Tag: Parents magazine

Teach Your Child To…Wash the Dishes

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I love Parents magazine’s new feature with a “Teach your Child to…” each month. Last month, my big kid tackled tying his shoes. This month, it was Veronika’s turn, teaching my 2 year old (yes!) to wash the dishes, or at least the rudiments behind the task.

Don’t expect sparky plates to come out of this activity; the idea is simply to introduce your toddler to this daily chore, and have some family fun in the kitchen while you’re at it. To start, I cut a regular sponge into a smaller piece; this was much easier for her little toddler hands to hold! Veronika seemed mesmerized the moment she spotted a mini sponge waiting for her right next to mommy’s bigger sponge!

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I filled the sink with a few dishes (think rubber spatulas or small metal pans for this first foray into the task, not breakable items), and then stood Veronika up on a chair so she could reach. She felt like such a big girl!

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Together, we started washing the dishes. I showed her how to add soap to her sponge and scrubby-scrub-scrub on the dishes.

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After each one was sudsy, we gave it a good rinse, which she loved!

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She also loved squeezing the sponge to make more dish soap bubbles, and then rubbing those bubbles all over her hand. “I need a rinse!” she would tell me each time she got soapy.

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When the dishes were clean, I showed her how to set them aside in the drying rack, and her lesson was done. But Veronika wasn’t finished! She loved her little sponge so much that she wanted to scrub down the chair, too.

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Leprechaun Lollipops and St. Patrick’s Day Fun

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We’re getting in the mood for all things green here in honor of St. Paddy’s Day. Confession: I have not a drop of Irish blood in me, but I’m obsessed with Ireland, so I love making this holiday special for Travis.

This year, we had so much fun with this lollipop idea from Parents magazine. First, insert lollipop sticks into kiwi slices.

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Place 1 bar of vegan white chocolate (such as Charm School Chocolate) in the microwave for about 30 seconds, until melted.

Dip each kiwi slice in the white chocolate, then press into a dish of green sprinkles.  Alternatively, try yellow (gold) sprinkles or rainbow color, which also fit with this holiday theme!

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Transfer to a plate lined with parchment paper and chill in the fridge for about 5 hours, or until set.

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While we enjoyed this Emerald Isle treat, we also did a little learning! Travis’s class has been working a lot on tracing letters at school, so we did a St. Patrick’s-themed word trace.

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Writing and spelling is so much fun with this St. Patrick’s Day Word Tracer worksheet! For more educational resources, visit Education.com!

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Travis was so proud of his ability to follow along, since the letters were smaller than his school worksheets. He loved discovering that this word spelled “luck!”

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Finish off the St Paddy’s snack with a video clip of Irish dancing or a quick rundown of Irish symbols like the shamrock or the pot of gold.

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My Punny Valentine Tacos

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It’s the second year that Travis and I are on the hook to produce Valentine’s cards for all his classmates, and we turned once more to Parents magazine. This year, all of the Valentine’s Day cards featured cute puns about food. I asked Travis to pick his favorite, so tacos it was!

First we traced circles onto yellow cardstock. You want the circles to be about 5 inches across, so a DVD makes the perfect item to trace. Travis was so proud that he traced all 20 of the ones we made, his circles getting neater and neater each time.

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Next we folded the circles in half. Be sure to make a nice crease

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Fill one half of the “taco shell” with glue, and press on green shredded paper. Travis was so into this material, since we’ve never used it before. Let dry.

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Our counter was starting to look like a taco stand!

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Once the “lettuce” dried, we add a few red “tomatoes” to each taco – with red heart stickers of course.

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On the front of each taco shell, I wrote out “Taco ’bout a good friend! Love Travis”. Note: You can also write this on the inside of the shell, if preferred.

Travis was so excited about this project, and proud that we had shells, lettuce, and tomatoes in our tacos. We can’t wait to give them to the class!

 

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What are you making for Valentine’s Day this year? Please share in the comments.

 

 

Printable Placemat

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With Thanksgiving just a week away, we’re thinking about all the yummy foods we plan to eat at the feast!

Each year, I make sure to emphasize the foods we can eat as a vegan family rather than those we can’t, so Travis (and soon Veronika!) don’t feel left out of the traditions. This placemat template from Parents magazine was a fun way to think about how we’ll fill our plates, giving us a a beautiful representation of abundance rather than lack.

Of course in the center goes the Tofurky roast or other main dish (we’re partial to Gardein’s stuffed turkey breasts, a special holiday treat each year!).

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I asked Travis what else he wanted. Soon we had pink cranberry sauce and little patches of green beans, and some yellow mashed potatoes.

He made sure to color in all the utensils and napkins as well.

And added a cup of hot cocoa!

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We can’t wait to celebrate with family, and you can be sure we’ll have our traditional adopted turkey certificate up on the table.

More Fall Leaf Fun

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I posted about our Fall Find It walk a few weeks back, but now the fall colors are even more vibrant so we set off in the woods again. Forty degrees felt warm after an early arctic blast, making us doubly sure to get out into the sunshine. We added in a few suggestions from Parents magazine to add novelty to this particular walk!

First, we decided to see if we could find the whole rainbow, ROYGBIV, that is. Blue proved to be elusive, but we did wind up with this neat line-up. Finding a purple shade was a particular triumph.

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Then we searched for the biggest leaf, and kept dropping contenders whenever we spotted one that was even bigger. We were impressed to bring home this one at 9.5 inches… until reading about a record-setting maple leaf that was 20 inches!

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Perhaps the most fun suggestion was to find shapes in the leaves, similar to the game you’ve most likely played identifying shapes in the clouds, but with an eye to the ground this time. We spotted this little fellow that looked like a bat.

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I found one that I thought looked like a rooster, and Travis decided the frilly one looked like a caterpillar! All in all, some simple and good fun that I recommend for your next nature expedition. What other leaf games do you and your family play? Please share in the comments!

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