Kids in the Kitchen Pt. 1-April

Looking for an easy way to incorporate math, science and reading/listening skills into your day with you toddler? Take up cooking! This post will the be the first in what I hope will be a monthly series on cooking with your children. I love cooking, and so does Riley. He's been working with me in the kitchen since he was about 18 months old. Pretty much since he was old enough to stand on a chair next to me at the counter. (Though he also views this time as water play time when we wash dishes, which is his most favorite thing to do!)

We started slowly, with him just stirring ingredients together. Lately we've worked up to counting, measuring and have added in knife skills within the last few weeks. (DISCLAIMER: I know not everyone would be comfortable teaching a 2 year old knife skills. We do discuss how knives can hurt you, and proper use. He also only uses a butter knife, or a plastic knife. He also is always standing right next to me, properly supervised!)

Today we used our kitchen time to practice counting, adding, measuring, and counting by 2's. We have an Easter Party to attend tomorrow and we decided to make rice krispy treats to take. It's smart to start out with simple recipes so that you and your child don't become overwhelmed with ingredients/prep trying to complete a difficult recipe. 

Rice Krispy Treats:

4 T. butter

6 c. crispy cereal

4 c. mini marshmallows

-Melt butter and marshmallows in pan

-Measure out cereal in large bowl.

-Pour melted marshmallow mixture on top of cereal and mix until combined.

-Pour in greased 9x13 pan

(since it's for Easter, we added pink food coloring to the melted marshmallows and sprinkled Easter M&M's on top!)

He's got his apron on and all his tools ready to go!

 Measuring out the cereal

 Best part-licking the spoon!!!

(He unfortunately photographs like me, that's why he looks high in all his pics!)

Yummy gooey goodness!

 Of course we made a batch for ourselves as well. He picked blue for our batch!

Take the time to bring your kids into the kitchen. It's excellent bonding time, plus your teaching them a valuable life skill! You don't have to teach them 5 course meals, pancakes will be just as fun for them!

(Plus your sons wives will thank you some day!)

Spring Break Boredom Busters 2012

I know a large majority of my friends with school age children woke up this morning and said "Oh crap shoot! The kids are out of school this week...now what?!?!"
"Hi, my name is Sara, and I'm here to help!"
Below is a list of 6 kid tested activities that are sure to keep your kids busy (for at least 10 minutes, I promise!)
Enjoy!

MAGICAL COLOR-CHANGING DRINKS

-drop food coloring in bottom of a cup, let dry overnight

-Add ice in cup

-Pour in water or clear pop for a magical surprise!

BAKING SODA CLAY

2 c. baking soda

1 c. corn starch

1 1/4 c. water

food coloring (optional)

-Combine all ingredients

-Cook over medium heat until mixture resembles mashed potatoes

-Remove from heat and let cool in a glass bowl covered with a damp towel

-Sculpt using water to make pieces stick together

-Dry out for 2 days

-Paint with acrylic paint (can be sanded)

SIDEWALK CHALK PAINT

1/4 c. cornstarch

1/4 c. water

food coloring

-Mix water and cornstarch, divide into small bowls

-Color with food coloring of choice

-Paint on sidewalk/driveway (completely washes away in rain or with hose)

SHARPIE TIE-DYE

-Rubberband pre-washed white t shirt over plastic cups

-Color small circle with sharpie in center of shirt

-slowly drop rubbing alcohol onto marker

-watch as color spreads!

-Heat set in hot wash or with warm iron

 CLOUD DOUGH

8 c. flour

1 c. baby oil

-combine ingredients together

-may take several minutes or mixing for dough to be moldable

TIME CAPSULE

Studies show that between the ages of 6-9, kids are the most interested in where they came from. Why not start early and put together a time capsule for when they reach that quizzical age?! Here is a list of suggestions to include. Gather supplies and fill a box then hide it away in a closet for a few years!

-List of favorites things (ex. foods, friends, toys, games, shows, etc.)

-Load of shredded paper (to toss around when you open it!)

-Favorite character toy

-Current family picture

-a Hand print and footprint to compare later

-Note of current height and weight

**Please expand on this list. This is just to get you started!

Hand print Chick Easter shirt

My 2 year old (almost 3!) is big for his age. He's in 5T's already and they just don't make cute holiday clothes in his size anymore! I had found a cute onesie for Sawyer for Easter and was looking for something for Riley with no luck. So I did what any self-respecting teacher would do; make it myself!! I am a HUGE fan of hand print art. I try not to save a whole ton of art from Riley's class, but anything with his hand print/fingerprints goes straight into his special box of stuff I'm keeping for him. So I browsed around the internet. At first I was specifically looking for thumbprint chicks, but found this hand print bird that I liked better. The teaching website I found it on originally made it as a bluebird. One bottle of Sunny Yellow paint later, it's a cute Easter Chick!

Step 1: Mix 2 parts acrylic paint with one part Textile medium

Step 2: paint subject's hand making sure to fill in all the chubby wrinkles :o)

Step 3: carefully print hands on shirt

Step 4: Use orange acrylic paint to create beaks and legs. Use a fabric marker to 

make the eyes and wings

**Note: The bottle of textile medium says to allow the shirt to dry before heat setting for 7 days. Unfortunately we were under a time constraint and I only had 3 days for it to dry. After it dried, I laid an old towel over top and used my iron on the cotton setting to heat set the paint!

My love letter to Pinterest...

My dearest Pinterest;

   Where were you all my life?!? How did I ever get along before knowing about the Dawn and vinegar cleaner? Or bacon pancakes? Or even yogurt drops??? True, you did let me down on a few occasions...broccoli soup, parmesan honey pork. But to make up for it, you brought me Crack bread...and cinnamon roll cake. <sigh> How I do love thee...

Here are a few of our Pinterest experiments:

Yogurt Drops-squirt on tray, freeze, voila! Instant yummy frozen treat! (Note: They thaw extremely fast! Not the best for a dawdling toddler... I may try adding some juice the next time I make these to see if that helps the thawing time)

With both boys on antibiotics at any given time of the year, it gets tricky tracking their doses. Hello handy helper! Use a permanent marker, write AM/PM and check it off as you administer the dose. Easy peasy dosing!

Muffin Tin Meals-the cure to picky eaters! Makes any meal more interesting and fun for a child who doesn't want to eat. Riley now enjoys picking out the cupcake liners he wants and choosing what should fill each hole. Another bonus-instant portion control!

The grand finale--bacon pancakes. Hellooooo gorgeous! 

1.) Precook bacon in pan. Only cook about 2/3 of the way, so it's still floppy 

(for better use of a word)

2.) Pour premixed pancake batter over top of bacon, covering entire strip. Flip pancake when it gets bubbly on top.

MmmmMMmmmmMMMmmmmm

(insert drooling here!)