Nie Nie’s Thanksgiving

I was  inspired watching this plane-crash survivor/mom-blogger on the Today show this morning.  Her face is horribly scarred, but all you see is how grateful she is to be alive and there for her family.  You can find her blog at www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com and watch the video at http://tinyurl.com/ylfksmh.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Festive Cranberry Garlands

Before I had kids, I would buy wire frames and painstakingly weave evergreens to them to create Martha Stewart-like wreaths for the holidays.  I also designed and hand-made our Christmas Cards every year.  Now, I struggle to get my photo cards in the mail and I buy my wreaths at Costco.  Although I sometimes mourn the loss of my adult craft projects, I’m comforted by the fact that I’m blessed with three children who fill our holidays with more joy and beauty than any decoration could ever bring.  I’d trade anything for a hand print turkey made by my three-year old!

This year, we will continue our tradition of making cranberry garlands.  They’re pretty, environmentally friendly, and will look nice at Thanksgiving and even through the holidays.  Last year, the berries looked pretty for a long time, even when they were a little wrinkled.  You can hang them outside on a tree or shrub when you’re tired of them and the birds and squirrels will have a feast of their own.

You will need fresh cranberries, fishing line or dental floss and a yarn needle.  Yarn needles are plastic, not too sharp and can be purchased at craft and fabric stores.  I bought 7cm needles. (Susan Bates brand to be exact.) Make sure the eye isn’t too big, or it will ruin the cranberries.

First, we pulled a yard or so of fishing line out from the spool and taped it to the spool so that no more could unwind.  Dental floss works well too!  Then, I knotted the free end of the fishing line to the needle so it wouldn’t pull off and had my kids start stringing.  Last year, it was a little challenging for our two-year old, but she could do it with help! 

You can make the garlands as long as you like.  Just tie them off when they are the length you want.  I love to string them on the chandelier in our dining room for Thanksgiving.  We may make a few strings for our Christmas tree too.  It would be a great project for people sitting around watching football, assuming they’re not on a white couch! 

Thanksgiving Pine Cone Turkeys

I’m reposting this fun Thanksgiving craft blog from last year.  Coming soon…we’ll do a project with a picture of mom or dad your child can carry to help ease separation anxiety. 

My mother-in-law suggested making pine cone turkeys, so I thought we’d give it a shot.  If you don’t have pine cones lying around the house, take your kids on a walk to find some, or just buy some.  I must admit that I had to buy some at Michael’s since it was wet outside and I wanted to do the project that day. They only had cinnamon scent-drenched cones, which are a little strong, but the kids didn’t mind. 

You will need pine cones, feathers, pipe cleaners and google eyes.  I bought some normal pipe cleaners and some sort of bumpy-looking ones that we cut up to use as turkey heads.  You could also just twist or bend the end of a normal pipe cleaner to form a head.  It doesn’t have to look perfect, you just need enough surface area to glue eyes on your turkey’s head. 

 

 

After we cut the pipe cleaner “head”, we twisted part of a normal pipe cleaner around it to affix it to the pine cone by wrapping it completely around it.   We made legs and feet from pipe cleaners too.  They don’t support the weight of the pine cone very well, but look cute.  Then, the kids just stuck feathers into the pine cones to make turkey tails.  You can have your children use glue, if you want the feathers to stay  put, by dabbing a little glue on the end of the feathers before you poke them into the pine cone.  It works pretty well just to stick them in too. 

Finally, glue some eyes on.  I bought google eyes that have adhesive already on them- what a great invention!

As usual, the project evolved into making crazy pipe cleaner/feather creatures once the turkeys were complete.  The kids were busy for an hour, needed very little help and the turkeys are very cute.  Good times.

Handwashing Lesson (Homemade Petri Dishes)

With all of the bugs going around at this time of year, I thought it would be a great time to remind your kids why they need to wash their hands.  Culturing microbes (bacteria and fungi) on petri dishes lets them test different surfaces for microbes and grow their own germs.  Even very young children will have fun helping with the Q-tips and seeing what grows in their microbial zoo.  It’s fun, easy, and you probably have what you need in your kitchen cupboard:

disposable containers to grow bacteria in (see below),  beef bouillon cubes or granules, plain gelatin, water, sugar and Q-tips.

For containers, you can use foil muffin tins, clear plasticware with lids, or real petri dishes to grow fungi and some bacteria.  We’re going to use clear deli containers so that we can recycle while we learn.  (They look like they will be heat-resistant enough to pour warm agar into.)  You’ll start by making microbial growth medium (or germ food, as we like to call it.)  Help your child mix together a little less than 1 cup water, one package gelatin, one bouillon cube (or 1 tsp. granules), and 2 tsp. sugar.  The next step is for an adult to do.  Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove, stirring constantly, or boil in the microwave, stirring at one minute intervals and watching carefully.  Don’t stir after the liquid boils.  Remove the boiling liquid from heat and cover it with aluminum foil.  Let the growth medium cool for about fifteen minutes.

Pour the medium carefully into clean containers, until 1/3 to 1/2 full.  Loosely place lids or foil over containers and allow dishes to cool completely.  The agar should make the growth media hard like jello.  When the agar has hardened, store the plates in a cool place, like a refrigerator, before using.  Plates should be used in 2-3 days.  When you are working with the plates, try to keep the lids on whenever possible, so that they are not contaminated by the air.  If you’re planning to use muffin tins, simply place them in a muffin pan, fill them with agar, and when they’re cool, put them in individual zip-lock baggies.  With other containers, put the lids on tightly once the plates harden. 

When the plates have hardened  and you’re ready swab, shake the condensation off the lids of the containers and put them back on.  Then, help your child draw a grid of four sections on the bottom of the plate with permanent marker. (If you are using muffin tins, you’ll just label each bag with the surface you are checking.)  Ask your child which surfaces they’d like to test.  It’s always fun to label one section of the grid “fingerprint” to let them see what grows when they touch their finger to the plate.  Label each section with the surface they want to test.   Be sure to label the bottom of the plate since the lid will move.  You should be able to see through the agar to see your lines and your writing.  If you want to, you can label a separate plate for each surface, but we had three kids and three plates, so we made sections.  TV remotes, kitchen sinks, computer keyboard, doorknobs and piano keys are great surfaces to check.  See the photo at the top of this post for a better picture of how your plate might look.

Now comes the fun part.  Have your child rub a clean Q-tip around on the surface they want to test.  Then, remove the lid from their plate and help them rub the Q-tip across the section of the plate labeled for that surface.  If they are gentle, the agar shouldn’t break.  If it does, it’s no big deal.  When you have finished, set the plates on a flat surface with thier lids loosely set on top (do not invert them, as I first suggested.)  I set our plates on a countertop where they won’t be in the way.  Have your children check their plates every day, and soon they will observes colonies of different shapes, sizes and colors starting to grow.

They will mostly see fungi (molds), but they may also see some tiny clear or white spots that are colonies formed by millions of bacteria.  Your child can record and draw how their plates look in their science notebooks.  Older children can keep track of how long it takes things to grow and the shapes, sizes and colors of the microbial colonies that grow on their plates.  If they want to learn more about microbes, help them search for the words fungi and bacteria on the website cybersleuthkids.com and it will give them some great links to microbiology websites.  Tell your children that microbes are everywhere, but that very few of them are harmful, and that many of them are essential for good health.

Have your children wash their hands after handling the plates, and throw the plates  away when you are done.  Remind them that if they wash their hands with regular hand soap for the length of time that it takes to say the ABCs, they’ll remove most of the harmful bacteria from their hands.  (For adults, a severe side effect of this experiment is the sudden urge to disinfect computer keyboards and remote controls.)  

Here’s what grew on our plate: The large, fuzzy colonies are fungi and the small, whitish ones are probably bacteria.  The grid with the most fungi was cultured from our piano keys.  The one with both fungi and bacterial colonies visible was cultured from our bathroom sink.  One grid has mostly small, white bacterial colonies and was cultured from a water-glass my son drank from.  The fingerprint grid has only a single fungal spot.  My daughter must have washed her hands before touching it!  Our other two plates were pushed too close to the under-counter lights in our kitchen and the agar melted, so we threw them away.  I’m going to clean off my piano keys now!

Homemade Petri Dishes

The kids and I poured homemade petri dishes today after school.  Tomorrow, we’ll go around the house, swabbing for germs to grow on our plates.  I’ll post the entire project in the next day or too!  Your kids will love it!

Cornstarch Goo- Liquid or Solid?

My son, the science-nut, turned nine on Tuesday, so I’m posting one of his favorite projects.  It’s easy, non-toxic and so much fun that it is worth every bit of the mess it makes.   Your kids will love it!  

All you need is a cup of cornstarch and half a cup of water.  Let your child measure everything out.  (He or she will enjoy it much more than you will.)  Simply add the two ingredients to a medium-size bowl and let your child mix them together with a spoon or their fingers.

Then, play with the mixture!  You will discover that it behaves like a solid when you agitate it, or move it quickly,  and like a liquid when you let it sit still.  Pour some onto plates or into bowls if you want to.  We poured it directly onto our table which was pretty messy, but lots of fun!  Hold a handful on your palm and watch it drip between your fingers!  Have your child roll it into a ball.  If it gets too dry, just add a little more water.

Cornstarch molecules are like long ropes.  When you leave them alone, or move them slowly, they can slide past each other and look like a liquid.  However, if you squeeze them, stir them or roll them around in your hands, the ropey molecules get “tangled up” and they look and feel more like a solid.

Have fun!

Yummy Hot Dog Mummies

This was the easiest part of our Halloween feast and the kids devoured them. 

You’ll only need hot dogs (I like to buy preservative-free hot dogs when I can,) and refrigerated breadstick dough.  Pillsbury recommends an 11oz can for 12 hot dogs.  We couldn’t find breadstick dough, so I had the kids cut refrigerated cresent roll dough into strips and it worked pretty well.  You’ll also want to have ketchup and mustard on hand if your kids are dippers.

Just pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Unroll the dough and separate it into strips.  Show your child how to cut each strip in half  lengthwise and then in half  crosswise to create four long strips.  You should end up with around 48 pieces of dough.

Have your child wrap four or so pieces of dough around each hot dog, stretching the dough to look like mummy bandages.  They can make a hole between the bandages at one end where the face might be, if they want to.  Our mummies were far from perfect, but the kids didn’t care.  They had fun cutting and wrapping the dough.

Bake your mummies for 13 to 17 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.  Your kids can use mustard to draw faces on their mummies before they eat them.  My kids also thought it was really funny to call the ketchup “blood.”  Thanks again for the great ideas, Pillsbury!  Bon Appetite!

Marshmallow Monsters

This project  is very easy and so much fun.  The kids absolutely loved it and the results were cute and creative.

All you need are marshmallows, pretzel rods, a can of white frosting, food coloring (optional) and candy to decorate with.  We used sprinkles, candy corn and M&Ms, but it would also be fun to cut up licorice. to use as hair or whiskers.  Regular and mini chocolate chips would be great too.  The Pillsbury magazine suggested making capes from fruit rolls.

First, carefully push the pretzel rods into the flat side of the marshmallows so they won’t fall off.  Then, melt the frosting until soft in the microwave (20 or 30 seconds should do it.)  Divide the frosting into two or three cups and help your child color it green or orange or purple with a few drops of food coloring.  Kids love to stir.  Now, have your child dip each marshmallow into the frosting and help them smooth it with a knife.   Let them decorate the marshmallows to create cats and witches and aliens.  It’s fun to see what great things they can come up with on their own.

Stand the completed “monsters” up in water glasses or jars to display. 

Friday I’ll post how to make “Yummy Hot Dog Mummies” and the feast will be complete!

Creepy Meatball Caterpillars

The kids loved making this creative, kid-friendly finger food for our Halloween lunch.  Best of all, they could easily do most of it all by themselves.  All I did was put the caterpillars in the oven and move them onto serving trays.   Thanks again for the idea, Pillsbury!

All you need to make your meatball caterpillar is a can of Pillsbury Golden Layers refrigerated flaky original biscuits (I accidentally bought the extra big ones, which worked just fine,) and a bag of frozen pre-cooked turkey meatballs, which have been thawed ahead of time.  Shoestring potatoes or chow mein noodles make cute legs for your caterpillar, but we forgot to put legs on ours.  You will also want to slice up pickles, carrots, olives, peppers and anything else you can think of for your kids to use as decorations.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Cover two cookie sheets with foil and spray them with cooking spray so your caterpillars won’t stick.  I forgot to spray mine, but was able to get the meatballs off.

 

Have your child separate the dough into individual biscuits, and then separate each biscuit into two layers.  We found that the biscuits pulled apart easily.  You should now have around 20 pieces of dough.  Show your child how to wrap a biscuit around each meatball and line the wrapped meatballs up on the cookie sheet in a curved line, touching to form a caterpillar shape.  You will be able to make two caterpillars of around 10 meatballs each.

Now it’s time to decorate!  Let your child place veggies and herbs on each meatball (or every other one to leave some plain for picky eaters.)  Some of the decorations may fall off during cooking, but my kids didn’t seem to care.  Put the shoestring potato legs on at this point, if you have them.  Bake your creations for 13 to 16 minutes, or until the bread looks done.

Move your caterpillar onto a serving tray, if you want to.  It will probably come apart, but just reassemble it on the tray.  Serve with ketchup and mustard, or marinara sauce.  We served baby dill pickles with our lunch and called them goblin fingers.  The kids loved it. 

Coming soon:  Marshmallow Monsters and Yummy Hot Dog Mummies.

Halloween Feast: Gobble-up Ghosts

Yesterday, my kids and a few friends spent the morning making a creepy, delicious Halloween feast.   They had at least as much fun making the food as they did eating it.  I’m going to post the recipes in a series of blogs over the next week.  All of the ideas are from a Pillsbury Halloween magazine.  Thanks  for the great ideas Pillsbury!

These Gobble-up Ghosts were fun to make and taste as good as they look. 

You’ll need pretzel sticks, some fruit roll-ups, a package or two of white vanilla baking chips or almond bark and some mini chocolate chips.

Have your child line a cookie sheet with waxed or parchment paper.  Then, have them unroll the fruit snacks and cut them into pieces around 1 inch long.  Show them how to cut a 3/4 inch fringe on the long side of the strip.  Then, have them stretch and wrap the uncut end of the fruit roll-up around the end of a pretzel stick to form a broom.  Have them space the brooms out on the waxed paper.

Melt the white chocolate according to the directions (I like to use the microwave so I don’t burn it) and help your child drop the melted chocolate onto the pretzels to look like ghosts.  Remind them that they look better if they’re NOT perfect.  Ghosts are blobs, after all.  Then, have them put mini chocolate chips on the ghosts to form faces.  Be sure to do this before the white chocolate hardens.

Let them cool and harden and peel them from the paper.  Voila!   Try to share them with your kids, even if you want to gobble them all up yourself.  I know I couldn’t resist them.

Coming soon:  Creepy Meatball Caterpillars, Yummy Hot Dog Mummies and Marshmallow Monsters