Five Fruit Salad ice lollies 

Reluctant Fruit Eaters

Speech bubble, "Our ice lollies are going to look fantastic." with twins age 7 written underneath 

Children tend to be more interested in trying out different foods if they have been involved during the preparation of it, especially if it has been a fun activity too. I used to engage our children by firstly getting them to predict the colour of the fruit puree before I blended the different fruits together. Once this was done the children enjoyed putting the fruit puree into the ice lolly moulds. There is plenty of scope for a little creativity by providing children with different colours of fruit puree and it doesn't have to take long when you discover how easy it is when using ice lolly tip 1. Homemade ice lollies are slightly different each time they are made which adds excitement and a thrill of anticipation when the ice lollies are released from the ice lolly moulds. Our children made the Mottled ice lollies at the age of 7 but children much younger could make these and be proud of their results!

Mottled Ice Lollies
Mottled ice lollies

Ice Lollies Made by Twins Aged 7

  • The left ice lolly was made using 3 different colours of fruit puree
  • The right ice lolly was made with a different fruit recipe and tip 1 to make 2 colours of fruit puree

Not all children like fruit but it might not necessarily be the taste of the fruit that is putting them off. Our son didn't like pear because the juice was running down his hands when he was eating it. This was quickly resolved by cutting the pear into pieces and letting him eat it with a fork. Our daughter didn't like banana, but it was the texture that she didn't like. She loved banana milkshakes and surprisingly, her favourite ice lolly was the Fruit Surprise ice lolly which had chopped up pieces of banana hidden in the centre of it. It was the change in the banana texture that made a difference to her.

If a child clearly does not like a particular fruit, then blending it with other fruits to dilute the taste can work well and fruit ice lollies are ideal for this. Alternatively swap the fruit with another. For example, the mango used to demonstrate the different ice lollies on the home page can be swapped with a banana. The Gentle Shade ice lollies, Dapple ice lollies and Splatter ice lollies show an example of this. Strawberries can be replaced with raspberries.

 

Older Children

A selection of Different Ice Lollies
A selection of different coloured, shapes and sizes of fruit lollies in a large glass dish

Although I originally started to make the fruit ice lollies for the children when they were small, I continued to make them as they got older. The fruit ice lollies in the photo above were a welcome snack during their study breaks during exam time. Our son wouldn't choose to eat a piece of fruit out of choice but would frequently ask if he could have a fruit ice lolly. It was an easy way to get him to eat some additional fruit (rather than having to nag him). By blending some of the fruit he wasn't so keen on with other fruit to dilute the taste, he consumed a wider range of fruit than he would do normally.

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Fruit Ice Lollies © M Greenman July 2023