Looking for a cooling treat that’s easy to make and easy on the sugar content? Make some herbal popsicles, it’s easy as 1-2-3.
My son loves popsicles and when I showed him how easy it is to make them, he took over the job to make sure he’s always got popsicles on hand.

Why make your own popsicles?
Commercial popsicles often are full of a lot of ingredients that you don’t want your child consuming: high fructose corn syrup, artificial food coloring, artificial flavors, and often high doses of other sugars as well.
Whether your child has ADHD, autism, an auto immune disorder, a food sensitivity, or you just don’t want those ingredients in their diet, homemade popsicles are the easiest option to offer a healthy, cooling summer treat without all the added garbage.
Herbal popsicles are also a great way to get your child to take their daily dose of herbs. You can add their daily herbal tinctures into each individual popsicle for freezing so they get their herbs as they get their treat.
The herbal tea used can also be their daily herbal dose as well. By brewing up a tea and adding a few flavorful herbs such as peppermint or lemon balm, many kids will enjoy their popsicles while cooling off.
If they prefer a sweeter treat, you can add a dash of your favorite sweetener, whether it be stevia, maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar, adding a fraction of sweetener that commercial popsicles include.
Kids also love to take charge of their food and health. Learning to make their own herbal popsicles is fun and empowering, teaching kids important self care lessons at an early age.

How to make popsicles
I promise it really is easy!
Brew an herbal tea. It can be a daily tea you want your child to drink, or it can be a tea that is refreshing such as lemon balm, lemon verbena, peppermint, cinnamon basil, cinnamon, or licorice.
Once the tea has cooled, add sweetener if you feel it needs sweetening.
Pour into silicon popsicle molds and freeze. If you are adding their daily tinctures to the popsicles make sure to keep them separated so they aren’t eating too many in a day.

Medicinal uses of popsicles
Besides being a treat, popsicles are a great way to administer herbs to kids. I mentioned earlier that you can add tinctures to them before freezing for an easy way to give them their daily doses of tincture they may be taking.
I also mentioned that you can convert any tea into a popsicle as well.
Popsicles are also great if your child is running a fever and craving something cold. You can use your favorite herbal tea formula for fevers, or try this version that was published in my book Herbalism at Home: 125 Recipes for Everyday Health.

A few other herbs that make great popsicles:
Chamomile – great for fevers, calming, and a sweet taste that kids usually like.
Ginger – spicy and warming, this popsicle can help to soothe an upset stomach and help to cool you off by making you sweat! Great for sore throats too. Add a little sweetener if needed to tone down the spiciness.
Rose – rose petals have a mild flavor and can help to reduce fevers. Add in rosehips for a bit of vitamin C.
Spearmint – great minty flavor that works the same but is a bit milder and sweeter than peppermint. A cooling herb that will help to cool you from the inside out.
Wild Cherry – for a fruity popsicle, make some wild cherry tea. You can add a few tablespoons of fresh cherry juice to enhance the cherry flavor a bit more and/or add a few teaspoons of honey to sweeten.
Some combinations:
Fever reducer: 2 parts spearmint and prunella, 1 part each chamomile, catnip, and blackberry leaf
Lemonade: equal parts of lemon balm, lemon verbena, rosehips, and sumac
Tummy tamer: 2 parts chamomile and spearmint and 1 part ginger
Do you make popsicles? Have you showed your kids how to make them so they can make their own? What are your kids’ favorite flavors?