Month: October 2020

Maze Through Lentils

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Veronika is obsessed with tractors and other farm machinery, so this sensory bin was a great way to bring the farm play home. It also doubles as a learning maze!

To set up, make a line of masking tape on the bottom of a shallow tray, forming a path from start to finish.. I wanted this to be fairly simple for Veronika to follow, but made a few zigs and zags.

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Add the words ‘start’ and ‘finish’ for early sight words!

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Next, I covered the whole tray with red lentils. Add miniature farm-themed items, whether miniature animals or seasonal miniatures, or anything else that fits the theme. We used mini hay bales, tiny gourds, and of course a little wheelbarrow.

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Could we get the wheelbarrow from start to finish? I showed Veronika how to scrape her finger through the lentils to uncover the path.

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Big brother Travis wanted to jump in for this part!

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Now the goal was the drive the wheelbarrow along the path, making this count as Veronika’s very first maze. Of course she also loved driving it all through the lentils, leaving the tape path behind completely.

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The mini farm items were so fun to play with in further imaginative play.

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She moved items around and “planted” the gourds in the field, and kept busy with the sensory tray for nearly half an hour.

Halloween Countdown Day 24: Hallo-Bowling

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In the summer, it was giant inflatable unicorn bowling around here. Now that it’s fall, it was time for Hallo-Bowling!

To make this spooky spin on regular bowling, first cover paper towel tubes with white crepe paper. You’ll need to work carefully, wrapping a layer of crepe paper, applying glue, wrapping again, and then repeating all the way down the tube. It was almost like making mummy wraps!

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I then added big round Os for eyes and mouths with black marker. Set up your pins in a triangle, and now here’s the extra Halloween twist: your bowling ball is a round pumpkin!

The rounder your little pumpkin, the better. Then just set up the pins and give it a roll.

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Travis, especially, loved watching those wide-eyed ghosts get knocked down.

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Halloween Countdown Day 23: Boo Someone!

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It’s safe to say this was Travis’s favorite of our countdown activities so far this Halloween season. We decided to “Boo” a few friends with goodie bags, a tradition that seems to be gaining traction.

First up was a trip to the store to select goodies for the Boo Bags. A local retailer had all the treats we needed for this trick, including goodie bags and little Halloween trinkets (think stickers, wind-up monsters, pencils, and individually-wrapped candies).

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At home, we printed out the Boo note to go with each bag. If you’re new to the tradition, the recipient hangs a “We’ve been BOO’d” sign in the window, then copies the directions and “Boos” two other friends, keeping the fun alive. Travis loved stuffing the bags with our treats.

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We colored in the notes since our printer is black-and-white, and then it was time to sneak off and drop them at doorsteps.

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The goal is to be as sneaky as a ghost and try not to get caught!

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Well, it turns out that Travis and I are terrible ghosts! We were spotted at every single one of our drop-offs, but it gave all the kids a good laugh which turned out to be half the fun.

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Did you Boo someone this Halloween? Please share in the comments!

Pumpkin Scented Rice Bin

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This was easily one of the prettiest sensory rice bins I’ve put together for Veronika. And it certainly smelled the best!

To prepare the rice, you’ll want to start the night before. I didn’t have orange food coloring, but I dripped in a good sized blob each of red and yellow, then added about 2 tablespoons of hand sanitizer. Add a bag of plain white rice, along with 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, and stir until it’s all combined.

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I ended up really liking the striated effect this achieved, since some pieces were more yellow, some more red, and some a perfect blend of orange. All the fall colors! Spoon the mixture onto a shallow tray so it can dry overnight.

In the morning, I laid out the rice for Veronika, along with pine cones and whole cinnamon sticks. Feel free to add other whole spices if you have them, like nutmeg or star anise.

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Veronika loved the bin right away, first wanting to get her hands on the cinnamon sticks. “Can I smell them?” she asked.

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I also added in a few orange pipe cleaners so she could thread the cinnamon sticks onto them, almost like long beads.

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Cinnamon bracelets!

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Then she started sprinkling handfuls of rice over the pine cones. She loved the sound it made!

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It was fun to bury the pine cones in the rice and then unearth them. And of course she paused often to lift the rice near her nose and take a deep breath in. There’s nothing better than the smell of pumpkin pie!

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This one kept her busy for a while!

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Halloween Countdown Day 22: Boo-Dos!

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Forget hairdos; tell your kids that today you’re giving them boo-dos!

This is a fun game to play in the tub, especially if your kids aren’t big fans of shampoo and need a boost to make it playful. Travis’s ‘do looked like a little ghost tail.

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Or perhaps the top-knot of a samurai warrior.

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Veronika had spikes just like a stegosaurus. “I’m a dinosaur!” she said with delight.

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The kids loved looking at pictures of their silly ‘dos long after bath was over. This was the easiest way yet to dress up in costume as Halloween approaches.

Tricked-Out Treats

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There aren’t any neighborhood Halloween parties this year since big gatherings are a no-no, but that doesn’t mean you can’t surprise your little goblins with a party platter of tricked-out treats. To wit, we’re getting a little batty with our snacks as we get closer to Halloween. And ghosty, and spidery, and owlish, too!

For spiders, cut kiwi into rounds and arrange 8 pretzel pieces around each circle as legs.

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For ghosts, cut mini cucumbers in half lengthwise. Cut out small pieces of non-dairy cheddar slices for eyes and mouths.

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For vampire bats, spread water crackers with guacamole. Place each cracker over two blue corn tortilla chips for wings. Use additional corners of tortilla chip for fangs, and pieces of non-dairy cheddar for eyes.

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At dessert, it was time for some sweet-not-spooky owls!

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Trim rice crispy treats (such as Made Good) along one edge to form two triangles. Spread with your favorite vegan vanilla frosting, then add two creme-filled cookies (such as Newman O’s) as eyes. We had some sleepy owls and some that were wide awake! Add an almond for a beak, and your little owls are ready!

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No tricks here, just delicious treats that had the kids smiling.

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Orzo, Chickpea, and Sweet Corn Salad

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Orzo Chickpea Pasta (1)This lunch pasta is great served at room temperature. Prep the chickpea “tuna” salad the night before and it comes together in moments, if you’re packing up lunchboxes!

Ingredients:

For the chickpea “tuna” salad:

  • 1 (15-ounce) drained can chickpeas
  • 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup diced celery
  • 1/4 cup diced red onion
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

For the pasta:

  • 8 oz orzo pasta
  • 1/2 cup frozen sweet white corn, thawed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  1. To prepare the chickpea salad, combine the chickpeas, mayo, celery, red onion, and garlic powder in a bowl; mash with a potato masher until it resembles tuna salad.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the orzo according to package directions. Drain and transfer to the bowl with the chickpea mixture, along with the corn and olive oil. Stir to combine.

If you prefer, make a double batch of the chickpea “tuna” and use for sandwiches later in the week!

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Halloween Countdown Day 21: Pets on Parade

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All those traditional pet costume parades are cancelled this Halloween, but you’re sure to delight your kids if you take a day in your Halloween countdown to check out virtual versions.

The kids giggled as we checked out online images of dogs dressed up as Ewoks and delivery men. This gave them the idea to put our kitty in a costume!

I knew our cat wouldn’t tolerate a full costume, but he surprisingly didn’t mind a pair of red devil horns for a moment while noshing on dinner.

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So, as long as your pet is willing, play doggie and kitty dress-up today. As always, make sure your pet is comfortable and happy in a costume, and never force the issue.

Meanwhile, there’s still a chance to tune into one of the biggest and best pet parades when Tompkins Square Park goes virtual.

Spaghetti Spider Web Craft

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Thanks to some recent sensory play with Veronika, I’ve learned a few tricks about how best to make sculpture from spaghetti. I realized the same method could be used to add to our Halloween decor, because it would result in perfect “spider webs”.

To start, mostly this activity was just spaghetti sensory play again. This time, I tinted a big batch of spaghetti a witchy green hue and instead of adding glue, I added corn syrup.

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Just pour it on until you have a nice coating over the noodles. This not only means the noodles won’t clump together as your child plays, but also means the final artwork can still dry like glue, but stay edible.

And good thing, because Veronika was in the mood to nibble on pasta today! I gave her a small dish of plain noodles, but she ate big handfuls of the green stuff right from the pot!

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Eventually I diverted her attention from eating noodles to making the spider web craft. Lay out squares of wax paper and help your toddler arrange noodles in a circle. The thinner the overlap of the noodles, the faster and better these webs will dry.

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Being a toddler, of course she also wanted to make big gloppy piles of noodles, which was half the fun.

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She loved calling them webs, though, as she worked.

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Once we had three neat web shapes, I placed them on a baking sheet and put in the oven at 175 degrees F for 2 hours. This was sort of a guess, but it worked perfectly. The webs came off from the wax paper without tearing or breaking at all.

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Thread yarn through the top of each “web” and hang in spooky corners or windows. Bonus points for plastic spiders to live in each web!

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Halloween Countdown Day 20: Spot Ghosts at Sunset

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As long as it won’t spook your child too much, here’s a fun way to build the suspense as we approach All Hallow’s Eve: Head outside as the sun is setting and look for ghosts and goblins in the clouds!

The clouds make beautiful shapes against a sunset, so chances are you’ll spot something spooky as soon as you have your imagination caps on.

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Travis was determined to find a witch, too, and very importantly told me it was witches we would see in the sky, not ghosts.

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Tonight we had a thumbnail moon. After he failed to spot a witch, Travis decided we’ll need to try again on the full moon, which just happens to be on Halloween! And aren’t those treetops starting to look like… witch’s brooms?

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This was a fun spooky spin on looking for shapes in the clouds.