Mango Cereal Mix

June 2, 2021Leave a comment

Mango Cereal Mix

This is a great snack mix to bring along for sports practice, playground trips, and more. And it’s so easily adaptable, depending what’s currently in your pantry! Use the ingredients below as a loose suggestion only.

Ingredients:

6 strips mango fruit leather
2 cups cinnamon cereal
2 cups corn puff cereal
2 cups freeze-dried blueberries
2 ounces dried mango

Cut the fruit leather into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients, stirring until well combined.

This mix packs up great in zip-top baggies for individual servings on the go!

Build a Fort!

June 2, 2021Leave a comment

We haven’t built a fort with pillows since the winter, so it felt like time! Today, I simply told Veronika we were going to turn our couch pillows into a fort, and let her take it from there.

She was immediately interested in lying down on the cozy blanket we brought from her room, so that became the centerpiece of the fort. She loved pretending to sleep, nestled in her cozy cave of pillow walls.

Then we made the structure a bit more involved by adding multiple “rooms”, each blocked off by a separate blanket and pillows.

OF course this was the perfect place to invite in some animal friends.

She loved playing in this space that was just the right size for one little girl. In fact, the first time I put the fort away, she demanded we make it again!

The beauty of building forts is to let your child imagine how it will take shape, and what will happen inside. Stand back and let your kids take over with this one!

Little Passports: Antarctica

June 2, 2021Leave a comment

LP Antarctica (3)

Travis’s package this month from Little Passports was a bit different, in that it featured a whole continent (Antarctica!) instead of a country. We knew we were in for an icy good time.

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Needless to say, this one was easy to spot on the map! The booklet included information on the southern lights, Edward Shackleton’s failed venture to the South Pole, and more, making for a nice mix of STEM and historical information. All of the activities were at the right skill level for my 6 year old.

Souvenir:

It’s not Antarctica without penguins, and that’s precisely what the kit included: a little stuffed penguin that immediately needed to be hugged and cuddled. Little sister Veronika was smitten, too!

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Further Activities:

Unfortunately, there weren’t any other suggested activities, either online or in the booklet. So we decided to make a cute sensory tray for plastic penguins and orca whales with salt and ice.

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I thought it might be fun to “learn” more about Antarctica through penguin movies, too, though given the choice of Happy Feet and Penguins of Madagascar, it’s unclear how much learning happened. Still, rain outside was a good excuse for a cozy movie day!

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Recipe:

Finally, we ate just like explorers, thanks to the provided recipe for Sledging (sledding) Biscuits.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
1/4 cup cold water

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and use your fingers to mix until the mixture is like coarse crumbs.
Slowly add the cold water, then knead with your hands until the dough comes together. It’s soft and springy, and wonderfully workable!
Roll the dough out into a 1/4-inch thick rectangle, then cut into 6 smaller pieces. Place on a baking sheet and prick each cracker several times with a fork. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.

You can serve these plain, but the kids loved them with extra Earth Balance butter on top! To finish our make-believe trek as arctic explorers, we noshed on some vegan jerky with the biscuits, too.

Broiled Pineapple with Vanilla Yogurt

June 1, 2021Leave a comment

The contrast between warm broiled pineapple and frozen vanilla yogurt makes this dessert a treat for the senses!

Ingredients:

1 cup non-dairy vanilla yogurt
2 cups pineapple, cubed

Spoon the yogurt into a freezer-safe dish and freeze for one hour. Stir, then freeze for an additional 30 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, arrange the pineapple cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes, to desired tenderness. The edges should be lightly browned.
Spoon the frozen yogurt over the warm pineapple. For maximum contrast in temperature, this dish is best served immediately.

Avocado Summer Salad

May 31, 2021Leave a comment

Take advantage of summer’s bounty for this salad. If your kids don’t like strawberries and nectarines, just swap in other berries or stone fruit instead!

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados
3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice, divided
2 ripe nectarine, diced
1 cup diced strawberries
1/2 cup diced sweet onion

Halve each avocado and remove the pits. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and cut into slices, then arrange on a platter. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons lime juice and set aside.
In a bowl, combine the nectarine, strawberries, and onion. Spoon over the avocado slices and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon lime juice.

We love these with grilled Beyond Sausage and baked beans for a summer barbecue!

DIY Road Map

May 31, 2021Leave a comment

It’s been a while since Veronika showed interest in her toy cars. So hoping to spur some play with them, today we made a whole town for her to drive cars through!

To start, I unrolled a long sheet of butcher paper on the ground, taping it at the corners. (Note: I’ve also seen this activity done on a table with a white board top, in which you can use dry-erase markers and wipe clean when finished). Veronika was delighted as we piled cars onto the paper to populate our town!

I started with a long black line for the main road, and showed her examples of buildings we could draw, including a few simple houses. Before I even prompted her, she drove a purple car to the purple house…

…and a green car to the green one!

We added buildings based on the other vehicles in our bin, including a school for the bus and a fire station for the fire trucks. At this point, you can encourage preschoolers or older kids to draw their own favorite buildings or destinations.

Next Veronika wanted to walk along the road. There was a giant in town!

Then she requested a beach, jsut like the one we visit in real life. That’s the brilliance behind the DIY road map, because kids can add their own favorites to this make-believe world. We also needed a construction site full of “dirt” (yellow and black marker) for her dump truck and digger.

Don’t forget to throw in a little learning about road safety. To wit, we had an octagonal stop sign at our town’s main intersection.

Once the drawing and creating is complete, a giant road like this can lead to imaginative play all day. Big brother Travis even got down to play with cars, which he hasn’t done in ages.

Make Pasta Noodles

May 28, 2021Leave a comment

Make Pasta (5)

I’ve tackled many homemade recipes with kids, but we’ve never properly made fresh pasta noodles. Today was the day to take the leap! Technically, I knew this recipe wasn’t going to turn out “right” with a toddler, but mostly the intention was for Veronika to have hands-on flour-y fun.

To start, I placed down several sheets of wax paper to protect the floor, then scooped out 2 cups flour. Instant fun! Veronika helped mound this into a volcano shape in the center of the wax paper.

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I then whisked 4 tablespoons flaxseed into 12 tablespoons cold water for flax “eggs”, although honestly you could just use water. Veronika loves when we make vegan eggs like this, though, and is proudly in charge of the whisking.

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Make a well in the center of the flour mound and begin adding the flax mixture, a little at a time.

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Veronika loved helping stir with a fork after each addition; the flour begins to pull into the liquid in a way that’s quite neat to watch! Eventually you’ll need to start to using your hands, kneading until it forms a ball. I was so proud of Veronika for getting her hands right in there after a moment of hesitation.

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Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. While a pot of water comes to a boil, roll the dough into a rectangle with a rolling pin. Veronika “helped” with this part, although mainly by jabbing at it with the rolling pin.

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At this stage, things turned more into sensory play, so I wasn’t able to cut the noodles as suggested by online sources like Parents magazine. But I did slice off little bits of dough that we cooked up in boiling water anyway, just to see! Cook for about 3 minutes (until they float to the surface), then serve warm with marinara sauce. The kids declared the noodles yummy, although a bit odd in texture!

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Make a Sailor a Boat

May 27, 2021Leave a comment

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Veronika recently played with a box in a very free-form way, where we let the box serve as a prompt for imagination, but with almost no embellishments. Today’s play was the opposite, carefully crafting an upcycled box for a specific use: A boat!

I started with details like the sail and mast first, because I knew Veronika would be antsy to climb in for a ride and not want to wait for paint to dry. Use tape (or hot glue) to rig up two dowels one one end of the box, then attach tissue paper or fabric for the sail. We used the latter, with a fun whale print that was just right for the open seas.

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Next, cut a steering wheel shape from construction paper and tape to a craft stick, then attach at the end of the box opposite the sail.

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Don’t forget to cut out circles for portholes, too!

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Veronika couldn’t wait to cast off from shore! The box was just the right size for her and one stuffed animal passenger to sail around the globe (well, apartment).

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Once she’d had her fill of sailing, I did take the time to paint. Black, blue, and white stripes gave the box a quick nautical sheen! Now she was content to wait before hopping in for another sail.

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Anchors aweigh!

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Moon Journal

May 26, 20213 Comments

The last time Travis made a moon journal, he was still in preschool, meaning I was in charge of the drawings, and he was mostly along for the ride! As a first grader, this time he was in charge of the project from start to finish, not only enjoying the art aspect, but understanding on a deeper level, too.

We started when the moon was a waxing quarter, Travis eagerly peered out the window at the night sky and chose his colors carefully before proudly presented his first drawing. Don’t forget to add the date!

Each successive night for a week, we checked on the moon just before bed. Travis took careful stock of how the moon had changed since the night before: the first night a thumbnail, the second night bigger but not quite half, and so on. He also marveled at how the position in the sky changed (by the end of the journal, he had to switch windows!)

Aside from frustration one night about cloudy skies, he loved the process.

We ended when the moon was just shy of full, and he proudly made a giant yellow circle.

This is a great way for kids to observe so much about how the moon changes, not just its size and shape, but also where it is in the sky, what time it appears, and more.

Pop Art Popsicles

May 26, 2021Leave a comment

Today we made popsicles that really popped, just in time for a 90 degree day.

To start, add gummy candy to popsicle molds. Parents magazine demonstrated with Airheads, but we used vegan sour rings from Whole Foods, thinking the sour combination would pair nicely with sweet juice.

That said, don’t use too sugary a liquid, since the sour rings are still loaded with sugar. We filled half of our molds with coconut water and the other half with lime seltzer. Freeze until set. (Ours took about 8 hours).

When it came time for the big reveal, the kids were wowed by the candy circles trapped in frozen liquid!

Half the fun was looking at them but the other half was in eating them of course, unlocking each candy circle in turn before moving on to the next. What candy will you freeze for pop art pops? Please share in the comments!