats that are a cinch to make at home and quite a treat on a hot Birmingham day!