Kids Club Vol. 33: Ice
KIDS CLUB
VOLUME 33
Welcome to the latest issue of our ChopChop Kids Club newsletter!
Whether we’re freezing plain water—or something tastier—ice is a big part of our hot-weather lives! How many different shapes of ice cubes have you encountered? What was your favorite? A plain cube? A tube with a hole through its middle? A wacky shape? This month we’ve got plenty of icy fun, from recipes (not for plain ice cubes, of course), to cool-off activities, to fun frozen facts. What are you waiting for?
Get chilling!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
- RECIPE
Frozen Fruit-Salad Pops
Frozen Fruit-Salad Pops
kitchen gear
- Cutting board
- Sharp knife (adult needed)
- Measuring cup
- Ice-pop mold or 8 small paper cups and wooden sticks
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups fruit, all one kind or a mixture (whole blueberries or raspberries, sliced peaches, plums, grapes, apricots, nectarines, kiwis, or strawberries)
- 1 cup 100% white grape juice
Instructions
- Divide the fruit into 8 ice-pop molds or paper cups.
- Pour enough juice into each mold or cup to cover the fruit.
- Push in ice-pop sticks and freeze until solid, about 6 hours.
- KITCHEN SKILL
How To Pit Stone Fruit
If you’d like to include cherries, apricots, plums, or nectarines in your pops or cubes, you’re going to need to pit them first. You can dig out cherry pits with your fingers. Here’s how to pit the others:
- Put the fruit on a cutting board and, with the help of an adult, use a sharp knife to carefully cut the fruit in half along the visible seam.
- Twist the two halves in opposite directions and the fruit should come apart. Pull out the pit if you can. If you can’t (this is the case with some peaches), try cutting that half in half again, and the pit will eventually come free.
- MAKE IT YOURSELF
Fun Fruity Ice Cubes
Freezing fruit into ice cubes is super easy, and it’s a great way to dress up a glass of plain or sparkling water. (And water really is the best way to quench your thirst—especially in the summer, when you’re active in the heat.) The fruit in the cubes looks pretty and tastes great too.
Try:
Whole: grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, mint leaves
Sliced: strawberries, oranges, lemons, limes
Diced: mango, kiwi, pineapple, peach
An ice cube is only technically (geometrically) a cube if each of its sides is a square. A rectangular ice cube should really be called an ice trapezoid.
- GET MOVING
Freeze Tag
Playing freeze tag won’t cool you off, but it will be fun! To play, pick someone to be “it.” The goal of “it” is to run around and tag everyone. When you’re tagged, then you have to stay frozen (without moving) until another player tags you—then you’re unfrozen and can move again. The game ends when “it” freezes all but one of the players, who is then “it” during the next game.
- BY THE NUMBERS
Ice by the Numbers
- In 2017, scientists in Antarctica drilled out a core of ice that was 2.7 million years old, making it the oldest ice anyone has ever found.
- The longest ice skating trail is the Lake Windermere Whiteway in British Columbia, Canada, which measures 18.63 miles.
- The ice-cube tray is 88 years old! Guy L. Tinkham invented it in 1933, using flexible stainless steel.
Ice Breakers
Stretch a paper towel across the top of a bowl, and use tape or a rubber band to secure it. Now grab a bowl of ice cubes, drip a little water on the paper towel to get the fun started (skip this step if the ice is already melting), and take turns placing an ice cube on it, using tongs or chopsticks. When the paper tears and the ice tumbles, whoever placed the last cube is out. Brrr!
- TRY THIS
Ice Clay
For a bowl of frosty fun that ends with a ball of usable play clay, tint ½ cup water with a drop of food coloring and freeze until solid (an empty yogurt container is good for this). Put 1 cup flour and ½ cup salt in a large bowl and add the ice. Now play with it! As you hold the ice or use it to dig through the flour and salt, it will begin to melt and mix until eventually there will be a single lump of nice, chilly dough to play with.
Still Hot? Try One of These Recipes
Watermelon Smush
Grapefruit Granita
Kiwisicles
Strawberry-Orange Ice Pops
Want to join ChopChop’s Kids Advisory Board?
We are accepting applications for 2021-2022 now. The ChopChop Family Kids Advisory Board provides valuable perspectives on kids cooking, family meals, and overall health and wellness. The goal of the Kids Advisory Board (KAB) is to highlight the power of your voice in order to create impactful changes within school communities and beyond. Working closely with ChopChop Family, the KAB works together and shares ideas on how to inspire other kids to cook real food in the kitchen. Deadline for applications is Sept. 1 2021.