Healthy Lemonade in a Bag (BONUS sprouting activity!)

This activity was a HUGE hit for both students and teachers. Between the minimal cleanup, affordable ingredients, and hands on fun, this will surely be something you’ll be repeating all summer. Doubling as a seed to table science lesson, children can interact with seeds, acids and fresh foods.

Even your pickiest kiddos will enjoy the cold, refreshing taste of this “lemonade” without all of the extra added sugar. Plus, little hands will love smashing and mashing the lemons and watching the juice squeeze out.

What you’ll need:

1 sandwich size ziplock bag per child
2 lemon slices per child (abut 5-6 lemons for an average class size)
2 tablespoons of pure honey per child (Honey is not meant for consumption for children under the age of 2)

Directions:

With children watching, slice the lemons into whole, round slices. Make observations and spark discussions. What will be inside? What will it look like? Where do lemons come from? How do they taste? Are they sour? Sweet? Salty?
Remove all seeds. How many seeds did you find? Reserve lemon seeds for sprouting activity below.
Allow children to feel, touch, and taste their individual lemon slices.
Give each child one ziplock bag, helping them to place their lemon slices in the bag, and zip shut very tightly.
Show children how to lay their bags flat on a table, pressing and kneading the lemons until all of the juice and pulp is expelled. Add honey, zip bag shut, and repeat kneading to combine lemon and honey together.
Re-open bags, and CAREFULLY fill with about a cup (or until bags are 3/4 full) of very cold water (optional: add ice).
Zip the bags almost all the way shut, allowing just enough space for a straw in the CORNER of each bag.
Sip and enjoy!

Worried about all that plastic? So are we! There are plenty of way to reuse ziplock bags and straws! Straws can be washed and re-used for younger children to practice cutting, for building, blowing bubbles, sensory bins, painting, and more!

Ziplock bags can be washed and reused for the following BONUS activity! All you need are some cotton balls, and dried lima beans. (You could also try with lemon seeds!!!)