Winter is Baking Time: What Child Doesn't Love Homemade Cookies?

What combines art, math, reading, creative thinking, science, sensory experiences, and social skills, and results in delightful treats for the family and friends? Cooking! Let your youngsters engage in this activity with you – a lot of learning goes on in your own cozy kitchen.

These cookies are not crispy or chewy, but cake-like with healthy ingredients such as orange juice, dried cranberries and nuts (your choice or omit if you wish). They make a great dessert, snack with milk, and adults love them with their coffee or tea too.

Ingredients you will need:

½ lb. butter

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ cups chopped nuts

1 ½ cups dried cranberries

1 cup orange juice

3 ½ cups cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

What to do:

1. Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until well blended.
2. Add the egg and beat again.
3. Mix in the orange juice and vanilla.
4. Add the flour a little at a time until the entire amount is mixed.
5. Fold in the cranberries and nuts.
6. Drop by tablespoons onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a 450-degree oven.

Note: all ovens vary so check the cookies for doneness in the shortest time so they do not burn.

Make cooking and baking a family activity. Children learn so much by doing and the bonding is memorable!

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C is for Celebration Logs

When I think of the letter C, I think of celebrations. It could be a December holiday, patriotic event, or just a simple family celebration that you want to emphasize. Your children will love making these yummy logs in the colors that represent your theme. They're simple to make, great for a treat, or even a take-home favor. Here's how to make them.

Celebration Logs (edible treat)

Celebrate your event with pretzel logs adorned with sprinkles in colors of the season, holiday or your child's choice.

You will need:

·      Pretzel logs

·      Chips (either chocolate or white chocolate)

·      Colored baking sprinkles

·      Waxed paper

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in the microwave inside a glass bowl.  Dunk the pretzels halfway into the chocolate;  then roll them in a dish of sprinkles.  Dry the decorated logs on waxed paper.

Display them in a large glass to set on the table or enclose them into cellophane bags to be given as favors. Enjoy!

Taking kids in the kitchen is a great bonding experience between parent and child. Enjoy your holiday time together.

Happy Parenting,
Tania :) 

This activity was used in one of my A to Z Challenge years. Photo by Tania Cowling, all rights reserved.

The Color Yellow

Am I too late? Well, we still have those last few days of summer. There's time to enjoy some of the symbols of summer with these "yellow" activities.

Enjoy and Happy Parenting,
Tania :)

Yellow is a color synonymous of summer. It reminds many of the big, bright sun shining above, giving warmth and sending children outside to play. Yellow is the color of sunflowers so vivid and lemonade so yummy. Explore the color yellow as your children participate in these (late) summer activities.

Mr. Sun

Cut sun shapes from yellow construction paper and hide them around a room or outdoors in the yard. Have the children go on a "sun search" to find as many sun shapes as they can. Continue to search until all the suns have been found.

After the search, set up a table with crayons, markers, sequins, faux jewels or anything that shines and dazzles. The children can decorate; gluing these materials to the sun shapes they found.

Loads of Lemons

Printing-

Cut lemons in half. Place a few folded paper towels in a shallow pan to make a pad. Pour yellow tempera paint on top. Add a few drops of lemon extract (found in the spice section of your local grocery store). Have the children dip the lemon into the paint and press down onto a sheet of paper to make prints. A dark sheet of construction paper would be a great contrast to the bright yellow prints. Smell the lemon scent!!

Make Lemonade-

Exercise the hands as you and your children squeeze lemons together. The reward is a thirst quenching drink that's sure to please any child on a hot summer day!

You'll need:

1 part fresh lemon juice

1 part sugar

5 parts water

Serving pitcher

Ice

What to do:

Show children how to squeeze lemons. Encourage them to try on their own.

Take a taste of this juice; is it sweet or sour?

Invite children to mix all the ingredients in a pitcher and stir well.

Pour the drink into cups of ice.

Questions to ask about this experience: "What color is lemonade? What fruit gives us the juice? How does lemonade taste? Sweet? Sour? Are there other fruits we could squeeze to get their juice?"

Make Sunflowers

Have each child paint a small paper plate yellow (mix a small amount of white school glue in the paint). Lay pieces of yellow tissue paper in the wet paint (to give it a petal appearance). When this process is dried, give the children sunflower seeds to glue in the center of the plate. Staple two giant green construction paper leaves at the bottom. These flowers make great summer decorations!

Teaching colors does not have to be about worksheets and printed pages. Since play is a child's learning tool, use fun activities and projects to embed these skills into a child's mind for life.

Photo courtesy of morgue file 

Do You Have a Picky Eater At Home?

Having a picky eater at home is a challenge for many parents. Trying to get nutritious fruits and vegetables into their child’s tummy seems impossible – but have no fear, these ideas will make mealtime an interesting and creative experience. Nutrition is in and fussing out!

The key to this process is getting truly creative with foods. Young children eat with their eyes and cute edible constructions will stimulate interest in most toddlers and preschool age children. Here are a few ideas to try:

Sailboat regatta eggs

Peel hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise.

Remove the yolks and mash them in a bowl with some mayonnaise and mustard.

Spoon the mixture back inside the egg white boats. You can decorate the tops with chopped carrots, chopped green pepper and sliced olives.

Cut construction paper into boat sails and invite the kids to decorate them with crayons.

Attach a toothpick to each sail with tape and insert it into the egg boat.

Serve these yummy boats on a lettuce leaf.

After letting the kiddos do a ‘wave run’ with the boats first, see how fast they can gobble them up!

Butterfly salad

Gather lettuce leaves, using both green and red lettuce varieties.

Place the lettuce on a plate to resemble butterfly wings.

Take a carrot stick and insert it in the center of the wings as the insect’s body.

An olive makes the perfect head and sliced olives can decorate the wings, just like the black marks of a Monarch butterfly.

Cut two tiny strips of red pepper for the antennae.

Present this salad to your youngsters with their favorite dressing.

Create a fruit tree

Place a pineapple ring on top of a lettuce leaf on the plate.

Take a banana half and stand it on its end in the center of the pineapple ring.

Invite the kiddos to spear a piece of fruit (grapes, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.) onto a toothpick and stick the other end into their banana tree.

Fill the tree with as many limbs of fruit that it can stand.

What a fun way to get a variety of fruit into your child’s meal without a fuss!

NOTE: Toothpicks are sharp and parental supervision is needed while making the meal and eating it. A variation to toothpicks would be thin coffee stirrer straws.

Sources:

Snacktivities by Mary Ann F. Kohl, Robins Lane Press, 2001

Butterfly salad adapted from my post on Education.com

W is for Weekday Lunches

The challenge, as parents, is to create lunches that are reasonably healthful and palatable to kids, that can be carried off to school or play dates and left at room temperature for hours. The place to begin is at the grocery store where children can get involved with food selection. At home, try brainstorming a list of lunches that you both agree on. And don't forget to include a few fun items that your kids can help to prepare. 

Sandwich Shapes

Cookie cutters can be used to turn a peanut butter, cheese, tuna fish, or cold-cut sandwich into something special. Since some children shun bread crusts, shaped sandwiches are an alternative to cutting off the crusts. Most children are glad to chow down on their favorite shapes, no matter what's inside.

Homemade Lunchables

Buy a plastic sectional container. Cut lunch meats and cheese into fun shapes, such as triangles or sticks. Or use small cookie cutters for stars, hearts or teddy bears. Add some wholesome crackers, fruit or yogurt. Top it off with a fun dessert. The container can be brought home and reused. This is an inexpensive and healthy alternative to prepackaged lunches, and a way to add some fun to the lunch box.

Stuff an Apple

Pick an apple or your choice and remove the core (with a little extra space) with a knife and spoon. Fill this hole with peanut butter and top with raisins. Another favorite is cheddar cheese spread topped with chopped nuts. Put this apple into a plastic bag sealed with a twist tie. Remember making apple smiles. Just follow the photo above.

Fruit Kabobs

What child wouldn't like fruit-on-a-stick? For safety reasons, skew pre-cubed fruit on a plastic drinking straw, such as those used for coffee stirrers. To keep the fruit from turning brown, dip it into lemon juice. Pack these into a plastic container to avoid crushing the fruit. Another kebab idea is to layer cubes of cooked chicken breast or turkey, ham, cheese and little grape tomatoes.

This is all for today. See you next week with the letter X. Hmmm, this may be tough.
Tania

Photo courtesy of Tania Cowling