Last minute Easter fun with preschoolers!

In case you need any extra Easter weekend ideas for fun with preschoolers, here is some randomness found across the web that all look quick and full of fun-ness!

All sorts of printables over at NickJr.com------

Here is a way to dye eggs using an every day product: Kool Aid-----

My son adores brownies and would love these from KraftRecipes.com----

MakeIt-LoveIt.com has a host of more last minute ideas as well-----

Have fun celebrating Jesus' resurrection this weekend and enjoy the joy your preschoolers find with the holiday! We get to enjoy time with family and eating good food, a nice service on Sunday at church, and lots of candy from our annual family egg hunt with 6 kiddos aged 6 and down!!!

What activities do you have planned or have already completed for Easter weekend?

Movin’ Mondays – Colored Ice Cubes

A fun activity idea for our Monday morning post is about colored ice cubes!  I came across a preschooler activity last fall called Ice Boats (will post later) in which you fill an ice cube tray with water and let the toddler color the water and then add a stick to make a boat.  My boys LOVED the activity and we’ve made a few fun versions of the game.

Coloring the water can be done with a variety of mediums…here are some we have tried:
1. Food coloring – Have the adult drop food coloring into the water and let the child mix! After frozen, drop into a bowl of warm water to watch colors swirl as they melt.

2. Sprinkles – These usually dissolve in water and it’s fun to watch what colors come off of each sprinkle! After frozen, drop into a bowl of warm water or they can be added to a drink!
We have a few sprinkles leftover from Christmas that are green trees and red dots as well as some of the typical multi-colored balls.  The balls never fully dissolved and made the water sort of brown while the Christmas ones floated so this discovery lead to some good communication about color mixing and sinking/floating.

3. Kool aid – Pre-mix in a pitcher so you don’t get liquid on the counters which may stain.  We have a Pampered Chef large pitcher with built-in sifter to mix the liquid so my little preschoolers like to take turns with the mixing!  After frozen, you can put in a bowl of water or, for a special treat, add these to a cup of water or Sprite!

As shown in the photo, we mixed three different packets of koolaid with water; one at a time.  We only used about 1/3 of the water that the directions call for and then poured into a few slots in the ice cube tray.  Two of the packets were the same color just different shades (berry and pink lemonade) so we added a little bit of our blue mix to make purple.  It turned into a fun science lesson and, once frozen, will turn into a fun drink with our soda!

What’s your "Moving” activity to start the week?

More yummy green food = Spinach Smoothies

My boys LOVE green so we had a lot of fun doing activities with green this past week in preparation for St. Patty's Day.

I want to share one of my favorite green foods = Spinach Smoothies! We eat smoothies regularly around here because the ingredients are so easy to keep on hand....milk and yogurt in the fridge along with fruit from the freezer. Plus, adding a pinch of spinach doesn't affect the flavor at all and it's a great way to get extra vitamins!!

TIP: Never have ripe bananas go to waste again! If you can't eat them before they go bad, peel and then chop them into 1" chunks and put them in a freezer-safe ziploc and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.  Same goes for any other fresh fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, etc.

Recipe for Green 'N Healthy Banana Chocolate Smoothie: 
1/2 cup of juice or milk
1/2 cup of yogurt
3-4 ice cubes
half a banana
handful of chocolate chips
pinch of spinach, fresh or frozen
(can add a tablespoon of water to thin if needed)

Grind everything up in a Magic Bullet or blender and enjoy!


Note that spinach is optional but, honestly, it really does NOT change the flavor of the smoothie.  But also note that the green dominates the color, even if you put in blueberries, so don't use if you can't get over eating something creamy-green.

Other combinations of smoothies that we have tried:
>Blueberries with apple juice (instead of milk) plus bananas, yogurt, & ice cubes
>Strawberries with orange juice  plus bananas, yogurt, & ice cubes
>Bananas and orange sherbert with a bit of milk and ice cubes

Now go make...enjoy...and be healthified!

St. Patty's Day cooking craft

Happy St. Patty's Day to ya!  We used an idea off of Pinterest for a cooking craft with our preschoolers = yummy Shamrock flowers!!

We took three pretzels and laid them next to each other (ours were waffle-shaped but the regular ones would make the end product look more like a flower).  Then I had my toddler bite one in half for our stem while my older boy laid wax paper inside a cooking sheet (to contain our mess).  :)

After melting almond bark, I drizzled it onto our 'shamrock' and then let the boys sprinkle with green sprinkles. We finished it off with a bit of green icing for the stem.

Our shamrock flowers each got their own unique touch and we enjoyed eating each of them!!

Preschooler Cooking: Oreo day on March 6th

In honor of March 6th being the first day Oreo’s were sold (in 1912), I'll share the recipe for our favorite treats: Oreo Balls!

Start out with a package of oreos…any kind will do!  Put half the bag into a gallon-sized plastic baggie and crush.  In efforts to have my preschoolers help in the kitchen, they are usually given this fun task.  The 4 year old likes the kitchen mallet but the 2 year old is only trusted with a rolling pin so far. *wink*


After they crush the cookies as finely as possible, we place in a bowl along with a softened package of cream cheese.  Some perfectionists I know take a further step by putting the cookies in the blender to really grind into bits…but we’re lucky if the oreos even make it into the mix (versus our mouth) so we just bypass this step to faster treat-eating.

Use an ice cream scooper or melon baller to scoop the mix into ball-form and place onto a piece of wax paper. Then scoot the wax paper onto a cutting board and place in the fridge or freezer to flash-cool for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Next, melt half a bag of almond bark or chocolate chips, per the directions on the bag.  Pull out the firm balls and set on the counter then begin to coat with the melted chocolate. Again, we aren’t perfectionist nor can I manage to keep my balls in ball form if I dip into the chocolate….grrr.  We pull out spoons and let the boys drizzle the melted chocolate over the balls. 

After the chocolate hardens, they are ready to serve!  Leftovers should be refrigerated.

We like to use almond bark because a) it’s cheaper and b) it hardens very hard and makes the balls easier to hold by the little hands of my preschoolers.

Additionally, these freeze well so you can place the leftovers into a freezer bag and keep them frozen until a need should arise…maybe unexpected guests are coming and you need a treat to serve, or you just have a chocolate craving. *wink*
Enjoy!

There are many more crazy national holidays this month, as listed in the previous post.  So check back often to see stories of more preschooler activities to come!

Does anyone else plan to celebrate March 6th’s date of Oreo Day or the holiday of National Dentist Day??