DIY Summer – Make Your Own Popsicles

As a part of my DIY Summer Series I have been thinking of ways to keep my little ones entertained and active without breaking the bank. I have talked about field trips and crafts and below are a few easy recipes for DIY Popsicles that my kids love and I am sure yours will to.

DIY Popsicles

You can use popsicle molds or 3 oz. disposable plastic cups with a craft/popsicle stick. You can also use ice cube trays and toothpicks for little pops.

Very Berry Patriotic Popsicles – so fun for 4th of July get togethers!
1 container of blueberries
1 container of strawberries
1 container of vanilla frozen yogurt
Popsicles molds or 3 oz. cups and craft/popsicle sticks

Directions

• Chop the strawberries into little pieces
• Slice blueberries in half
• Put small amount of yogurt in popsicles molds, then a layer of strawberries, another layer of yogurt, then blueberries.
• Repeat until molds are full.
• Insert sticks and freeze.
  Servings vary

Fruit Cocktail Popsicles

1 can of fruit cocktail

Directions

• pour canned fruit cocktail into popsicle molds or 3 oz. disposable cups – including juice.
• Insert craft/popsicle sticks
• freeze
• servings may vary

Flavored Water Popsicles

As part of the Aquafina Flavor Splash Mom Ambassador program I have received a sample of each of the six Flavor Splash flavors – Grape, Wild Berry, Lemon, Strawberry Kiwi, Raspberry and Peach Mango. My family loves the water so I figured they would love it frozen as popsicles too.

Frozen Banana Popsicles

I am not sure, but I think my son might be part monkey the way he eats bananas. They are hands down his favorite treat – have been since he was a baby.

1 banana
popsicle sticks

Directions

• Cut the banana in half. (don’t slice it – cut it in half)
• Stick popsicle sticks into each banana half.
• Place on wax paper and freeze.

You can also jazz this recipe up a little by rolling the banana in crushed up Grape Nut cereal.
Makes 2 Servings.

Orange Dream Pops

6 oz. of pulp free orange juice

1 pint of softened vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

Directions

• Mix ingredients together in a blender
• pour into popsicle molds or 3 oz cups
• insert popsicle sticks
• freeze
• servings vary

If you have any recipes or would like to share a DIY Summer tip please leave a comment below or email us at chestercountymoms(at)gmail.com.

“I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Aquafina FlavorSplash and have received various FlavorSplash samples to facilitate my participation. Mom Central will send me a gift card at the end of the program.”

DIY Summer….Chesco Mom Style

My family is swinging and sliding the summer away on our new Highlander Play set from Backyard Discovery. The Highlander is a pre-stained, cedar play set with tons of play features. It has a raised fort with four levels that start with a picnic table on the bottom and end up top with a dual roof clubhouse and porch! There are two belt swings and a two-person glider and my kids are having fun zipping down the super speedy 10′ slide.

We recently invited a few friends over for a “break in the swing set” par-tay. My kids love to play pirates with the telescope, wheel and glider on the play set so we decided our par-tay would have a pirate theme. I had big hopes for our pirate party! Pre-party I hit the party store and bought skull & cross bone plates, cups & napkins and lots of gold coins, necklaces and eye patches. I was really comitted to the pirate theme. The kids loved all of the pirate stuff for the first few minutes then somehow the party turned into playing house with the different levels of the play set being different rooms in the house. Before I knew it baby dolls, books and a tea set were thrown into the mix and the gold pirate treasure coins turned into money to pay the lady at the make believe grocery store.

During the party the adults hung out on the deck, reminiscing about their childhoods and swing sets of the past. I remembered my swing that my grandfather had hung between two of the tallest trees in his backyard. At full swing I was probably 10 feet off the ground. 10 feet! What was I thinking?!? I would swing the day away then peddle back down Memory Lane to the house on my hot pink big wheel with pink and purple steamers.

One of the things I love the most about our new swing set is watching my children use their imaginations and play with each other. We live in a world of instant gratification. Instead of peddling a bike, kids press a button and zoom around in mini electric vehicles. Instead of blowing bubbles with a wand that inevitably will spill and get them all sticky – they press a button and on an automatic bubble blower and wah-lah instant bubble with no fuss or mess. Even board games and books have gone digital. Now don’t get me wrong I own five electric kiddo play cars, have gone through multiple bubble blowers and love our Xbox and Wii… I thank the good, good people at Leapster just about every day for our Leapster 2. It is my go to child entertainer. There is place for all of the gadgets and gizmos, but I really feel there is a NEED for kids to use their imaginations and reconnect with an “UN-connected” way to play…you know no batteries, no power cords, no controllers, no headphones…. Just good old fashion make your own fun.

This summer as a way to have my kids “power down” I have lots of backyard, outdoor “summer adventures planned”….stay tuned for more posts on DIY Summer,Chesco Mom Style….