Toddler Times - Teaching Colors

 I put together a bin of red items for K, 16 months, to explore.  This was easy to put together; I just found as many red items as I could to fill the bin.  Most of the items are age appropriate, but a few (pipe cleaners (aka chenille stems), crepe paper streamers, and dot markers) require supervision.  K has requested the bin at least once a day since I introduced it to her.

 Magneatos

 Stacking Pegs

 Dot Marker

 Plan Toys Water Block

Fun with Crepe Paper Streamers

Wintry Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I made these wintry pretzel treats as a special after school snack today.  I melted chocolate chips in the microwave and then spooned the chocolate over pretzel rods.  Then I added mini chocolate chips, nonpareils, snowflake sprinkles, or blue candy melt drizzle to each of the pretzels.

They remind me of one of our favorite winter books, Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kohara.

The main character is a young boy who is lonely because all of his friends are hibernating.  Just when he thinks that he hates winter, Jack Frost appears and they have a great time playing in the snow and ice.  Jack Frost warns the boy that he must never mention anything warm in his presence or Jack will have to leave.  I'll let you read the book to find out what happens!

A New Year, A New Direction

The title of this post has been on my mind all day long and every time I say it to myself, I can't help but think of my six year old's favorite boy band, One Direction.  This blog has been a "one direction" blog since I started writing here -- snacks based on stories (books to be exact) and that is it.

I'm just not so sure that I want to stay on the "one direction" track.  I like creating snacks to go with books, but I feel like there is SO MUCH MORE that I want to share here.  I miss blogging about fun products, crafts, ideas, and whatever is on my mind.  I miss sharing things that I love!  (For those of you who may not know, I used to blog publicly at Superheroes and Princesses, but I made that blog private a little over a year ago).

I considered starting a new blog, but honestly, I have been there, done that.  I'm not interested in starting all over again.  So, for now, my intention is to move forward in a new direction, or many new directions by posting more than just snacks and stories here.  I hope you will come along for the ride!

With that being said, I thought I would share some goals for the year.

It's not too late to write down goals for the year.  This printable can be found at Little Wonders' Days.

My two middle children and I completed these 2013 papers this week.  Here are some of our goals:

Me:  visit my sister, learn more about my camera, exercise, menu plan, more saving, and be able to run 3 miles by the end of the year (lame, I am so bad at running)

C (8):  wants to go to Germany (probably not happening this year bud) and be able to compete in Lego competitions by the end of the year

R (6):  wants to go to NY, learn about elephants and pandas, try skiing, and be able to do a backwards flip by the end of the year

Do you have any goals for the year?

Ornament Snack

I posted this last year, but this blog was so new then that I thought I would repost it for any new readers.

My six year old loves strawberry jelly and cream cheese, so I made this for her.  I cut the bread with a biscuit cutter and then cut a tiny square out of extra bread to make the top of the ornament.  Then I spread strawberry Polaner All Fruit over the top.  I put a little cream cheese into a sandwich bag and cut the corner off to pipe the designs on the ornament. 

This snack is great to share with just about any Christmas book.  Here are two that we enjoyed this week:

Christmas is Here! by Siobhan Ciminera.  This is a Strawberry Shortcake easy reader.  I love this book to go along with this snack because the book has directions to make a strawberry ornament (made with paper, not strawberries!).  

The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll.  Clayton the town mouse and Desmond the country mouse team up to bring the spirit of Christmas to Mouseville.  We have read a few books in this series by   Steven Kroll and we always enjoy them!

Kindness and Giving

I wanted to post this here before December started, but that just didn't happen!  I think it can still be useful to my readers (maybe 12 days of kindness?) so here it is.

Every year, I make a red and green paper chain to count down the days to Christmas.  In past years, I wrote a special activity for us to complete on each link of the chain.  Our activities were often crafts, special outings, or baking goodies.  I wanted to do something different this year.  I read about the idea of giving back a little each day and doing random acts of kindness during the month of December and I knew this would be perfect for us.  Some of the activities I chose involve being kind or helpful to others, and some involve helping those less fortunate.  Overall, I hope my children just enjoy doing something nice for someone else each day.

This is what I wrote on each of the links:

1.  Put money in the Salvation Army Red Kettle
2.  Pick up litter (the path that we take to school each day is full of trash; I have wanted to do something about it since the day after Halloween when I noticed all of the candy wrappers thrown there)
3.  Help Mom cook dinner
4.  Donate toys to Toys for Tots
5.  Help Mom bake something
6.  Make treats for the birds and hang them in a tree
7.  Help someone at school (a teacher, classmate, or anyone who needs some help)
8.  Donate some gently used books to the Angel Tree Program (this organization puts books in the hands of children with incarcerated parents)
9.  Help Dad with something
10. Make a card and mail it to a relative
11. Read to your baby sister
12. Make ornaments for friends
13. Write a letter to the police or fire fighters (or both) and thank them for keeping our town safe
14. Write a letter to your teacher and tell her what you like about her class
15. Bake cookies for the neighbors
16. Call your grandparents
17. Clean up a mess without being asked
18. Write a note to each member of your family and tell him or her what you love about him or her
19. Do something nice for one of your siblings
20. Give someone a compliment
21. Smile at everyone you see
22. Spend some time petting and playing with Kelly
23. Go for a walk to see the lights in the neighborhood and wish everyone you see a Merry Christmas
24. Do something nice for someone
25. Merry Christmas!  Think about all of the nice things you have done this month.

I know there is another week of December that I have yet to account for, and I am still thinking about what we will do during that week.  I will update my list!

Crustless Mini Pumpkin Pies

I love pumpkin pie.  With the exception of my oldest son, everyone in the house loves pumpkin pie.  Until I discovered this recipe last year, I used to just make a regular pumpkin pie; I hate to mess with a good thing, but this is delicious and it has become one of our favorite fall desserts!

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

1 T. melted butter

1-1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Stir all ingredients together and pour into a greased muffin pan.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool. Refrigerate to store.

4.  I like to top mine with a little whipped cream and cinnamon!  YUM!

After eating this delicious treat, we read Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman.  In this story, a witch plants a pumpkin seed with the intention of baking a pie for Halloween.  When she is unable to move the pumpkin herself, passersby (a ghost, vampire, mummy, and bat) offer to help.  They work together, and in the end, share the pie.  There are some great lessons in this book - helping others, accepting help, teamwork, size doesn't always matter, sharing, etc., which make the book one of my favorites for Halloween.                                                 

*This recipe is from In Between Laundry.

Elmer the Elephant Pumpkin Pal and Snack

We are big fans of the book Elmer by David McKee, so when my six year old daughter was given an assignment to create a pumpkin pal based on the main character of a book, it was an easy choice for her.  Actually, she briefly considered Pinkalicious and The Cat in the Hat, but Elmer got her excited about the project.  I do want to mention that this was supposed to be a family project and we worked on it together, but it was mostly just gluing on tissue paper so it isn't very complicated.

Everything we used to create the pumpkin pal was already on hand.  We began by painting glue on the pumpkin in small patches and placing the tissue paper squares all over the sticky surface including the stem (trunk).  Then we coated the squares with a layer of Mod Podge.

We made the ears by drawing ear shapes on the back of a cereal box, cutting them out, and covering them with more tissue paper.  Then we folded part of the ear and used tacks to stick them into the pumpkin.  I tried glue, but it wasn't strong enough and I am out of sticks for the glue gun so the tacks had to do.  Finally, we glued on googly eyes.

I think the final product is great and it was so easy to create.

For a simple snack, I made a patchwork peanut butter and jelly.  I don't really think this needs explaining, but it is one slice of bread with peanut butter and one slice of bread with jelly cut into squares and arranged like patchwork.