Celebrate National Lollipop Day

I’m all for celebrating silly holidays any time of year, but I think it’s especially fun to note these days in the summer, even more so when they are food related.

For reasons I’m unsure of, July 20 is National Lollipop Day, so let’s celebrate with some sweet science and a few printables (not to mention some lollies to eat).

Want to make lollipops from scratch? Steam Powered Family has the recipe, just be aware you might need some special equipment like a lollipop mold and a good candy thermometer. Also be really careful with this one and little kids because hot sugar can burn.

Rock candy is sort of lollipop adjacent, though they take a few days to make while the crystals grow. Get the how to from Happiness is Homemade.

With or without a mold you can also make your own lollipops out of Jolly Ranchers or another hard sugary candy, which is a lot easier and faster to do with littles (and safer, too, because you can melt them in the oven). One Little Project has the lowdown on how to make these.

Whether you make them yourself or buy them, you can also do some experiments with lollipops. Make predictions and observe how lollipops dissolve with this experiment from Fantastic Fun and Learning, or paint with lollies with this idea from No Time for Flash Cards.

How about some lollipop themed crafts? I love this simple lollipop ornament project from Happy Hooligans. They’re so colorful and easy to make and would be great for your holiday tree, or use them in a pretend play sweet shop.

Or cut our a paper spiral and use it to decorate a paper lollipop, as in this one from 10 Minutes of Quality Time (the spiral printable is included). I also love the perler bead lollies from One Crazy Mom. You can make these a solid color or stripes, or use all those mixed up beads to make a totally random design.

Round out your day of lollipops with some printables. I found lollipop coloring pages at The Art Kit Blog and Twisty Noodle (that one’s a color by number) and dot coloring pages at Free Preschool Coloring Pages. You can also do a lollipop color matching activity with this cut and paste printable from Mama’s Reflections.

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The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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