Tea Party

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I’ve joked in the past that tea parties are very gender-neutral affairs around here – trucks and cars have been distinguished “guests” in the past!

A rainy evening gave us the perfect opportunity to host another party, and Travis had fun mapping out the whole event. He started by writing “invitations” for the guests, after I showed him an example.

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Next up was making sure every guest had a party hat!

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I asked him what we should serve, and he enthusiastically decided, “Cookies!” Since I had none on hand, peanut butter crackers made a nice substitute.

As a special treat, we used “real tea” (i.e. water) in the teapot, and Travis was very careful pouring for his guests…

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…and making sure everyone had a sip!

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I love watching his imagination at work in games like this, and am reminded that tea parties are not just for little girls. What “guests” have been invited to food parties at your house? What did you serve? Please share in the comments!

Hearts of Palm Cakes

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Hearts of Palm CakesCapture the summer taste and texture of crab cakes for kids – minus the crab  – by sneaking in hearts of palm instead!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup crushed saltine crackers, divided
  • 1 Ener-G egg
  • 3 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon minced red onion
  • 1 (14-ounce) drained and chopped can hearts of palm
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  1. In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup saltines, the Ener-G egg, mayo, red onion, and hearts of palm. Place the remaining saltines in a shallow bowl.
  2. Shape the mixture into 3 patties, and coat evenly in the crushed saltines.
  3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and let cool slightly before serving.

Snack in a Fox

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You’ve heard of a Jack in the box – today we’re switching the rhyme around to a snack in a fox! I adapted this idea from our September issue of High Five, where it was intended as a lunch bag for bigger kids headed back to school. I have snack-size brown bags at home, which made our “fox” perfect to take along to the summer toddler workshop Travis and I have been attending.

The craft itself was mostly an adult project. Snip the corners from the top of the bag, and set aside (these will be the fox’s ears). Fold the top down, and tape place a cone-shaped coffee filter under the “nose.”

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Tape the corner scraps to the back of the bag to make the ears, then decorate the fox’s face with markers.

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I gave Travis a second set of all the materials – bag, coffee filter, markers – to play with while I made the real thing, and he loved helping out with the tape.

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Then it was time to fill our fox with pretzels, resulting in one happy boy!

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He also loved taking his snack to “work” at his new play desk.

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Roll and Color

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I had so much fun with this little project because it counts as Travis’s first “board game.” Although he didn’t quite understand the full concept, it was a nice way to introduce him to multi-player games, and I look forward to playing it with him as he gets older.

The big excitement for toddlers comes for the out-size die – made from an old tissue box! Cover the box with white paper, and color in one dot on each side, in 6 different colors.

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Mark those same 6 colors on strips of paper – these are each player’s “score cards.”

Now give that big die a toss!

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When it lands, have your toddler tell you what color he or she sees, then select a matching pom pom. A roll of green, for example, means you can place one green pom pom on your score card. The first player to collect all the colors “wins.”

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Of course, Travis and I played a modified version, rolling and selecting pom poms, but we didn’t keep score. As mentioned, though, I liked introducing the idea of a board game to him.

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If you try this with a preschooler, I’d love to hear how the game goes in the comments!

Grapes to Raisins

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Introduce the magic of chemistry with this easy at-home experiment. Does your toddler know that grapes can turn into… raisins?

When I presented this mystery to Travis and told him we needed heat in order to make them change, he immediately said, “We need an oven!” Chemistry 101, complete!

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Slice as many grapes as you like in half, keeping in mind that you’ll end up with a significantly reduced volume of raisins, then have your toddler helper assist you in sprinkling the grape halves evenly over a baking sheet.

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Or dumping them on:

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Place the grapes in the oven at 200 degrees F for 2 and 1/2 hours. Now we wait!

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To be honest, you can probably leave your grapes the oven in quite a bit longer (3 or 4 hours) for truly raisin-y raisins. Ours were a sublime mix that was half juicy grape, half condensed raisin, warm from the oven and very golden raisin-y in taste. Travis was thrilled with the result. The perfect dessert just before bed.

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If you’re even more ambitious, you can profit from the summer weather to make real sun-dried raisins. Place your grapes in a sunny spot for several days (yes, days!) covered with cheesecloth to prevent them from getting dirty. I hope to try this some day when we live in an area with less car traffic.

Corn and Mushroom Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette

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Corn and Mushroom Salad with Sesame VInaigrette

This vibrant summer salad combines almost all of Travis’s favorite vegetables. Eating in season is a great way to show kids how vibrant fresh produce can be.

Ingredients:

  • 3 ears corn
  • 8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 1 and 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 1/2 cup chopped radishes
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  1. Shuck the corn and cut the kernels from the cob. Combine the kernels and mushrooms on a baking sheet and toss with the sesame oil. Broil for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the cilantro, tomatoes, and radishes. Add the corn mixture and stir to combine.
  3. Whisk together the vinegar and canola oil. Pour of the salad, tossing to coat.

Frog’s Dinner

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Here’s a silly and fun way to teach kids how very differently frogs eat from us – not just that they eat bugs, but that they use a long tongue to do it!

To set the scene, we gathered together all of Travis’s stuffed frogs, and said the frogs were very hungry!

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Attach Velcro pieces to any plastic bugs you have (I love the Velcro strips sold with a sticky backing already, so you don’t need glue). Attach additional pieces of Velcro  to the ends of paper party blowers. Then, show your toddler how an elongated party blower latches right on to one of the bugs and slurps it up, just like a frog’s tongue!

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Travis thought the game was an absolute delight. He didn’t want to try blowing a party blower himself, but loved watching mom and dad do it! I put a few pieces of Velcro directly over the stuffed frogs’ mouths so they could “slurp” up the bugs just by pressing onto the Velcro as well.

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Party blowers were fascinating in and of themselves, and provided entertainment for a nice little while.

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Dyed Rice

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Here’s a simple idea to take your sensory play with materials like rice or pasta up a notch. I’ve read about versions of this game using Kool-Aid powder, but since I’m leery of a few of the ingredients in Kool-Aid, I wondered if I could copy the method with natural paint powders. The result wasn’t quite as vibrant as Kool-Aid… but that’s probably a good thing!

Set-up is a little messy. If your child is under 3, you’re probably going to need to do most of the work, although I let Travis sit in on the action. Place about 1 cup rice in large zip-top freezer bags, making as many portions as you want colors. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons paint powder to each bag. Travis did enjoy this part, so I didn’t mind a little mess!

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Add 1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol to each bag, then seal the bags and let your toddler shake or knead to incorporate the color.

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Transfer the colored rice to a foil-lined baking sheet. Note: you may want to separate each color with a strip of foil as well, until they are dry. Let dry overnight.

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The next morning, it’s exploration time! I poured the rice into a bin for Travis, and he was amazed to see colors instead of plain white. First we explored the rice by hand.

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Then of course it was time to mix them all together!

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Travis would fill a smaller container and then dump it back into the larger bin, talking about the colors as they poured. Overall, the game was a nice variation, since regular rice has become old-hat around here.

Second Birthday Party: Construction Trucks

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By his or her second birthday, your toddler will have definite ideas about what they like and don’t like. Pick a favorite theme and make their special day truly all about them (unlike the first birthday, which I always feel is more of a milestone for proud mamas and papas!).

Travis shakes with excitement for trucks – diggers, cement trucks, steamrollers, bulldozers, you name it – so it was only natural to go with a construction truck theme. I didn’t go crazy with decoration, but wanted a few construction touches throughout the event.

Line the display table with caution tape, and use large toy dump trucks as containers for party snacks.

 

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To wit, we had potato chip “rubble” and pretzel stick “beams.” Use trucks you already have at home… or make them a birthday gift for the lucky boy or girl!

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Continue the food play with “cement” (hummus for dipping cut veggies), “rocks” (fruits such as grapes and blueberries), and “wrecking balls” (clementines). A few strategically placed construction cones (from Birthday Express) completed the decor.

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And of course you’ll want “diesel” (beer!) for the grown ups who need fuel.

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Dessert was a huge hit with the under-3 set: Chocolate pudding “dirt” cups. You can make your own pudding, but to simplify life I purchased Zen Soy’s chocolate pudding, and filled each cup with cookie crumbs (made from Newman’s Own chocolate alphabet cookies). Vegan sour worms from Surf Sweets were the finishing touch – and arguably Travis’s favorite part of the whole party!

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For the birthday cake, we had to go with Dump Cake of course!

Rather than overwhelm young guests with too many games, I carefully curated the toys to fit the theme. Fill a small sandbox with dried rice or beans, and add all the trucks and vehicles you have around the house for the ultimate construction site play area.

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I set out cupcake crayons and coloring book pages featuring construction trucks; Travis’s various toy tools and hammer boards; Birthday Blocks to build with; and empty soda cans for kids to pile into the highest tower they could.

Party favors continued the theme, with a mini truck for each guest to take home, construction cone sippy cups, a yellow construction hat (also from Birthday Express), and “pop rocks” candy – maybe better for Mom and Dad to eat at this age, but the closest candy I could think of to fit the theme!

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The birthday boy got a special extra… his very own construction vest and tool belt.

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First Birthday Party: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

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I’ve always felt that first birthday parties were more of a celebration for the parents – we made it one full year! – than for the child, who’s not quite old enough to understand that the day is all about them. So for Travis’s first birthday, I kept with a simple theme. The event was low-key, a 2-hour afternoon time to socialize with friends and their children, but with no organized activities or big meal.

Travis latched onto Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as an early favorite song, imitating the hand gestures from about 9 months on, so it was a natural theme to choose. Stars lend themselves perfectly to little decorative touches!

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Star toothpicks and a shooting star from Etsy helped make the vegan cupcake display (care of Babycakes) into a twinkling display.

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I continued the star theme throughout the menu. Use cookie cutters to make stars out of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:

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And homemade tortilla chips:

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Sliced star fruit atop a simple bowl of fruit salad adds a beautifully whimsical touch.

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Star bubble wands (also from Etsy) were a great toy for older children at the party, as well as the perfect favor to take home.

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The final touch was 12 enlarged photos of Travis, one from each month of his life, arranged in the shape of a 1. A beautiful trip down memory lane!

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