Hats

Making visors for the new spring sunshine is a simple way to entertain a group of children for a St. Patrick’s Day party or in the classroom.  The visors are available at most craft stores.  Decorating can be creative with puffy paint, glitter glue or simple with the foam stickers.

Create a collage rainbow.

Draw the outline of a rainbow in pencil, tear paper  into bits and glue onto rainbow.  The paper can be old magazines or scrap pieces of colored paper.  Pots of gold can be added at the end of the rainbow with glitter on the inside of the pot.

Need a quick and simple activity for the children or classroom?  This no-cook recipe is simple and perfect for creative children. It can also be used as a learning tool and game.  Give each child a portion of the dough and have them make formations appropriate for their age.  For example, “make two spheres, form a line that is three inches long,” or “make a smiley face!”  I use this recipe as a last minute activity when we are going to be home inside or having a play date.

NO-COOK MODELING DOUGH

2 Cups flour

1 cup salt

water

tempera paint powder

Mix ingredients, adding water to make the dough pliable.  Not too much it will be too sticky.

The dough can air dry to harden or can be baked at 300 degrees for an hour.  The time may depend on the thickness of the creation.

A yummy in the tummy way to practice letters for the little ones!  Using your favorite pancake recipe, look at mine below, make the letter of the day or the child’s initials on the griddle.   Or, as a class focuses on the letter “P” have a pancake snack and serve up letter P pancakes. Yum!

In the younger grades it is fun to read “If You give A Pig A Pancake” and have pancake snacks that day, as well as other literature activities. If you are in a school, please check your policies. As when I taught, we brought the griddle in the class.

One way is to write a letter on the pan let it cook until you see bubbles. Then pour batter over letter to make a “normal” pancake.  The image is in the pancake. Have fun with this, you can make smiley faces etc.  Also, note that you will need to write the mirror image for letters like “L”  or they will be backwards!

Or, just write a large letter to be the pancake itself. A turkey baster works well, but I just used a spoon for mine.

The whole family agrees that this recipe is the best so far.   Hope you and your family or class have a yummy in the tummy pancake experience!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. If the batter seems too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, a little dry around the edges, and lightly browned on the bottom; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

After reading aloud “It Looked Like Spilt Milk” have the children take torn paper or cotton balls and glue to paper. Have then write “Sometimes it looked like…..” Then, place all the pages together to bind and make a book or place on wall or bulletin board.  I always have the child present and read their finished page to class or family to build speaking skills.

Class Book

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time for children to discuss and write about what friendship “looks” like.  This is a great writing activity and a way for classroom teachers to start creating the community of friends and learners they desire for the rest of the year. In a classroom, these pages could be collected and copied into a recipe book for each to take home or just to keep in the class library. The same thing could be done for a family, small group organization such as Girl Scouts etc.

Recycling wine corks can be lots of fun and a simple summer craft or game for children.

Make a Boat:

You will need: Corks, popsicle stick, tape (electrical), hot glue, some form of fabric, plastic or foam to make sail.

Before you involve the children hot glue several wine corks together and allow to cool.  Then with the children, design a triangle shape foam or plastic sheet.  The size is up to you depending on the size of the boat. Use the tape to adhere to popsicle stick. Push in between cork. Or, you can glue popsicle stick in with corks prior to activity. Now the fun begins, use the boat in a river, pool or bath tub!

Pool Game:

The most simple activity is to bring the wine corks into the pool to play the old game of dibble-dabble.  All players are standing on the side of the pool and the “dabbler” swims to the bottom of the pool with the cork and leaves it on the bottom of the pool.  When the dabbler is up they yell go. All the other players may jump in the pool and the first to come up with the cork says dibble dabble. It is now that persons turn to swim to the bottom.  A simple game that keeps a group of children having fun in the pool!

How is water affected by different objects?

Young Ones:

Use a bath tub crayon or some sort of marker and fill tub with water midway. Have each child enter tub and mark where the water line is after the slushing of the water calms down.  With bathing suits on have the adults participate to really see the difference of the water levels.

Fill a tub or bucket of water outside and have different objects for child to play with using the same skill of watching the water level. Discuss and ask lots of questions and have fun.

First Grade and Up:

You will Need:

Bucket, Glass jar with lid, Water

Fill bucket about three quarters full.

Place empty jar with lid on into the water. Do not push down yet. What happens?

Slowly push to bottom of bucket. Looking at sides of bucket and water line ask, does the water rise, fall or stay the same?

NOW, fill the jar with water and repeat.

Older:

Look into the ancient mathematician/philosopher Archimedes. He discovered the law that the volume of water displaced equals the volume of the object placed in the water.

Each year, the first Sunday after Labor Day is the official day to celebrate Grandparent’s Day. There is nothing wrong with celebrating every day (as my mom would say) but this official day has the purpose of honoring grandparents,  giving grandparents an opportunity to show love for their grandchildren and helping children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.  If your children do not have grandparents, there are many elderly people that have no family around that would love to be a foster grandparent!

Many books can be found about grandparents. A few of our favorite picture books are Grandpa’s Teeth, The Song and Dance Man, Grandpa, Grandpa and The Gifts of Being Grand.

A writing and literature activity that can be done at home or school is to read a book and then design your own story using the same theme. We read Grandpa, Grandpa in my multi-age classroom and then each child made there own page. We then put the pages together to make our own class book. At home these pages could be used as a gift for grandmas and grandpas.

Cover Design for Class Book

First Grade Writing

First Grade Illustration

Second Grade Page

Second Grade Writing

Second Grade Illustration

CATERPILLAR SANDWICH

Celebrating our one year old’s birthday we used the “spring” theme for decorations and food.  It was much more for family and friends, so we ordered a submarine sandwich and shaped into a caterpillar on a green tablecloth.   For the legs, speared pickles stuck out from the body and sliced green peppers made the antennae  and as you cam see green olives were used for the eyes!

BOWTIE PASTA RECIPE

“Butterfly Pasta”

12 ounces (340g) farfalle, (bowtie shaped pasta), uncooked
4 medium zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 Tbsp (15mL) olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup (40g) basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 cup (115g) shredded lowfat mozzarella cheese*
1/4 cup (30g) Parmesan cheese*
Directions
Cook pasta in boiling water until tender. Drain pasta in a colander but reserve about 1 cup (240mL) of cooking water.
Slice zucchini lengthwise into slices about 1/4-inch (1cm) thick. Place several slices on top of each other and cut into little sticks, about 1 1/2 inches (4cm) by 1/4-inch (1cm) each. You should have about 4–6 cups (1–1.4L) of zucchini “matchsticks”.
Heat olive oil in a 12-inch (30cm) nonstick skillet and add garlic and zucchini pieces. Cook over medium heat until the zucchini pieces are tender and light brown in color. Add about half of the basil and stir for a minute or two. Add salt and pepper. Pour the cooked pasta into the skillet and stir so that the juices coat the noodles. If the mixture seems dry, add some of the reserved cooking water. Finally, add the rest of the basil and the shredded mozzarella, and stir once more. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Butterfly Pasta Recipe #2

Cold Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 package farfalle (bowtie) pasta

3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbs. chopped garlic

1 sweet onion – coarsely chopped

2 Tbs. Italian seasoning

1/2 Tbs. fresh ground black pepper

1 14.5-oz. can basil, garlic & oregano diced tomatoes – lightly drained of juice

1 14.5-oz. can diced golden roma tomatoes – lightly drained of juice

1 5-oz. jar pine nuts 
1 can quartered artichoke hearts – thoroughly drained and coarsely chopped

3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar 
salt to taste
Prep. time: 30 minutes

Yield: 10 side-dish servings

Boil farfalle to al dente texture. While boiling farfalle, sauté garlic, sweet onion, olive oil, black pepper, and
Italian seasoning over medium heat in a large sauce pan. Stir frequently until garlic is slightly browned
and onions are just starting to become caramalized (clear). Then add both cans of tomatoes,
reduce heat a little, and allow to simmer over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.
After farfalle is done cooking, drain and shock (run cold water over pasta, then drain again).
Mix all remaining ingredients, farfalle, and sauteed mixture in large mixing bowl. Salt to taste. Chill.

This is a simple version and easy for children to make!  I have done this using my favorite sugar cookie recipe instead of the store bought and it was wonderful.

Stained Glass Easter Cookies

 Cut cookies from a tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough and roll out slightly. With a butter knife, have children cut the shape of a cross out of the middle of the cookie. Place on a cookie sheet and fill the cutout with any type of finely crushed clear hard candy (i.e. butterscotch, root beer etc.) and bake. The results really do look like stained glass!