Make Lemonade with Preschoolers

Lemonade Recipe for Preschoolers

Cooking with preschoolers is so much fun and they love it! 
There is something so special about getting in the kitchen with preschoolers. Watching their eyes light up when they measure the ingredients, the little faces they make at the different smells and tastes and the excitement of creating something new all on their own! Okay, maybe with a little help from their favorite sous chef. 
This recipe is a perfect starter recipe for preschoolers where they can do it mostly on their own and can experiment with the ingredients to create different outcomes. 

Ingredients and Materials

​This fun activity is one of 200 hands on preschool activities featured in our Pre-K Play Ideas eBook! Purchase our eBook to have all of these activity pages at your fingertips.

• 4-6 Lemons sliced in half as well as a few slices for garnish
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 6 cups water
• Ice
• Pitcher
• Saucepan
• Spoon
• Lemon Strainer/juicer

In a saucepan combine sugar, and 1 cup of water. 

Have the sous chef (the adult) bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Stir until all of the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool until the syrup is room temperature. Refrigerate the syrup. ​

Using a strainer, juice the lemons into a bowl until you have approximately 1 cup of juice. 

*Teacher Tip: Using a hand-juicer is great for little muscles and a great use of the time spent waiting for the syrup to cool. Encourage your preschooler to enjoy this process and you can spend the time talking about the sensory experience and predictions for the results. 

Before the next step would be a fun opportunity for a taste test! Are you and your preschoolers up to the challenge? Try each component separately, how do they taste? Will they taste better or worse together, why? 

Pour the lemon juice into the remaining 5 cups of cold water. Stir in the chilled syrup. ​

Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until cold, pour in a  glass filled with ice to serve.

More Lemon Investigations

You can find a printable version of this recipe inside our Investigating Lemons science activities pack. In addition to this printable recipe and related activity pages this set includes science safety posters, Lemonade Stand bunting, and a variety of lemon science activities!

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Save time planning your hands on preschool activities! Find detailed directions for this activity + 199 more in our Pre-K Play Ideas eBook! Print each activity page, or access them digitally!

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