Turkey Lunch

It's been way too long since I've created a special lunch for Trip, so I decided to surprise him with a turkey. It turned out kind of funny looking, but he was thrilled so it was a win.

I stuck carrots, olives, cucumber chunks, and hot dog slices on toothpicks, then stuck them into an apple. I also added some chocolate eyes and a gummy worm beak and wattle. The best part (as with most special lunches), is that he at just about every bite.

Transportation Cookie Painting

I recently watched an episode of The Pioneer Woman cooking show on Food Network. She was making some super cute hand cookies with her daughter and her daughter's friends. They rolled out sugar cookie dough, traced their hands with a butter knife and then decorated the cookies with a colored egg glaze. I hadn't thought of painting sugar cookies before baking them but had a feeling that Trip would enjoy trying it. He got some transportation cookie cutters for his birthday (thanks Aunt T!), so it was time to put them to work.

I made the dough, refrigerated it, rolled it out, and cut out some shapes. I decided to put them on parchment paper since I wasn't sure how much of a mess Trip would make with the egg glaze.

The egg glaze is simply egg yolks, water, and food coloring.

I didn't have any paintbrushes that I knew were food safe, so we used q-tips. They were not the best, but they worked in a pinch.

Trip enjoyed choosing colors and decorating his cookies.

He also liked using the q-tip to poke holes in the dough.

Once he was done painting, I let him add some sprinkles. After that, he didn't want to paint anymore, he just wanted to use the sprinkles.

They turned out pretty cute and tasted great too. Next time, I will probably make the icing too to add a little more sweetness, but no one complained about the cookies being plain.

Waffle Boat Breakfast

I hadn't made Trip waffles in a while, so I figured it was high time and decided that they would make a fun boat.

Some banana slices and some blueberries that we picked last week added a little color. The mast and T are dried mango. As soon as I put this down in front of Trip, he had the fruit eaten in a flash and then he moved on to the waffle. I'm always impressed at how well he eats when I make him special meals. There is rarely much left.

Stoplight Game and Craft

Although we don't have a stoplight in our town and the nearest one is at least 60 miles away, Trip is quite fond of them and likes to tell us when to stop and when to go.

I saw a cute stoplight beanbag toss on I Can Teach My Child and decided to come up with one of my own. I cut out circles of the appropriate colors and glued them on two pieces of black paper. The yellow circle is half on one paper and half on the other. I then laminated them and taped them together. I also got out some of the beanbags that I had made during B week last fall.

Trip had fun tossing the beanbags, but also really enjoyed just running and jumping over the stoplight. That kept him busy for quite a while as Lightning McQueen looked on.

After all that jumping, it was time for a rest.

Trip was quite happy when he saw the snack that went with our stoplight fun. I used half of a hotdog bun, some Nutella, and three peanut M&Ms.

Bunny Sandwiches

Growing up, my sister and I loved it when we got to make bunny sandwiches. Making them is one of those childhood memories that has stuck with both of us. It was a fun lunch for anytime, but was especially great when we had friends over.

Mom would cut circles out of bread, put out some spreads, and make a tray of toppings. We each got two bread circles, one for the face, and one that we cut in half to make the ears. We would then spread our bunny with cream cheese or peanut butter. Next, we got to choose from carrots, raisins, sprouts, bananas, sunflower seeds, and whatever else Mom put out to make our bunny's face.

I knew I had this picture somewhere, and searched high and low for it. I finally found it in the second grade pouch of my "School Years" memory book. My friend Celine and I are showing off our bunny sandwich creations. Just seeing this picture made me smile for hours.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and I figured it was time for Trip to have a bunny sandwich. I had hoped to make bunny sandwiches when Trip had some friends visiting, but it didn't work out, so we'll have to save it for another time. Trip was plenty happy with this bunny, though.

I only got one photo of it before this little boy couldn't wait any longer to eat his lunch.

Little Lamb Lunch

Trip sure enjoyed this easy lamb lunch.

I cut a large flower shape out of a slice of bread,

then spread it with cream cheese.

I broke mini marshmallows in half to make the wool. A mini chocolate chip eye, raisin ear and mouth, pretzel stick legs, and lettuce grass finished it off nicely.  

Farm Pancakes

We purchased some squeeze bottles, which have made making shaped pancakes much easier.

Trip had fun with this pig.

He also liked this cow, especially since it had a raspberry tongue.

Edible Playdough

We are right in the midst of our two week farm theme and having a blast. I will have lots of fun farm things to share in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to catch up on a few activities that we have done recently that I haven't blogged about yet.

Edible playdough was something that I've wanted to try for almost a year now. I can't believe it took me so long to finally make it. You can find the simple recipe here from I Can Teach My Child. All it takes is peanut butter, dry milk, and honey.

Once I had mixed up a batch of dough, I got the table ready. Each child got some playdough, a plastic knife, and a small package of Skittles. I also put out bowls of pretzels, raisins, and mini chocolate chips.

Z was the first to finish his creation.

E made an Easter egg.

A was proud of her creation too.

I joined in the fun and made a fish since we were in the middle of our swimming theme.

Trip observed what his friends were doing and ate some of his playdough, but didn't really create anything for a while.

Then, Z had the idea to make some ships.

Trip was quite taken with that idea, so his friend helped him make one. Then, they had lots of fun making their ship's cannons go BOOM!

 

As A started eating her dough, she stuck it on the knife and made it an ice cream cone.

The big kids ended up eating all of their dough, but Trip didn't finish his, so we just put it in the fridge and enjoyed it for another couple of days.

Pretzel Goldfish Treats

We made these cute treats for Trip's swim teacher. They are super easy to make and taste great!

Preheat the oven to about 170*. Place some pretzels on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or some parchment paper. I had regular mini pretzels, but the square waffle/grid ones are great too. Unwrap a bunch of Hershey's Kisses and put one on each pretzel. Bake for about 5-8 minutes, or until Kisses are soft.  Push a Goldfish cracker into each chocolate. Refrigerate or freeze for a few minutes so that the chocolate can cool/set. Remove from the pan and enjoy!

These treats can also be made with Hershey's Hugs or with Rolos. Each different kind of candy melts faster or slower than the others, though so only bake one type of chocolate at a time. I used chocolate Goldfish, but other flavors would taste great too. The original ones would add to the sweet and salty taste and any of the other sweet flavors would work nicely too. Nuts can also be substituted for the Goldfish. The possibilities are endless!

Swimming Fun Food

We had some fun treats during our swimming-themed weeks.

Trip and his friends gobbled up this homemade mac 'n cheese with hotdog octopuses.

Homemade mac 'n cheese is super easy to make. Get some pasta boiling, then just melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in an pan, and add an equal amount of flour. Whisk it together and let the flour cook just a little. Then, add in some milk and let it bubble away until it thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if you like). Add in some grated cheese, and you have the sauce. I usually add some frozen veggies to the pasta for the last couple of minutes of its cooking time. Once the pasta and veggies are drained, mix them with the sauce, and you're done. The whole process takes just a few more minutes than making mac 'n cheese from a box and I think it's well worth it.

Trip loves tomatoes, so he was thrilled with these fish.

He was making fishy faces at them before he took a bite.  :)

More Alphabet Activities

We've done a couple more general alphabet activities in recent weeks.

Trip had a good time with the alphabet in Jell-O, much like he did with J's in Jell-O earlier this year. I made one large box of Jell-O in a plastic storage container, then added a little more than half of the alphabet. I used a mix of cookie cutter, magnetic, and foam letters. Once that set up in the fridge, I made another box of gelatin, poured it over the first batch, and added the rest of the letters. After the whole thing solidified, I turned it out onto a cookie sheet, and let Trip have at it.

He had a great time digging out those letters and was very serious about his work.

Another alphabet activity that Trip loved was alphabet soup. I made a simple soup of onions, garlic, carrots, celery, tomatoes, chicken stock, and some spices. Once the veggies were tender, I added a bag of tiny alphabet noodles (the kind you find in the Mexican food aisle). The noodles couldn't cook fast enough for Trip and his friends who were eagerly anticipating a fun lunch.

Two helpings later, this was all that was left in Trip's bowl. Everyone enjoyed eating the alphabet and happily ate their veggies.

Snack Mixes

When I did my student teaching, I worked with a fantastic kindergarten teacher. I learned many wonderful things from her, and one of them was a simple trick. When the snacks were getting low in her classroom and there was a little of this and a little of that at the bottom of each box, she would take all of them and make one big snack mix.

When I need a quick snack for a bunch of kids, I go to the pantry and see what I can find. I usually pop some popcorn, then add any combination of raisins (or any other dried fruit), chocolate chips, cereal, mini marshmallows, crackers, nuts, seeds, or anything else I find. I've made different mixes several times in the last few weeks and each time, the kids have been thrilled. There's something about the variety of ingredients that gets them really excited and they eat it all. A few mini marshmallows and chocolate chips will get them to eagerly eat healthier ingredients like plain popcorn, whole grain cereals, and dried fruits. It's also a great way to make a fun snack out of the last of the cereal or crackers left at the bottom of the box or bag.

With this particular mix, we had fun making mini smores with the Chex or Cheerios, a marshmallow, and a chocolate chip.

The Alphabet for Lunch

This lunch was slightly challenging to create, but it was lots of fun to put together. I started it on a serving platter, but had to move it to a cookie sheet in order to fit the whole alphabet. I tried to stick to food that I knew Trip would like, including carrots, celery, bread, pickles, pepperoni, fruit leather, pistachios, mini chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows. He was quite happy with his special lunch, and ate just about all of it, which makes it all worth it for me.

Y Week- Y Lunches

I've been meaning to do a muffin tin meal for quite some time. Trip's yellow lunch included pear, yellow bell pepper, a hard-boiled egg (which he did not even want to try), corn, yogurt, and cheese. To make the Y on the yogurt, I put a cookie cutter on it, then sprinkled some yellow sprinkles inside.

This yo-yo lunch was super simple as well.

S Week- Spaceship Lunch

Trip loves the "Space Adventures" Goldfish because they have special shapes. The stars, moon, and spaceships came in very handy for this lunch and he was excited to see them on his plate. The spaceship is just bread, hot dog, carrot, and olive. I used mini chocolate chips to make the S.

S Week- Sandcastles and Sandpaper

Trip had lots of fun helping me make part of this sandcastle lunch. He crushed the cookies for the sand using a bat,

and then a bottle.

He also helped mix the pudding.

Then, he ate all of the lunch except for the cookies and pudding! Not that I'm complaining, but it was funny!

Later, we tried to make a sandcastle out of the leftover cloud dough from our Excavating X's activity. It sort of worked, but we didn't have quite enough dough to make a good castle.

We also tried coloring on sandpaper with crayons. Trip wasn't too interested in it, however so it didn't last long.

He quickly turned over the sandpaper, colored the guys on the back, and moved on to something else.