Toddler Time at Home: Creamy Popsicles

As part of our Toddler Time at Home program sponsored by First 5 San Diego we’re making creamy popsicles! With a few ingredients, you can make popsicles with your little one! This is great for toddlers to use their senses and learn about the importance of making healthy choices with foods. Watch the video below for a tutorial on how to make popsicles.

This blog post was originally published on Aug. 27, 2020. 

1. Pour one full can of coconut milk, full bag of frozen fruit and sweetener (1 teaspoon or more) into the blender. Replace the coconut milk with cow’s milk or yogurt, if preferred. Popsicles are also a great place to add some hidden veggies!

2. Blend all ingredients on high until fully blended – like a smoothie! Let your little one help with all – they can support with the mixing, blending, pouring and tasting!

3. Ready your popsicle molds, muffin tin or ice tray and slowly pour your blended mixture into each mold.

4. Add the popsicle mold caps or foil with popsicle sticks to the top of your mold. Then place the filled molds into the freezer on a level surface for 4 – 8 hours, or until fully frozen.

5. Once ready, release each popsicle from the mold/tin/tray using warm water. Enjoy! You can also crush up a popsicle to share with a teething toddler.

Cooking together with early learners (ages 2 – 5) is a great way to teach hands-on skills in measuring, counting and motor skills as well as building memories and fostering collaboration. To further increase the learning opportunities while making this creamy popsicle recipe together, consider incorporating one or more ideas below.

Use Your Senses
Encourage your child to experience this activity using their senses. Invite them to touch, smell, examine and taste the ingredients. Have them talk about their discoveries and to consider what they like and why.

You might talk about/ask:

• What ingredients do you see? How do they smell? Feel? Taste?
• Which ingredient is your favorite? What do you like best about it?

Creating Connections
Talk about fruit flavors and where they come from. You could use this activity as a chance to introduce the origins of fruits, as well as to invite your child to think and share about the foods they eat. Experiment with adding other flavors to your popsicle mix using different fruits or vegetables.

You might talk about/ask:

• Where do these fruits/vegetables come from? Where are they grown and how?
• What fruits and vegetables do we like to eat in our family?
• How do we like to eat them?

Making Healthy Choices
Use this time to discuss with your child the importance of making healthy choices with the foods that we eat.

You might talk about/ask:

• What foods can we put in our popsicles that will help us to stay healthy and strong?
• Why are fruits and vegetables so important for us to eat along with other foods?

Share a Story
Reading is a wonderful vehicle for learning and for introducing new ideas to early learners. Select engaging and age-appropriate books that feature popsicles and related topics to read to your child before or after the creamy popsicle making activity.

Recommended Related Reading (Ages 2 – 5):

• One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews
• Popsicles by Sara E. Hoffmann
• The Boy Who Invented the Popsicle: The Cool Science Behind Frank Epperson’s Famous Frozen Treat by Anne Renaud and illustrated by Milan Pavlovi

Preschool Learning Foundations Standards (Nutrition)

Age 48 months:

• Identify different kinds of foods.
• Indicate food preferences that reflect familial and cultural practices.

Age 60 months:

• Identify a larger variety of foods and may know some of the related food groups.
• Indicate food preferences based on familial and cultural practices and on some knowledge of healthy choices.