A Sweet Treat for Summer Fun!

Ok, folks.  Did you miss the guest post I did weeks ago over on Homespun Threads?  She did a boredom buster called "Summer Soiree" with tons of great ideas to beat that old Summer enemy: the "I'm bored!" monster.  Go check it out!

My contribution to her summer soiree?  Well, see below.

Summertime means long days, fun and sun, and hot, hot, hot!  So, what can you do to beat the heat and bust some boredom to boot?  Homemade popsicles, of course!  What says summer better than some yummy, frozen treats?  Since I don't have popsicles molds myself, I decided to show you an easy way to make some of your own!  For your summertime pleasure, I present to you:

Or "Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Popsicles" for short.  Why buy things you can make yourself from things at home, right?  Right!  Now, this little how-to shows you our version of strawberry popsicles, but bear in mind that you can mix and match any fruit/yogurt combo that you can dream up.  The sky's the limit!  And what's more, even the littlest of helping hands will have a blast.

First, let's go over the necessities:

1.  Blender

     Ice

     Strawberries

     Milk

     2 individual containers of strawberry yogurt

     Sugar

2.  Craft Sticks

3.  Skinny plastic cylindrical containers - we used (generic) crystal light containers  - along with their lids

4.  Craft or Exacto knife

*Not pictured: Scissors

Let's get started!
Put about 1/2 to 1 tray of ice in your blender.

Add 1 package of strawberries.

Pour in a little sugar.  We used about 1/4 Cup, but you can add as much or as little to taste.  Obviously, you can omit it altogether to make it even healthier.

Scoop in the yogurt.

Pour in a bit of milk.  I didn't measure this, but we filled in the blender until the milk came to just BELOW where the top of the yogurt was.

So it looked like this:

Now, blend it!


Let's make our molds.
First, use a scissors to cut your containers down a little, to whatever size you'd like.  

I cut our containers almost in half.

Take the lids and hold a stick up on top, then use your craft knife to cut a small slit, just big enough for the stick.

Do this with all the lids.

Pour your yogurt blend into the molds,

and place the lids on.

Let your little helpers push the sticks through the slit.

And your popsicle looks like so!

Side note: Obviously you can use something like this as well.  Someone just gave me these - they're from the dollar store.  They're tiny, though, so someone could probably eat all 8 in one sitting.

If you have leftover yogurt blend, it's great in a cup as a smoothy!

Now, stick your molds in the freezer.  If you are making a lot at once, you can duct tape your containers together so you can move them all at once.

Freeze your popsicles for AT LEAST 24 HOURS.  That's important.  It takes yogurt quite a while to freeze and if you remove them from the freezer too soon, the sticks will just pop right out.  


Take them out of the freezer and slide the lids off.

Run a knife around the popsicle to loosen it.

Slide the lid back on the stick, wiggle the stick and slowly slide the popsicle out of the mold.

And enjoy your yummy treat!

The lid is just right for catching all those drips!

Perfect for running with,

Or munching while you play...

Easy to hold,

Healthy and yummy...

Sure to brighten your day!

And, because I like you, I've created a little recipe card for Homemade Frozen Yogurt Popsicles!  Just right click to download and save to your computer.  Resize if needed - it's meant to be a 4x6 card.

But that's not all!  (I sound like a used car salesman)  Now you have tons of popsicle sticks laying around - either leftovers from that big bag that you never used, or recycled from popsicles you made.  What are you going to do with all those sticks?  Throw them away?  I think not!  Of course you could do the standard popsicle stick projects:

1. Ojo de Dios, Michelle's Journal Corner

2. Free Standing Photo Frame, DIY Family

But here's a little round-up I did to give you lots of inspiration!  There are some great ones that will appeal to your crazy little guys (check out that catapult.  bug would DIE if we made that...) - but they're all fun ideas for any kid.

1. Jewelry Boxes or Catch-alls, Frugalosopher.com

2. Bowl, The Long Thread

3. Name Plaques, Art Projects for Kids

4. Trivet, The Small Object

5. Sunburst Art, Creative Jewish Mom

6. Harmonica, Maya Made

7. Bookmarks, Easy Child Crafts

8. Mini Catapult, Science Store Online

9. Puzzle, Impress Your Kids 

10. Pencil Holder, Art Projects for Kids

Thinking ahead, a lot of these would make great Father's Day gifts!  Especially 7-10.


And for those of you mom's out there, the practical and the ambitious:

1. Gift Tags, A Little Hut

2. Popsicle Stick Purse, Scribbit

Everyone loves a good round-up, am I right?


Be expecting some more of those homemade popsicle ideas - I've even improved upon the mold a bit, I think!  Stay tuned!

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!