DIY Popsicles for Kids (recipes + a Zoku giveaway!)

Western Washington's don't-blink-or-else-it's-gone summer is in full swing around here. And let me tell ya - I love summer and all, but it has been rough. Sleep is not on Penny's radar at all and I can't bring myself to turn on the stove or oven to cook. I've run out of crock-pot and cook ahead ideas...but, of course, then there's all the fun that summer brings.

Like backyard play and picnics. Our favorites!

So when I do bring myself to cooking whatever it is that sounds good that day, I've been treating the fam to delicious homemade popsicles for dessert. Homemade is a no brainer right now because store bought frozen goodies have so much sugar and that's just unnecessary for our bubbly toddler.

Finding ingredients to make popsicles at home can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. When I'm low on inspiration, simply a 1:1 ratio of whatever yogurt I have in the fridge mixed with milk is just fine. Or watered down juice. No matter what ingredients you use, you definitely want to use a Zoku popsicle mold.

For super-quick-gotta-have-them-now popsicles, I've been using our Zoku Duo popsicle mold. Once you have the core prepped (freeze it for 24 hours prior), you have popsicles in 6-7 minutes. Boom. And it couldn't be easier than prep, pour, wait, enjoy.

My favorite quick pop recipe these days has been the raspberry creamsicle; we picked our own raspberries at our local farm and I combined it with orange juice.. Voila! Delicious.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup orange juice
*This will yield 2, maybe 3, quick pops.

Directions:

Pretty simple, right?

The Zoku Duo Quick Pop is pretty ingenious, if you ask me. The kind of ingenious where you're like.. why didn't I think of that? The quick pop maker is filled with a liquid, so after you have prepped it by freezing it for 24 hours, it is ice cold and freezes your pops super fast on your counter top, without electricity! To remove your pops thread the Super Tool into the handle of the popsicle stick and it'll pull the pop right out. It's just too easy! And it'll make 6 pops before needing to be re-frozen.

A few other ideas for flavors:
Find my Blueberry Yogurt + Lemon Essential Oil Popsicle recipe at That Mama Gretchen
Freeze your favorite smoothies (try avocado smoothies for toddlers - an even easier way to get them to eat their veggies!)
Got leftover coffee? Pour that in!

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But if you've got some time to spare (say, 8 hours), the Zoku Fish Pops Molds are soooo adorable and perfect for your pint-sized pipsqueak to enjoy. The tray of 6 pops features different sea creatures with matching tails as handles. The fish pop mold is just like most other popsicle molds, you have to pour and freeze for 8 hours, but I love that you can easily pull the pops out when they're done because the mold is made of silicone.

Some of my favorite flavors to put in the fish pop molds are:

• Juices, like orange juice or cran-raspberry, lemonade
• Pureed fruit or veggies, diluted with of coconut water

Disclosure: I received product in exchange for my honest review.