Pudding Cookies

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Thanks to sneaky shortcuts like pre-made baking mix and instant pudding, these cookies come together in a flash. You still have to wait for them to cook, though!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon flaxseed
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup baking mix (such as Simple Mills pancake mix)
  • 1 (3-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
  • 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/4 cup non-dairy mini chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • White sugar
  1. Whisk together the flaxseed and water in a small bowl to make 1 vegan egg. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the baking mix, pudding mix, peanut butter, canola oil, and flaxseed egg. Stir in the chocolate chips and raisins.
  3. Shape the mixture into 18 balls and arrange on baking sheets. Fill the bottom of a small dish with sugar. Press the bottom of a wet glass into the sugar, then press down onto the cookies. This will definitely be a favorite step for kids helping out in the kitchen!
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, until set.

Toddler Triangle

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This musical idea (from the Toddler’s Busy Book) was one of those reminders that sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones. It can be hard for Veronika to make beautiful pinging noises on our triangle instrument, because she always holds the metal of the triangle itself, which stops the vibration. But this at-home version is the perfect hack for making beautiful music!

Simply tie a length of colorful yarn to a three-inch long screw. (Note: You can use nails of the same length, too, but be sure to tape over the sharp end).

Now hold onto the yarn, and tap the first screw with a second one. Ping ping ping!

This brought instant delight to Veronika’s face. She even wanted to help her toys “play” the triangle, showing them how to make music on it just as I had shown her! This was the perfect way to make music on a rainy afternoon.

Building a Bird’s Nest

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This beautiful activity can help toddlers (or older kids!) engage with nature in springtime, in particular the way birds build their nests. After gathering nature treasures, seal the whole “nest” together with mud, talking all the while about the amazing way birds construct their homes with just beaks and feet…no thumbs!

Of course first up is the chance for a nature walk, collecting items that a bird might use for a nest like twigs, grasses, and flower stems. Once home, we arranged all these in a couple of shallow cardboard boxes.

I told Veronika that birds also used mud for the walls of their nests, to hold everything together, and that now it was her turn to make mud! You can use dirt from the yard, but we actually used potting soil mixed with water until it was nice a goopy. Veronika loved stirring with a stick!

We poured the mud all along our sticks and flowers, resulting in beautiful little nests.

It turns out these nests didn’t just stay for the birds! It wasn’t long before Legos and other toys were playing in their springtime nests, too.

Simple Shakers, Two Ways

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Veronika and I made two versions of homemade maracas today, all from upcycled items!

The first suggestion came from the Toddler’s Busy Book, where the author originally suggests filling old film canisters with beads, buttons, or similar small items (pebbles, dried beans, etc.). But who has film canisters anymore? But the toy medicine jars from Veronika’s vet set are nearly identical to this throwback, in terms of shape, size, and color. The perfect vessel to be our shakers!

I filled one jar with beads and another with buttons, for contrast, and put the lids on firmly. We loved having an early morning dance party and shaking along!

The second version was the perfect way to upcycle plastic Easter eggs. I used six eggs total and three different items (beads, buttons, and pennies), adding each item to two eggs. Hot glue the eggs shut, then set out. Now it was a bit of a guessing game! The trick is to see if your toddler can find the “match” for each egg by listening to the different sounds. To make the task easier, both eggs with buttons were blue, both eggs with beads were pink, and so forth.

The easiest for her to distinguish were the pennies, since they made such a loud clang. Buttons and beads were harder to tell apart.

But no matter what was inside, these sure were fun to shake!

Painted Toast

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Here’s a cute way for a toddler help make his or her lunch! Before assembling a sandwich, your child gets to “paint” their own toast.

To set up, I poured 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk into each of two small dishes, and added food coloring to each. Veronika chose blue and green.

Using clean cotton swabs (or a clean paintbrush, if you have one), we dipped in the milk mixture and then onto slices of bread. Veronika loved seeing colors appear! I encouraged her to make dots and swirls. Meanwhile, I showed her how we could also draw more detailed pictures, like a smiley face.

Or a letter V for Veronika!

Once the design is to your child’s liking, toast the bread for 1 to 2 minutes in the toaster and the image will set. Prepare your tot’s sandwich of choice, and set out this happy lunch!

Kitchen Tool Bath

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Veronika loves bathtime, but has seemed bored of her usual toys lately. So for novelty, we threw in the proverbial kitchen sink… almost literally! Because it turns out that old items from the kitchen can make fantastic bath toys.

Plastic utensils such as whisks were perfect. I also added silicone measuring cups and an old ice cream scoop. Veronika quickly switched into her bathing suit and hopped in for some fun.

The whisks were great for stirring through the water. If she whisked fast enough, it even made bubbles!

She spent some time pouring from one measuring cup to another. Then she began pouring water over other items like the whisk or ice cream scoop, and was amazed that the water trickled straight through, nothing to hold it in. The scoop was also great for ladling up a little bit of water, then pouring it over knees or elbows or toes. Be sure to name body parts as your pour over each one.

Mostly, though, I just let her splash around and have fun until the water started to get cold, and then it was time to come out.

Vanilla Maple Rice Pudding

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Here’s the perfect warm dessert for those evenings that need just a little dose of extra coziness.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups plain unsweetened soy milk
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup Arborio rice
  • Blueberries, for serving (optional)
  1. Combine the soy milk, maple syrup, and vanilla in an oven-proof pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then stir in the rice.
  2. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven; bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour, stirring about halfway through.
  3. Serve warm, with blueberries on the side if desired!

Make a Sailboat

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Travis has been tackling projects that hone his fine motor skills as he completes the academic year for first grade. For this one, he made a floating sailboat with just a few common household items.

First up was making the sail. Since he chose black paper, I suggested he use white crayon so his drawing would show up well. He loved decorating it with an imposing figure.

I then drew lines so he could cut the paper into a triangle.

Apply glue to the non-decorated side of the sail, then fold in half over a straw in the middle (as the mast). Let dry completely.

For the hull of the boat, wash and dry a Styrofoam tray. Travis used a blob of clay to secure the mast in the center, then it was time to set sail! This boat proudly braved the waves of Baking Dish Sea.

If kids want to get scientific, they can test out different sized sails and see if the boat floats better or worse!

Rainy Day Recycled Rainbow

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Veronika loves rainy days lately, because she’s on the hunt for a rainbow! While we waited for a real one to appear, we made this upcycled version at home, the perfect use for the last few sheets from a pack of construction paper. If you don’t have construction paper, use up any leftover bits of scrapbook or patterned paper from your craft bin. We actually didn’t have any green paper left, so thinking quickly, we scribbled green marker onto white paper.

Tear the paper into pieces (and invite your child to help!), then draw the outline of a rainbow on a large piece of cardboard.

Working with one color at a time, Veronika helped dot glue all along that color, then press down the paper bits that matched.

She loved the process, whether shouting out “gluey gluey!” as we dotted the glue on first, or proudly selecting which paper piece to add. She enjoyed sliding the paper pieces through the glue, too, watching the way this smudged the marker line underneath.

We worked our way up from purple, and she was thrilled when she had to step across the rainbow to work on yellow, orange, and red at the top.

When the rainbow was complete, she wanted to keep going. I gave her a sheet of paper and the remaining paper scraps to design her own rainbow. I loved this toddler-take on the craft!

Pretty soon we’ll head outside to find a real rainbow for the perfect finish to a rainy day.

Frog Pond Game

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We set out to make this game after spotting it on Kiwi Co’s website… Only after saving up enough lids to make the playing pieces, I could no longer find the post. That meant we improvised, but still created a fun game!

To start, use bottle lids (from cider or lemonade jugs), and trace onto green craft foam. For each “frog”, I hot glued two lids together, and glued a circle of craft foam to the outsides. We made enough to have two playing pieces each.

For the game board, we headed outside on a gorgeous spring day to draw the pond with chalk. I added green lily pad targets, and Travis liked adding black fish to the water, too. Oh no, potential hazards!

Finally, we labeled the pads with points; smaller, further away ones were worth 10 points and nearer, bigger ones worth only 5. Take turns rolling or flinging your frogs at the lily pads and see who accumulates the most points!

This was a cute game to play in spring sunshine, and now we have plans to take a walk to our local pond and listen for real frogs!