We caught up with our birth centre friends yesterday and one of the mothers had this fantastic idea for some toddler-friendly, dairy-free ice blocks – a great idea for such hot weather. In the end, I was the only one with moulds, so I ended up experimenting and came up with this recipe (but I really can’t take the credit for the idea).

We popped the girls outside armed with bibs and wipes. All of them were fairly keen on the end result, some more than others. Elena shed a few tears when hers was finished. I guess we can call that a success?

This recipe is entirely flexible – just mix and match flavours according to what you have on hand and the littlies you’ll be serving them to. Made the way described below, the ice blocks were sweet but not too sugary.

I think it would work equally well with mango or chopped cherries, rice milk or goats milk, and with the addition of a little vanilla for an older audience. If you’ve no dietary concerns, normal milk would work just fine.

Toddler-friendly coconut strawberry ice blocks

400ml coconut milk
1 punnet strawberries, washed and hulled
2 tablespoons honey (adjust according to sweetness of strawberries)

Blend all ingredients together, pour into ice block moulds and freeze.

*If you don’t have access to a blender I’m sure chopping the fruit finely/mashing it would work just as well. Likewise, I’m sure you could freeze the mixture in an ice cube tray for a slightly messier version if you don’t have ice block moulds.