Rainbow Sugar Cookies

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018Leave a comment

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Kids are all too often over-scheduled these days, and I’m as guilty of it as the next parent. That’s why I love the afternoons that I deliberately keep wide open for my son and me. It’s the perfect excuse just to play or, one of our favorites, to bake! This cooking project is messy, that’s for sure, but so worth the smiles.

To start, we made a basic sugar cookie batter. In a bowl, cream together 2 sticks (1/2 pound) Earth Balance butter and 1 cup sugar using a wooden spoon or fork. Travis loved this step! Usually we use our stand mixer, and it was so fun to get in there with muscle power.

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Add 2 Ener-G eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, stirring until combined.

Carefully stir in 2 and 1/2 cups flour just until blended. Travis pretended he was a stand mixer on “slow” setting for this step. Loved it!

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Now for the messy part. Divide your dough into about 4 or 5 portions on a floured surface. Working with one portion at a time, knead in colors of the rainbow. We didn’t make a full rainbow, but soon had red, yellow, green, and blue portions, using the all-natural food coloring from Watkins.

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You’ll notice Travis took a moment to steal some leftover batter!

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Wrap each portion of dough individually in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour (longer is fine).

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When it’s time to bake, coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Pinch off a section of each color and roll into a long worm, then make rainbows on the baking sheet.

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Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and repeat with the remaining dough until gone. (Note: we made two batches today, and the dough easily freezes for future rainbow-making).

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Seasoned Pretzels

September 19, 2018Leave a comment

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Kids will love shaking up this snack… literally! Prepare the pretzels in the morning, and they’ll be ready after school for an afternoon nibble.

You’ll need a 2-gallon zippered plastic bag to make the pretzels. I only had 1-gallon bags on hand, so we divided the pretzels into two portions, and for all of the quantities below, we divided in half among each bag.

Place the plastic bag (or bags) in a large bowl, and fill with 1 (16-ounce) bag mini pretzels.

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Add 1/2 cup olive oil.

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Sprinkle in 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 2 teaspoons dried dill, and 4 teaspoons ranch-dressing seasoning (note: try the Saucy Ranch Seasoning from The Vegetarian Express). Travis loved smelling each herb!

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Now the fun part: seal the bag and shake!

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Leave the pretzels to marinate at room temperature for at least 8 hours before snacking.

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Thanks for the great snack idea High Five magazine!

What’s the Weather? Frame

September 19, 2018Leave a comment

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Chances are, if your child is in preschool or kindergarten, circle time in the morning involves checking the weather and talking about what it’s like outside that day. This make-at-home frame, care of High Five magazine, is a great way to keep up the routine on weekends or holidays.

To start, peel the backing off 2 magnetic sheets (available at craft stores), and cover with paper, trimming the edges of the paper to fit if necessary.

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Cut one sheet into 4 long strips. These will be the 4 edges of your frame. Travis and I sat down and talked about different kinds of weather. He enjoyed drawing a “sun,” and what he decided was a “purple storm cloud” and some “raindrops” before hurrying to affix them to the fridge. (Kids will love the magnetic component of this project!)

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A quick confession: I was briefly disappointed that Travis didn’t take more care in his coloring, perhaps trying to draw ovals for raindrops, or more of a proper cloud or sun. That said, he was proud of his work, and it was a reminder that “imperfect” art projects are still a great source of learning and creativity for our kids.

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Meanwhile, I drew 4 pictures on the other magnetic sheet with different kinds of weather we might see. Travis asked for: sun, storm, rain, and snow.

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Cut out the weather magnets, and then head to the nearest window to see what it’s like out there. Hang the right magnet inside your frame for the day. Don’t forget to check the weather tomorrow!

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Ribbon Wands

September 18, 2018September 18, 2018Leave a comment

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My son loves gadgets. My son loves music. Was this project the perfect mix of the two? Hint: it involves a power tool.

In general, musical props like scarves or wands help kids enjoy movement and music that much more as they find the rhythm and beat of a song. So get drilling and put together these cute dancing wands!

The wands are simple, but you will need a drill, as well large craft dowels. Make sure you don’t buy thin dowels, or your drill bit will be much too large to bore through.

Adults: Make sure the dowel is on a tool bench or otherwise clamped down, and carefully drill a hole near one end, going all the way through.

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Travis loved watching (with safety goggles on!) and sweeping up the sawdust after. Use sandpaper to smooth down any rough edges or splinters.

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Next, I cut lengths of ribbon for Travis, until we had a nice pile and variety.

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Help your child guide the ribbon through the holes of the dowels until you’ve filled each with 4 to 5 ribbon pieces. Gather into a knot and tie off.

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And now it’s time to dance!

Greater Than and Less Than Gator

September 18, 2018

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A chomping alligator who can help teach your child the less-than and greater-than symbols? What a cute way to kick off some math for the school year!

This project didn’t work out exactly as planned for us, largely because I had to upcycle egg cartons that were not my own, and as I result used half-dozen cartons, not a full dozen… Needless to say, our final product wasn’t quite a long alligator snout (perhaps more of a hungry dinosaur!) but the lesson remained the same.

Cut apart the tops and bottoms of two egg cartons; paint the tops green and the bottoms white. Let dry completely.

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Here is where things got a little difficult: Punch holes in the green portions, and use yarn to thread first through the holes of the bottom “jaw” and then the holes of the top “jaw.” This is great lacing practice for kids! Tie off with a knot at the end.

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I then hot glued the white “teeth” into each portion of the jaw. (You may need to trim about half a row of the teeth away, for it to nest properly inside the top portion of the carton.

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You now have a hinged puppet who can open and close its mouth to chomp up… numbers!

For our counting game, I affixed block dot stickers to construction paper in various combinations – 2 dots is less than 3; 5 dots is greater than 4; and so on.

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Travis had a bit of difficulty with the actual mechanism of our gator’s jaw, but aside from that, I loved watching him complete each task we put up on the easel. For each, he would count the dots first, then declare which was greater.

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When your child tires of the math lesson, they’ll have a fun gator puppet to play with! Ours was soon involved in superhero games.

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Tambourine

September 14, 2018Leave a comment

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Well, it’s official. My preschooler has left behind the sweet tunes of childhood music class, and now demands pop radio when we travel in the car. But I adore his passion for music and dancing, and we had some quality time making this tambourine, which we then used to play along to his new favorite tunes!

To start, punch holes around the rims of two paper plates, making sure the holes line up. Place the plates so the bottoms are both facing outwards.

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Thread a ribbon through one of the holes, and tie on a bell. Continue threading and tying bells until you’ve worked all the way around.

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Travis helped with a bit of the ribbon…

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…but was far more interested in decorating the surface of his tambourine with foam stickers. We soon developed a symbiotic relationship, mama threading and knotting, Travis decorating, until the tambourine was finished.

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Time to play!

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What’s your child’s favorite instrument to play along when their favorite tunes come on? Please share in the comments!

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Kid-Friendly Granola Bars

September 14, 2018September 14, 2018Leave a comment

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These granola bars are kid-friendly in two senses – both to make them and to eat them – and they are chewier and have far less sugar than store-bought brands. Adults love ’em too, especially to nibble on before or after a workout! Feel free to vary the ingredients below depending what kind of nuts or dried fruit you have at home.

Ingredients:

1 and 2/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 and 1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
6 tablespoons melted Earth Balance butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons cane sugar syrup or corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup peanut butter

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, raisins, almonds, and coconut. Set aside.
In a second bowl, whisk together the melted butter, vanilla, maple syrup, cane sugar syrup, and water.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, along with the peanut butter, and stir until the mixture is moist.
Press into a 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. If it’s sticky, place a piece of plastic wrap on top so you can easily press the mixture into an even layer.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.

Note: Our bars came out a bit crumbly. I would add a little more liquid sweetener or water next time, for even better results!

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Leaf-Shaped Crayons

September 12, 2018Leave a comment

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Back-to-school plus a drop in the temperature around here has us thinking about all things fall, even though it’s not quite autumn yet. Making leaf-shaped crayons was the perfect way to kick off the season!

First, we dumped out all of our crayons and I asked Travis to help me select the ones in fall colors – browns, oranges, yellows, and reds. This was a nice reminder for him of the upcoming season and what we can expect to see on the trees.

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Grown-up step: peel the paper from the crayons. (Note: making a slit with an X-acto knife first helps).

Travis was a big fan of helping to snap the crayons into small pieces!

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We filled a leaf-shaped silicone mold (available at craft stores or Amazon) with the small pieces.

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Place in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crayons are completely melted. It will help to place your silicone mold in a larger baking dish, so you can easily remove from the oven.

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Let cool completely, then pop the crayons from the mold and get drawing!

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Coffee Can Drums

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018Leave a comment

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The spin drum we made the other day was such a big hit (pun intended!) that we continued the musical fun with this easy upcycled drum. It’s similar to the oatmeal- and soup-can drums we made about a year ago, but you can never have too many drums in your home collection.

Trim construction paper or craft paper to fit around an empty coffee canister, leaving it about an inch longer than the can at the bottom.

For decoration, we worked in some fine motor skills practice! Give your child any small circular object and have them trace it on the paper.

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While Travis turned his attention to other toys, I hot-glued the construction paper to our can, folding over and gluing the excess paper on the bottom.

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Then we continued the tracing, this time making the circles on a strip of colored duct tape.

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Cut out the tape circles (another grown-up step; cutting duct tape is a sticky affair), then give them to your child and let them line up the sticky circles with the ones on the paper. Travis enjoyed this part!

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For the head of the drum, I snipped the narrow end off of a balloon, and stretched over the can. “Mom, you’re not very good at this,” Travis accused. Phew, got it on the third try! Secure the balloon with another piece of colored duct tape.

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We threaded some ribbon around our drum as the final decorative touch. I also hot-glued pom poms onto the ends of unsharpened pencils to be the drumsticks, although this would have worked better if I had had larger pom poms in our craft bin!

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My happy drummer boy!

Banana Muffins

September 11, 20182 Comments

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After tons of play with our Baking Crate from KiwiCo, we still wanted more adventures in the kitchen! To wit: these easy banana muffins, the perfect recipe to make after returning from vacation to find three very ripe bananas waiting on the counter.