Easy And Healthy Refreshing Food/beverage Ideas To Keep Your Kids Cool In Summer!

Summers in our country with soaring temperatures and intense loo are distress for kids. Keeping the body cool and avoiding dehydration is essential, especially for kids who drain energy rapidly being active 24*7. The loss of nutrients and water through sweat cannot be couped up by water only, hence they need supplemental food/beverage items to keep them cool and energy-balanced.

Offering a variety of foods or beverages that beat the heat and avoid dehydration can be challenging, as the kids always demand variations and do not bend their will to a monotonous menu. Sounds Familiar?

So here’s is a list of simple and delicious treats for kids that look mouthwatering without compromising nutritional benefits! These are easy to procure, store and prepare without needing to wear your Chef hat! You can name them as you want and assign them to each day of the week to keep the kids looking forward, they will gulp them down in a matter of seconds.

1. CURD (DAHI) 

A healthy probiotic -curd has innumerable health benefits known to all Indian households as it is easy to prepare at home or procure from the market. Curd can be consumed in its original form or turned into a variety of beverage or dishes.

Is a traditional palette cleanser for many communities in our country. Mix water and curd to make smooth consistency with a pinch of salt, sugar, chaat masala, and jeera powder for a lip-smacking cooling beverage.

Lassi 

It is a sweet, thickly churned form of curd with the goodness of natural milk cream. It is a perfect cool drink for summer evenings in place of regular milkshakes. It energises and keeps the tummy filled for a long time

Curd Raita

Can be included in every meal using variations like boondi or veggies like cucumber, mint, tomato onions in curd with a pinch of salt and jeera powder. As yummy as it tastes, it is an equally healthy way to incorporate a probiotic in every meal that aids in digestion and maintains body temperature.

Greek Yoghurt 

Ready-to-eat probiotic greek yoghurt is also a great option occasionally. Try to opt for fresh and natural ingredient yoghurts having a shorter shelf-life as they contain less or no preservatives.

2. FRUIT POPSICLES AND ICE CUBES

The excitement for typical mango or orange popsicle is still intact in all kids through generations. While it is not healthy to offer ready-made popsicles due to the uncertainty of the ingredients used, homemade popsicles are a great option.

Fruit popsicles

A popsicle mould and fresh fruits are all you need. To make fruit popsicles, puree the fruits like watermelon, oranges, blueberries, strawberry, kiwi, back grapes, mango, or any other fruit in the grinder, add some water for consistency, put them in a popsicle mould and freeze! Ready to eat popsicles will be gone in minutes with all the nutritional goodness of seasonal fruits intact and no added sugar and preservatives! Try the rainbow popsicle for a fun-filled activity with your kids during summer.

Fruit ice cubes

Prepare the fruit puree as above, put them in moulds of any shape (ice-cube size) and freeze. Ask the kids to add one or two fruit cubes to the regular water every time. It will prompt the kids to drink more water and infuse fruit benefits without you needing to monitor. Mint, lemon or watermelon ice-cubes are more popular among kids.

3. MILK

Can we even mention all the option that we can make out of milk to survive through the scorching summers. Milk is a staple drink for kids when it comes to a quick snack before playtime or school.

Smoothies

Curd, Milk, fruits, nuts, cream and everything healthy can be dropped together into the grinder and made into a delectable cool and creamy drink. Flavour, thick consistency and great colours of smoothies always excite the kids and are an instant and lasting energy source that helps the sweet tooth during summers with compact nutrition. Create new flavours using different fruits and nuts, or replace milk with curd or ice cream to serve a new variety each time. For example, if the kids don't eat the banana, offering a banana smoothie might be an easy way to get their daily quota into their tummies.

Milkshakes/ Flavoured Milk

I don't like milkshakes, said no child ever! When you run out of ideas or fruits, whip up a chocolate or a plain vanilla milkshake or the traditional Kesar, rose, khas flavoured milk made from natural squashed pulps to create instant yummy milk treats. 

Custard

Slow boil milk with custard powder to make thick creamy, and delicious custard milk, then cool it in the fridge and served with lots of fruits in it. The kids will lick it clean, stay full and energised with all the goodness of milk and fruits. Alternatively, you can also freeze the custard milk to use as homemade ice cream and improvise it with cinnamon powder, Kesar, cardamon or any other flavour as per your kids' choice.

4. INDIAN COLD DRINKS 

The credit goes to our Indian heritage that we have so many water drinks ideas passed on from our ancestors that are perfect for summer health. These drinks keep you cool, prevent dehydration, balance micro-nutrients and electrolytes (salts that balance sodium and salt level in the body to prevent dehydration) and are homemade with traditional spices that build up immunity. Most of them can be prepared fresh every day and stored in the fridge, we bet the kids will gulp them down, and you wouldn't even know it!

Aam Panna

The super coolant and cure for extreme heat strokes is a tasty treat made from raw mango, mint leaves and traditional spices and condiments. Easy to prepare and store in the fridge, drinking aam panna before and after a trip in the sun prevents heat strokes and is very prominently used by adults as well.

Aam Ras 

Highly popular mango pulp or aam ras extracted from choicest seasonal mangoes is a mouthwatering delicacy that can be enjoyed with a regular meal of roti sabji or as a post-meal cold desert. Mangoes are densely infused with micronutrients and a rich source of vitamins, magnesium and potassium.

Neebu Pani 

Another great warrior of summer is neebu pani (Lemon water). Squeeze lemon in cold water, add a pinch of salt, jeera powder, rock salt and sugar to prepare an instant energy drink that is suitable to have at any time during the day! Prepare some mint ice cubes as above and serve them in lemon water for a taste change and surprise the kids with a new variety.

Coconut water

This natural drink has innumerable nutritional properties, preventing dehydration is one of them. As tasty and refreshing it is to have, it is naturally formulated with perfect electrolytes required to maintain the sodium and mineral balance of our body that help to keep us hydrated. It is best to use coconut water directly from the coconuts than the ready-made packaged coconut water as they contain preservatives and artificial sugar.

5. FRUIT CHOCOLATES

Lure your kids to eat more fruits with chocolate wrapped fruit bits. Dice small pieces of fruits like strawberry, mango, grapes and dip them in melted dark chocolate (because dark chocolate is healthier) to coat them in a thin layer and then insert 1/3rd portion of a toothpick in each piece. Place them in an ice cube tray or on a plate in the refrigerator to freeze and create fruit chocolates. The cold taste of fruits and chocolate will be a star of options of evening snacks.

Summer means extra fun with extended bath time and not worrying about catching a cold, slurping on tasty liquid treats, ice creams, but summer also needs precise attention to the hydration of kids. As per the experts, with temperatures rising as high as 50 degrees across the country, kids need to be well hydrated even when indoors, because they are always active and dissipate more energy, increasing the chance of dehydration.

It can be a task to keep everything available immediately, offer a variety and monitor nutrition as well! We hope these easy ideas will help to tackle the summers and not letting kids drop their energy!

Training them to drink water more often is a habit that goes a long way to maintaining health not only in summer but during all seasons.

Phew! Let's go, it's time to drink water!

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