Yummy Play Dough

Have you seen these Duncan Hines frosting flavors?  You can add them to frosting to create your own flavor of icing.  Well, I had picked up a couple different flavors (they are .99 at our local grocery store).  While making play dough for class one morning, I remember them sitting unused in the pantry and I imagined the yummy scent they would add to it.   Simply mix into your favorite play dough recipe.  It was a huge hit.  Use any flavor you wish, I didn't even add coloring to this batch.  

 

 

Here is my absolute favorite recipe....

 

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp cream of tartar

Duncan Hines Frosting Creations packet

2 tsp cooking oil

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

a few drops of glycerin

 

 

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the boiling water and oil

Mix it all until it forms a ball, you may need to add flour or more water as needed.

When it is all mixed, add a few drops of glycerin (you can find it in the medicine aisle at the grocery store, makes a huge difference in your play dough!  I highly recommend using it)

 

This play dough will last a long time.  Keep it in an airtight container, I use a zip lock bag!



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Cake Mix Playdough

I got this fabulous recipe from Lisa Murphy's Ooey Gooey Tooey book.   You will need:

1 box of cake mix (any type will do)

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of salt

6 tsp of cream of tartar

6 tbls oil

3 cups of water

Mix it all in a bowl (we used an electric mixer).  Then pour into a pot and cook on medium heat until the dough begins to form a ball.  Plop it on the counter and let it cool.  Knead until it is soft and pliable. This play dough, if kept in an airtight container) will last for weeks.  It is so fun and smells incredible.

 

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Squash the Spider

For some reason, we have been having a sorts of spider visitors lately.  We have even caught a few in jars to observe.  They are creepy, but so fun to watch. 

We read the book "Squash the Spider" by Nick Ward and then made these spider webs and cute spiders to go with them. 

 To make the spider webs, all you need is some wax paper and white glue.  Squirt the glue onto the wax paper making a spiderweb shape.  You need to make sure all the ends touch or it will be tough to peel off.  When the webs dry, simply peel them off the wax paper. 

 For the spiders, I gave the kids paper and left them to it.  I really thought it was fantastic that they all added 8 legs on their own.  Of course, we had talked about how many legs they have and all that, but I thought it was pretty cool that they all did it!  When they were done creating their spiders, we got some googly eyes to add to them.  I was instructed to hang the spiders from the ceiling, since that is where we usually find the live ones. 

Then we made edible spiders. We used mini chocolate donuts, some pretzel sticks, a little frosting and some m&m's for the eyes. 



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How About a Little Kiss?

Yet another idea I found  HERE on Pinterest.  I wanted to let the kids make them, so they didn't come out exactly like the original.  The kids love, love to cook and bake and I am always on the look out for fun ideas that they can do by themselves.  This one was just that.  Al l you need is a pie crust, some Hersey Kisses, and some sugar (if you want).  I cut the pie crust into pieces and the kids unwrapped the Kisses, then re-wrapped them in the pie crust.  We rolled them in sugar and baked them at 350 in the oven for a few minutes.

So simple, and yummy!



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Going Fishing Snack

This was a fun way to serve snack.  Celery, peanut butter and goldfish crackers.  Dip your celery in the peanut butter and go fishing for the goldfish.  Fun!



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Super Easy Play Dough

You have everything you need to make this in your pantry right now. 

 I promise, this is the easiest play dough to make EVER! 

 All you need is:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 TBLS oil

1/2 cup of water with some food coloring in it

Mix together and done.

No more excuses....go make some play dough!!



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"The Kids Made It" Cake

I found this "no dairy" chocolate cake and had to try it.  I love baking with the kids.  When I do, I try to let them do the majority of the work.  I have found that it works easiest if I pre-measure out all the ingredients and then let them pour and mix. They just dumped all the dry ingredients in the pan first and used forks to "rake" it all together.  Then, they added the wet ingredients and mixed it all together.  We baked it at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.  I didn't hear any complaints from the kids, just requests for seconds.  I think it is a winning recipe. 

Cooking with kids is a great opportunity for measuring, math, science, sensory experiences, as well as a great since of independence and accomplishment. Check out the recipe following the pictures.

What you need:

3 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 2 tsp, baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp cocoa powder

2/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 Tbsp vinegar, 2 cups cold water

Pour all the dry ingredients into a 9 x 13 inch pan and stir.

 Pour all the wet ingredients and mix with a whisk. 

 Bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees. 

You can frost it or just serve it without.

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Neon Pancakes

My kiddo's looovvvee pancakes.  We don't only eat them for breakfast.  We eat them for snacks, dinner, lunch (not all in the same day).  I make them "silver dollar" size so they can just pick them up and eat them.  Today we made them super bright as well.  Just add a few drops of food coloring to the batter before cooking them.  We often add stuff to them too.  A scoop of peanut butter, bananas, applesauce, orange juice, blueberries, chopped up apples, wheat germ, a bit of vanilla, chocolate chips, etc. 

                                                                          Yumm-O!

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Spring Eggs in a Yummy Nest

We definitely have Spring Fever!  We made these very easy, yummy, birds nest the other day.  We buttered some muffin pans (although you really don't need to).  Then we put some chow mein noodles in the bottom and then butterscotch and chocolate chip pieces.  We placed them on the griddle so the kids could watch the candy pieces melt.  After they were mostly melted, I took them off and let them cool a bit.  Then the kids placed the candy eggs in the "nest" and I put them in the fridge to harden.  Easy, simple and delicious!

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Rainbow Bites

To make these yummy, rainbow bites, we mixed up a box of white cake mix.  Then we divided it up into 4 bowls and squeezed in some colors.  We used a little muffin tin and put 1 spoonful of each color in each muffin cup.  Bake and umm, umm, good.  Colors, sensory, science, math.....all in one activity, and you get to eat it too!

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Rainbow Cookies

My son told me that today would be a perfect day to make cookies.  I think any day is good day to make them and so that is what we did.  I saw these cookies at HERE

and thought they looked super fun.  So we measured out the ingredients.  I used my mom's sugar cookie recipe.  It is really easy but you could always use the box cookie mix too.  I included the recipe below.  My kids love to pour and use the mixer.  Then we divided the dough up and colored it, his blue, hers pink....yes, they picked their own colors.  We left one patch white.  We rolled them out and put them in the fridge for about 1/2 hour.  Then we stacked them and rolled them, sliced them into circles and baked.  Delish!  Math, sensory, cooking, colors all rolled up into one.....forgive the pun! 

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 c oil

3/4 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

mix together

2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

add to wet ingredients

bake at 375 degrees

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Eating and Reading

I often try to mix our two very favorite things....eating and reading.  We really like Eric Carle books, with the beautiful watercolor illustrations and simple words. " Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and on and on.  We were stuck on "The Grouchy Ladybug" one particular grouchy day, "Hey you...you wanna fight?" is what the ladybug asks all sorts of different animals throughout the book.

 So I thought it would be fun to make our own "ladybug" snack.  I put some cream cheese in a bowl and added a couple drops of red food coloring (science, observation, coloring recognition).  I let the kids stir it until the cream cheese turned the right color.  We used plastic knives to spread it on plain rice cakes and added raisins for the spots (math, counting, fine motor skills, life skills).  Then we ate up our "ladybugs".  My son wasn't too keen on the cream cheese and asked if he could make a brown ladybug with peanut butter. 

 I love "cooking" with the kids.  It is so empowering to them and they are more willing to try new foods if they prepare it themselves.

 

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