Category: Family Time

Valentine’s Day Baking

I love making food for my family, so we did some homemade baking for Valentine’s Day this year. The girls loved helping and the boys loved eating!

Cream Puffs

Puff Pastries Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cup frozen butter
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1/4 teas salt
  • 2 cups all purpose flour

Puff Pastries Directions:

  1. I used my food processor with the metal blade and the shredding disk.
  2. Place the flour and salt into the food processor.
  3. Slowly add the frozen butter through the shredder as the food processor is pulsing.
  4. Add the cold water and pulse until a ball of dough forms.
  5. Place dough on a clean and floured surface. Roll out dough until it is about 12×18 inches.
  6. Add more flour to the dough and fold it into thirds. Add more flour and fold that in half. Place in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Cream Puff Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line to baking sheets with wax paper. Spray lightly with baking spray.
  2. Wrap forks with aluminum foil to resemble a cone and spray them too.
  3. Unfold the puff pastry and cut it with a pizza cutter into long 1 inch strips.
  4. Start at the small end of the fork mold and wrap the strip of puff pastry around it overlapping each layer by 1/4 inch. Place on the baking sheet.
  5. Prepare an egg wash with egg and water. Brush each horn with the egg wash.
  6. Bake for 15-17 minutes turning half way though.
  7. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and then remove the aluminum foil fork to finish cooling.
  8. Fill with the following Whipped Cream Recipe and dust with powered sugar.

Whipped Cream Ingredients:

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream chilled
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

Whipped Cream Instructions:

  1. Add the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
  2. With the mixer on medium speed, whip the cream until it begins to thicken.
  3. Continue whipping for several minutes until the cream is fluffy (medium peaks) but not too firm.
  4. Use immediately or cover tightly and chill for up to 36 hours.

Heart Pizzas

Ingredients:

  • 2 teas sugar
  • 1 teas dry active yeast
  • 2/3 cup warm water (105 degrees)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teas salt
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • Pizza Sauce
  • Pepperoni
  • Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

  1. Mix sugar and warm water. Then sprinkle with yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.
  2. Add in the flour, salt, and olive oil and mix with dough hook in electric mixer.
  3. Once it is well mixed knead for 5 minutes.
  4. Divide dough into 2 pieces and place into an oiled pan. Cover and let it rise for and hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 475 degrees and roll out dough. I cut mine into heart shapes.
  6. Spread the pizza sauce and cheese then bake for 12-15 minutes.

Strawberry Shortcake

Shortcake Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg

Strawberry Ingredients:

  • 2 cups strawberries hulled and sliced
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

  1. Start by preparing the strawberries. Add sliced strawberries to a bowl and sprinkle them with sugar. Stir to combine. Let them hang out on your counter for about 2 hours and they will create a delicious juice. I recommend stirring them every half hour or so.
  2. Next, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. Spray the heart shaped cupcake mold generously with baking spray. Then, add some all-purpose flour to the molds, shake it around, and discard the excess.
  4. The next step is to whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Then add the vanilla, softened butter, milk, and egg. With an electric mixer, beat on medium speed for about two minutes.
  5. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared heart shaped cupcake mold . Each mold should be about three-quarters full. In case there are any drips, set the pan on a baking sheet while spooning the batter into the molds. Then place the shortcake pan in the preheated oven.
  6. Bake the little cakes for 18-20 minutes. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pan before attempting to remove them. Gently loosen each cake with your fingers: then invert the pan to release the cakes.
  7. While the shortcakes cool, prepare the whipped cream (I used the left over whipped cream from the cream puffs).
  8. Spoon a generous amount of the strawberries and juice on each shortcake. Top with a dollop of Homemade Whipped Cream. Garnish with a sliced strawberry and sprig of fresh mint, if desired.

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Ocean Theme School Lunches

We had a fun ocean themed lunch at school for our “Anchored” week at school. Each day we found creative ways to incorporate all of the food groups. We also had to keep the calories and sodium counts down to meet the state requirements for serving food to the school children.

We used clear plastic cups for the pudding, jello, and the banana cup. We also offered milk everyday even though it is not pictured.

Monday

Ham & Cheese Sea Monster Sandwich
Goldfish Crackers
Broccoli Ocean Sprouts
Coral Reef Fruit Cocktail
Shark Pudding (Gummy Sharks)

Tuesday

Fish Shape Nuggets
Barnacle Baked Beans
Sea Dragon Punch
Blueberry Bubbles
Teddy Graham Beach Jello (Umbrella Toothpick)

Wednesday

Peg Leg Chicken
Sea Shell Pasta Salad
Green Sea Beans
Dolphin Banana in Grapes
Mermaids Delight Ice Cream (Mermaid Sprinkles)

Thursday

Hot Dog Octopus on Seaweed Spaghetti
Crab Leg Carrot Sticks
Sea Cucumber Slices
Green Sea Turtle Apple

(We added the hotdog bun to get enough whole grain. And we added a banana, because we had extras left from yesterday.)

Friday

Sand Dollar Pancakes
Sea Foam Scrambled Eggs
Treasure Tater Tots
Poseidon’s Red Pepper Sticks
Orange Boats

You might enjoy some of my other party posts:

Christmas Tree Teepee

This year I really wanted to make a Teepee Tree for my girls to play in. The idea is that the kids can play inside of the Christmas tree for a month and then Santa puts the gifts inside of the Teepee on Christmas morning.

I really had no idea how to build it, and I couldn’t find any satisfactory directions. So I decided to go at it one step at a time (which took much longer than I wanted and was very much frustrating at times).

I started by purchasing a 5 foot Teepee. I put together the Teepee and saw that it was saggy since I wasn’t able to attach the corner stakes that go into the ground that hold it firm.

I decided to get some 1/2 inch PVC pipe to form the bottom boarder of the inside of the teepee. Since the teepee is 5ft x 5ft I made the PVC square, but the corner pieces that hold it together add about and inch on each side; so I had to cut an inch off of my 5 foot pieces.

Next I folded the flaps back, but I needed something sturdy to attach my garland to. So I got 2 six foot pieces of PCV pipe and a three foot piece to form a triangle door for my Teepee. I attached the six foot pieces to the three foot piece with 90 degree corner pieces. (The PVC pipe is much cheaper at Lowes or Home Depot.)

I used zip ties to attach the triangle PVC to my 5 foot square PCV. I also zip tied the top of my PVC triangle to the top of my teepee poles.

I used 250 feet of green Christmas garland for my teepee. I place the first row of my garland all the way around the teepee, securing it in the 4 corners with a safety pin where the tent stake goes through.

After the first wrap or two around the entire teepee, I needed to wrap the garland around the PVC triangle opening to my teepee every time I came around to the front to create the opening.

I noticed that the garland was sagging, so I used binder clips on the corner teepee poles to hold the garland tight.

I continued wrapping the garland back and forth around the teepee using the clips on the corners until I got to the top of where I wanted the door opening to be.

The PVC triangle doorway was showing quite a bit of white pipe through, so I wrapped some smaller pieces of garland around it to cover the pipes.

I then started wrapping the garland all the way around the teepee top to close up the top of the door.

I had extra garland and the top of my tree looked a little scrawny, so I used the rest of my garland and wrapped the top part of my tree t more times. Then I wrapped the top of the teepee poles with the last bit of garland.

For the lights, I just zig zagged them back and forth on the side of the tree that showed. I used the binder clips that were already on the tree to keep the lights in place. When the lights got to the top of the tree, then I could wrap the lights all the way around the tree.

We decorated the tree and put a tree skirt in the bottom of the tree.

The girls liked to take their stuffed animals into their Christmas tent.

Merry Christmas!

Here are some of my other Christmas DIY posts:

Thanksgiving Gingerbread Nativity -24

Every year we make gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving. We made a Nativity scene with graham crackers and gum drop people. We used coconut for the hay and animal crackers with candy canes as well. We tried something new this year, using peanut butter instead of icing; but it wasn’t sturdy enough so the gumdrops kept falling over. Next time we will have to add some powdered sugar to the peanut butter to thicken it up.

We also got this Gingerbread Train to try.

Homemade Apple Cinnamon Play Dough

We made some homemade Apple Cinnamon Play Dough, it is included in my Teachers Pay Teachers Fall Fun Autumn Preschool Pack. I also laminated the Apple Tree Orchard Play Dough Mat that is included in the pack.

Ingredients:

Directions:

  • In a small saucepan, mix together 1 cup of water, 1 TBSP vegetable oil and a few drops of red food coloring.
  • In another small bowl mix together 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup salt, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar and 2 teaspoons Apple Pie Spice.
  • Turn the stove on medium heat and slowly mix your flour mixture into your water mixture.
  • Continuing mixing until the color is fully blended and the playdough begins to pull away from the saucepan. The batter will be lumpy but as you stir the playdough begins to form and sticks to itself.
  • Place the playdough on a piece of parchment paper and allow it to cool a bit.
  • Once it’s cool to the touch knead for a few minutes until soft.

Here are some of our other Thanksgiving Gingerbread posts:

Gingerbread House -23
Thanksgiving Baking -20
Kids Thanksgiving Treats -19

And here are some of our other Family Holidays:

Talk Like a Pirate Day
Easter Minute-to-win-it
Christmas Fireplace & Crafts

Talk Like a Pirate Day Lunch

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We made a fun pirate themed lunch for the kids at school. The lunch staff also wore pirate hats and we bought eye patches for the kids.

Sea Shaped Fish Nuggets

Our food supplier doesn’t have fish sticks, but they do have fish nuggets in the shape of sea creatures.

Treasure Map Cheese Sticks

We just used Sharpies to draw a red X on the cheese sticks with black dotted lines for the trail.

Pirates Booty Puffs

We bought small bags of Pirates Booty Aged White Cheddar corn puffs. The kids laughed when we announced “Pirates Booty”!

Pirate Ship Jello Cups

We placed blue Jello in the bottom of clear plastic cups and added an orange wedge on the top. Then we added a Pirate Flag to the orange wedge to look like a Pirate ship.

Carrot Stick Planks

We cup up carrot sticks and called them “Carrot Planks”.

You might enjoy some of my other party posts:

Music Maker Week

I got to teach a “Music Maker Week” at our Summer Camp. I had about 10 kids Kindergarten-5th grade. Each day we did a Body Percussion song, STEM activity, and made an instrument. For younger kids we watched Little Einsteins.

Day 1:  Wind Chimes

Homemade Instrument: Wind Chimes

  1. Paint your stick if you choose and let it dry.
  2. Tie a string or pipe cleaner to a jingle bell and add several pony beads. You will need to make 3-5 of these.
  3. Tie the other end of the beads to your stick.
  4. Twist 1 pipe cleaner around each side of the stick to hand the wind chimes with.

YouTube Body Percussion video: Pink Panther 

STEM Activity: Paint on a Sheet Music

  1. Print out some sheet music. We chose some easier ones, like the ABC’s; and some longer ones about a rose and about sunshine.
  2. The kids used watercolors to paint on the music.

Day 2: Egg Shaker Maraca

Homemade Instrument: Egg Shaker Maracas

  1. Place rice in an Easter egg.
  2. Place the egg inside of 2 plastic spoons.
  3. Tape the spoons and eggs together.
  4. Dance to Spanish music.
  5. Play Freeze Dance

Egg Shaker Songs:

We Don’t Talk About Bruno

Surface Pressure

YouTube Body Percussion video: Happy 

STEM Activity: Dancing Oobleck

Oobleck comes from the Dr. Seuss book called Batholomew and the Oobleck. It is a non-Newtonian liquid; which means that Oobleck has properties of both liquids and solids. You can look at the mixture sitting there as it appears like a liquid, you can even stick your fingers in it and it will feel like a liquid. You can also grab a handful of it and squeeze it into a ball, then it feels and looks like a solid until it relaxes again.

Here is a video of The Big Bang Theory doing the same experiment.

You need about 2 cups of Corn Starch to 1 cup of water, and then add food coloring for fun.

  1. You can search for “subwoofer test MP3” and download different test tones and play to see what works best.  Use 40 Hz, 50 Hz, and 63 Hz, and turn the volume way up.
  2. Place a cookie sheet onto the speaker of a subwoofer, and pour in the Oobleck.
  3. Before you play the MP3 you will need to place your fingers on the edge of the cookie sheet with gentle pressure to hold it flush against the sub.
  4. Turn on the music and watch the Oobleck jump and dance.

Day 3: Jingle Bell Anklet

Homemade Instrument: Jingle Bell Anklet

  1. Place the jingle bells and pony beads on the pipe cleaner.
  2. Dance with music that moves your feet, to hear the jingles.
  3. Play Freeze dance

YouTube Body Percussion video: I Like to Move It 

STEM Activity: Colored Ice Drums

You need about plastic tubs of different sizes (we mostly used large ice cream tubs), Just add water and then add food coloring for fun. Put in the freezer for a day or two.

  1. Freeze water colored with food coloring in different-sized food containers and bowls.
  2. When frozen, remove the ice shapes from their molds and place them in a tub (we used a plastic kiddy pool).
  3. Add drumsticks and objects for beating the ice drums.

Day 4: Spin Drum

Homemade Instrument: Spin Drum 

  1. Cut the tube into 1 or 2 inch pieces (each child gets 1 pieces)
  2. Take the tube and trace its circumference on the cardboard sheet twice, to make two circles.
  3. Cut out the circles from the cardboard. 
  4. Use a sharp object to cut a slot on the side of the cardboard tube ring. The slot should be big enough to insert a straw through it.
  5. Insert a straw through the slot of the tube section. Apply glue to the areas where the straw and the cardboard tube meet to attach them firmly.
  6. Take a long piece of yarn and attach a jingle bell to one end of the strand. Tie a knot to secure the bell.  
  7. Use something sharp to poke a hole on each side of the tube.  The holes should be on either side of the straw.
  8. Place some tape around the end of the yarn to poke it threw the hole, twist around the straw and poke it though the hole on the opposite side. (the bell should be just long enough to wrap around the drum and hit the drum in the middle)
  9. Pull the yarn through the other side of the roll. Add a jingle bell to this second side. Make a knot to secure the bell and cut off any extra yarn. Try to keep a roughly equal amount of yarn on this side as you have on the other side of the roll.
  10. Glue your cardboard circles to both sides of the ring to close it
  11. Use colored craft papers or paint to decorate the plain cardboard parts of the spin drum. Embellish as you’d like.

YouTube Body Percussion video: We will Rock You 

STEM Activity: Musical Chairs

  1. Make a circle with chairs. Have one less chair than there are students.
  2. Play the music for about 20-30 seconds and then stop it.
  3. As the music plays the children walk in a like around the circle of chairs, and when the music stops the children need to find a chair.
  4. The person without a chair is eliminated.
  5. Remove one chair and repeat until there is only one student left.

Day 5: Paper Plate Tambourine

Homemade Instrument: Paper Plate Tambourine

  1. Decorate 2 paper plates with crayons.
  2. Use a hole punch to punch holes around the paper plates.
  3. String yarn through the holes adding a jingle bell every once in a while.
  4. Add a few dry beans in the middlet.
  5. We colored these Mandala Music Coloring Pages and glued them to the plates.
  6. Play with Tambourine music.

YouTube Body Percussion video: Try Everything 

STEM Activity: Water Xylophone

You can use the water xylophone to teach kids about pitch.

  1. Fill 6 mason jars or glasses with different levels of water. Each should have slightly more water than the previous one. We added food coloring for fun.
  2. Have your children to use their drumsticks or a spoon to gently tap on the jar.
  3. You should hear different pitch for each jar that is tapped.
  4. This tap creates a vibration sound wave that travel through the water. The sound waves change with different amounts of water in the jar. Higher sounds have less water because the sound waves travel closer together. Lower sounds are in the jars with more water producing a lower sound.

Kids Henri Rousseau Mixed-Media Jungle Art

First we read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel and looked at some of Henri Rousseau’s jungle pieces. We noticed that he painted a variety of animals and very large jungle leaves.

Next I had the kids watercolor green background: We talked about how Henri Rousseau used many different shades of green. Show kids how to use just a bit of water so the paper doesn’t take too long to dry. Show them how to mix green with yellow, blue, white, black, and brown to make different shades of green.

Next we found some tutorials for kids to draw animals:

  • Tiger by Messy Little Monster
  • Sloth by The Crafty Cucumber
  • Lion by Art Projects for Kids
  • Toucan by Art Projects for Kids

Draw your animals and then paint or use colored pencils to color them. After it dries, use a black sharpie to outline them and the cut them out carefully.

I found some tropical leaf outlines to enlarge and print on cardstock to use as tracing templates. Teach the kids how to trace the leaves on the edge of the paper so not to waste paper. Cut out the leaves and then use sharpie to outline and add veins.


Glue the animal and leaves to the green watercolor background.

Crumple little pieces of brightly tissue paper as the flowers and fruit. Glue them to the jungle scene.

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Classroom Easter Minute-to-Win-it

Titus’s Middle School class Easter party had fun with a competition called Tournament of the Peeps. We had 4 teams, each a different color of Peep, and they played Minute-to-Win-it type games.

Angry Peeps

Stand 4 bunny Peeps of each color at one side of the table. 1 participant from each team will stand at the other side of the room. Use a rubber band to knock over the Peeps of the other team colors in one minute. Once all of your Peeps are knocked over you are out while the other teams keep playing.

Peeps in a Nest

One of your teammates will hold an Easter basket on his head, at one side of the room. Another teammate will get 10 Peeps and stand 6 feet away from the buckets. The teammate with the Peeps will see how many of the 10 he can toss into their teams bucket. You only have 1 minute.

Peep Tower

Teams will use 6 Chick Peeps to build the tallest Peep Tower in 1 minute. Peeps can be torn, stacked, or whatever other method the team comes up with to make the tallest tower (no other supplies allowed).

Peep in Your Face

Place 8 Peeps on a place at the table. 1 player from each team will stand at the table with hands behind their back. They player has 1 minutes to eat as many Peeps as he can.

Peep Catapult

Each team will build a catapult in 5 minutes. Teams will have access to craft sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons. First stack 5-7 craft sticks and use the rubber bands to fasten them on each end. Then make a stack of 2 craft sticks and fasten them together on 1 end only. Pull the 2 sticks apart and wedge the stack of sticks between them. Use 2 rubber bands to secure the spoon to the upper craft stick. Place a Peep on the spoon and hold the base of the catapult securely against the floor with one hand. Use the other hand to push down the spoon. Release the spoon and the Peep should fly.

Place an Easter basket 3 feet away from the catapult See how many Peeps you can catapult into your basket in 1 minute.

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Kids Homemade Breadsticks and Pretzels

The kids have been baking bread this winter. We read the Walter the Baker by Eric Carle and then they wanted to make pretzels. We also tried a Little Caesars Breadsticks.

Bavarian Soft Pretzels

Dough Ingredients:

  • 3 tea instant dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 Cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
  • 2 TBS granulated sugar
  • 4 Cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tea salt

Crust Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup water
  • 2 tea basking soda
  • Coarse sea salt
  • 1/4 Cup butter

Directions:

  1. Combine warm water, sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it set for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add in flour and salt and knead in the mixer.
  3. Grease bowl and place dough in the bowl. Cover it and leave it in a warm place for 30 minutes to let it rise.
  4. Preheat the oven 25 degrees F.
  5. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and toll each part into a 2 foot rope.
  6. Form 8 pretzels and set aside.
  7. Combine water and baking soda in a shallow stovetop pan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and submerge each pretzel in the water for a second and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt and bake for 11-12 minutes.
  8. Melt the butter and use a basting brush to spread the melted butter onto the warm pretzels.
  9. Eat with nacho cheese sauce.

Little Caesars Breadsticks

Dough Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 tea instant dry yeast
  • 1/4 Cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
  • 1 TBS granulated sugar
  • 3 Cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tea salt
  • 1 Cup hot water

Basting Ingredients:

  • 1/4 Cup melted butter
  • 1/2 tea garlic salt
  • 1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and prepare 2 2 baking sheets.
  2. Combine water and sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it set for 10 minutes.
  3. Mix in 2 cups of the flour, salt and hot water.
  4. Mix on low in your mixer and slowly add 1 more cup of flour until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Dump the dough on flour surface and cup into fourths, then cup each piece into 3 equal pieces making 12 pieces.
  6. Roll the pieces into 10 inch ropes and place on the baking sheets.
  7. Bake for 11-12 minutes.
  8. Mix the melted butter and garlic salt and the brush it on the sticks. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Olive Garden Breadsticks

Dough Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 tea instant dry yeast
  • 1/4 Cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
  • 1 TBS granulated sugar
  • 3 Cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tea salt
  • 1 Cup hot water

Basting Ingredients:

  • 1/4 Cup melted butter
  • 1/2 tea garlic salt
  • 1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and prepare 2 2 baking sheets.
  2. Combine water and sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it set for 10 minutes.
  3. Mix in 2 cups of the flour, salt and hot water.
  4. Mix on low in the mixer and slowly add 1 more cup of flour until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Dump the dough on flour surface and cup into fourths, then cup each piece into 3 equal pieces making 12 pieces.
  6. Roll the pieces into 10 inch ropes and place on the baking sheets.
  7. Bake for 11-12 minutes.
  8. Mix the melted butter and garlic salt and the brush it on the sticks.

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Gingerbread House Tradition -23

Our family Thanksgiving tradition is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we used a Wilton House Kit with the icing and candies.

We use the icing like the glue to hold the gingerbread house together. Then once it was pretty sturdy, we used the glue to attach the candy decorations.

This is a tradition that my little sister and I started when we were teenagers. I have continued it with my kids (and sometimes their cousins) for over 20 years now.

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