diy rainbow cakes

 I really had meant to post this BEFORE St. Patrick's Day but there was a bit of a snafu that involved canceling our internet and a dead laptop. I'm back now and I really do believe that rainbows are cause for celebration year-round, don't you? So in a nutshell, I bring you an easy diy alternative to funfetti cake which is probably less easy than using a box of funfetti mix, but your kiddos will thank you when they get to mash the fruity pebbles with a rolling pin so why not?**

Ingredients:

*one box yellow cake mix or this recipe

*two cups fruity pebbles

*small zip-close bag

*rolling pin

*cupcake pan and liners

*heavy cream

*mixer

*spoon, etc.

Place one cup of fruity pebbles into you baggie, seal and hand your kiddo a rolling pin (we used a seasonal XTREME color box of cereal). Let them roll away to create fruity dust. Follow the recipe on the back of your cake mix box or use this recipe or other favorite plain cake recipe. Before adding your eggs, oil and the rest, dump your new fruity dust into the mix or dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate. Mix well with your remaining ingredients and pour into your prepared muffin pan. Children love placing liners into the cups so let them have a go at it. 

Bake according to your recipe and allow to cool. While cooling, whip a cup (or two) of heavy cream with one tablespoon of sugar until peaks form. Don't over-sweeten it. There is plenty of sweet both in the mix and the cereal topping you are going to add. 

Once cool, set up a decorating station and allow your kiddo(s) to add a dollop of cream to their cupcake then a smattering or more of the cereal to the top. 

 Take a zillion happy photos and enjoy with your favorite milk beverage!

**the pebbles crumb up easier than the loops, they also add a super nice crunch as a topping that is of all things actually quite delicate. They were a win all around save for the mister who thought adding faux fruity anything to cupcakes was a waste; but he's just a bit grumpy like that.

st. patrick's day: rainbow leprechaun bread

I first posted about fairy bread back in 2007 to celebrate Australia Day! I've brought it back for St. Patrick's Day because rainbow sprinkles are hard to resist. This time, instead of butter, I have use creme  fraiche with a pinch of powdered sugar and an experiment in green color and frosting flavor. I think I prefer it sans the color but you can mix it up a bit if you like. In honor of St. Patrick's Day I have dubbed it Leprechaun bread, check it out! 

Leprechaun Bread:

*super soft bread 

*creme fraiche (or softened butter or other butter-like spread)

*sprinkles

*knife for spreading

*cookie cutters

*food color or frosting color/flavoring

To make super yummy fairy bread or for now Leprechaun bread you begin with a piece of super soft sandwich bread. I used both potato bread and a soft multigrain roll I had camping out in the fridge. Like I wrote in my previous post I prefer squaw bread butfor some reason squaw bread is hard to come by and these rolls realy kinda taste just like it.  

 Dollop a spoonful of creme fraiche (or cream cheese or other spreadable bit of goodness) into a small bowl and add a smaller spoonful of powdered/confectioners sugar. Hand your kiddo the spoon andl et them mix it all up. Add a drop or two of food color if you like and get back to mixing. I had an envelope of frosting flavoring that I wanted to try but did not want to flavor the whole container of creme fraiche nor did I wish to dump the whole packet of flavoring into my dollop so I tried a pinch or two or three so the color and minty flavor barely came through. When you make your Leprechaun bread you can add more or less. My take is to add less as the sprinkles really do pack a punch.

Hand you kiddo a butter knife or plastic knife or a cheese spreader and let them cover their bread with the creme fraiche. 

Now it is time for sprinkles. Your kiddo can shake away from the container directly or you can pour the sprinkles into a small bowl and see if they can use their fingers to pinch (fine motor skills in action!) their sprinkles onto their bread.

Once sprinkled to their satisfaction, hand over a cookie cutter and let them cut out a happy shape. Metal cookie cutters work best for this but even then may not cut nice and crisp. 

To creat a peek-a-boo bit of Leprechaun bread, have your kiddo use their cookie cutter on a plain piece of bread that is then sandwiched on top of the sprinkled bread. Cut of the crusts if you must but the shape the cookie cutter makes may stretch and morph a bit. You may wish to cut crusts off right at the bat.

Try different sprinkles or larger sprinkles (like my bunny bread up there?). Add two colors of food color and try mixing colors. Oooh, flavor and color the creme fraiche with a bit of green fruit juice, experiment, have fun! 

**I picked up my creme fraiche from good old Trader Joe's. I really wanted to use clotted cream but my jar was a scary shade of fuzzy green and I couldn't find any locally to purchase (World Market was out). There are all sorts of recipes out their for creme fraiche. You could also try using greek yogurt as well.  Oh and I left out my creme fraiche to soften and it got a bit too liquidy so the pics are a little less cool than I wanted. Soften your spread a smidge so it will be easier for your kiddos to apply but not so soft it melts away. Enjoy! 

lace it up for St. Patrick's Day

There is hardly anything new to lacing up a cereal necklace for fun but here is my take on it anyway. A few years ago I did a rainbow necklace using fruity cereal for St. Patrick's Day, this time around I have tossed in some developmental goodness to the mix.

Materials:

*apple jacks cereal

*waxed dental floss

*large eyed plastic embroidery or darning needle

*scissors

*two bowls 

You can use any ring-shaped fruity cereal for this but to make it easier for your twos, threes, and fours, I would recommend Apple Jacks as there are only two colors for sorting and one of them is green! Set a bowl of cereal out onto the table, along with a cupcake liner or other small bowl and have your kido sort out the green loops. Sorting the small cereal pieces helps work those fine motor skills while color recognition works thos pre-math skills.

 Tie a length of waxed dental floss (floss works a little easier for lacing and won;t stick to the sugary cereal) to the eye of the needle so that your child doesn't lose the tail and tie a loop of cereal somewhere near the other end to keep the loops from falling off the floss.

  Now your kiddo can lace up their necklace to their heart's content or until they run out of green loops. 

You can also limit their necklace stringing to a specific number to help them practice their counting skills. 

Once finished, tie off the two ends (or if you are like me, use a wad of washi-tape) and pop over the top of your kiddo's (or yours) head to keep the pinches at bay! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

make a st. patrick's day garland ombre style

Or...as I like to call it, fun with tints! I did a post on tints back in 2011 and want to revisit it for this St. Patrick's Day garland.  Not only is this garland super pretty, there are many opportunities for learning if you hand the reins over to your child or children to create it. 

Materials:

*scissors

*marker; any color

*white paint

*green paint

*sponge brush or large paint brush

*small container for paint

*one large sheet of paper 11"X17" or newspaper

*yarn or twine

*stapler and staples

The first thing you will want to do is set up your crafting space to allow for a mess and easy clean up. I have used oilcloth, a vinyl tablecloth and wax paper, all of which work well. Once you have your area set up with your paint, brush and paper you can begin by first folding your paper in half as many times as you can. I got four folds into my paper which was 11"X17". Teaching your child to fold the paper in half as many times as they can can trigger conversation detailing math concepts such as fractions. The physical work of folding and creasing the paper as even as possible is not as easy for little hands as it is for us grown-ups.

Next up we're going to get to painting each section of the folded paper going from a light tint to a dark or vice versa. You can begin with white paint or green paint, it doesn't matter which only that you use a LOT of paint. Well...more paint than you think you need as you will be adding to your bowl for each section of folded paper but to keep the color changing you want to make sure you have enough of your base color whichever it may be.  If you choose to begin with white, you will want it to be mostly white with a drop or two of green paint mixed in so that your white paint is the faintest of greens. 

You can refer to my original post if you like to explain what tints are to your kiddo but to get to the painting have your child paint up the first section from top to bottom or bottom to top.

Once that fold is painted, add another drop or two of your white or green paint and get to painting the next fold and so on, adding a drop of paint with each fold. 

By the time you reach the end your painted sections should go from light to dark or dark to light but still remain within the same hue...aka ombre. Set aside to dry.

 Once dry, have your child fold the painted paper in half from top to bottom or height-wise. Once folded, flip the paper over and draw a line along the fold. This will be a guide for your child to cut along. Scissors work is an important skill for young children to work on. We as adults take it for granted how easy it is to pick up a pair of scissors and get to cutting, but a youngster around 3 or 4 finds the task quite trying, especially if they have yet to figure out which hand is their dominant hand. Scissors work utilizes hand to eye coordination and develops both fine and large motor skills. Learning how to properly hold and use a pair of scissors strengthens your child's fingers which will aid in a firm grip for writing. An added benefit to scissors work with your child is that they learn how to use them properly under your guidance. Think of it as both a bonding experience and a learning adventure. 

Once your child has (or you, depending on the age of your kiddo though I encourage you to allow your three year old to practice cutting) cut the paper in half, flip it over and number each fold so that once the next batch of cutting is finished the pieces will be numbered to maintain the nifty ombre effect. Make sure to number the other half in the same order to keep it consistent.

Now we're back to folding. Have your kiddo fold each piece in half and stack in a safe place in numerical order. My paper gave me sixteen pieces. Once fold, hand your kiddo their scissors and let them fringe the edges. Fringing with scissors is usually a bit easier than cutting along a line so your child may really enjoy this part. If they have a completely different idea, let them get to it. It's remarkable what children can produce when their ideas are encouraged. 

Now it is time to assemble the garland which means your child gets to use THE STAPLER! Oh how a kiddo loves a stapler. You would be surprised how difficult stapler work is for a young child. I know you are probably thinking "What? A stapler? For my three year old? Are you kidding me?" and well, I'm not, unless you plan to hand them a stapler and then leave them alone. It goes without saying that one should never leave a young child alone with scissors, staplers, or any other sharp object. But under your guided supervision your child will joyfully staple away even when things go awry, and they usually do. To create the garland you will need a large length of yarn about six feet or so. Fold over one end and tie in a knot to create a loop of sort and place a fringed and folded piece of garland over the yarn so that it is nestled inside and give that stapler a good push. Er...have your child give the stapler a good solid pressing. Kachunk! Continue until all your pieces have been garland-fied and you are ready to hang. 

Pretty, isn't it? If you begin now you can have your child work on this in stages and be ready to hang the next day. Change out the color and you can create a garland for any holiday! Hop on over to scrumdillydilly for a grown up version which is much the same except I scalloped the bottoms and stitched it all together. Happy almost St. Patrick's Day! 

pot o' gold cookies

Complete with rainbow coating! Well...sort of. This kooky cookie is super easy to make and packs a punch. One cookie is super-sized so don't worry about making a huge batch. One for each kiddo should suffice especially if they each paint their own.

Ingredients

*shortbread cookie dough

*caramel filled candies such as rollos or kisses

*liquid food color

*clean paintbrushes

*parchment paper

*cookie sheet

Start with a batch of shortbread dough and a small bowl of unwrapped caramel filled candies. Shortbread dough has the texture of a play dough so it makes for easier handling. There are no eggs in the dough so it allows for the occasional nibble without worry of salmonella. It's a win-win kind of dough!

 

 

 

Have your kiddo flatten out a golf ball sized bit of dough with the palm of their hand. Add a candy to the center and gently wrap dough around the candy creating a kiss-shaped cookie. Set onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and continue until you have 8-10 cookies at the ready.

 

Fill a small paint palette with watered down liquid food color. Have your kiddos paint up their cookies with all the rainbow colors. 

Return them back to the cookie sheet. Lining your cookie sheet with parchment will keep your sheet sticky-free as the caramel candies have the tendency to ooze out of the dough. Pop the sheet into a preheated oven (375 f) and bake for 10-12 minutes. A little less if you want a less crumble cookie but not too much more otherwise the cookie tops will burn.

 

Allow to cool and enjoy with a cold cup of your favorite milk beverage. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

make crepe tissue rainbows

 For this project, we're going a little old school by wrapping small squares of tissue around the eraser-end of a pencil. To update it, we're using crepe paper streamers instead, they are much easier to cut into small squares. So easy, your kiddos can even do it!

Materials

*crepe paper streamers in rainbow colors

*large yogurt lids or other round bases

*white glue

*pencil with eraser-end

*hole punch

*cotton balls

*yarn or string

Gather up your supplies and have your kiddos cut long strips of streamer into smallish squares.

 Use a hole punch to punch a hole out of your yogurt lid. I like using yogurt container lids as they are a smidge larger than small but not so large, children lose interest in filling them. You can also use cardboard or sturdy paper cut into circles but the lip on the lids will corral all that sticky glue.

 

Squirt a happy amount of glue inside the lid and have your kiddos use their fingers to spread it around. Some lids may resist the glue, you can sand down the surface with a bit of sand paper if you like. This will help the whole thing stick better and last longer.

 

To create a rainbow, have your kiddos wrap a red square of tissue around the eraser of the pencil. Next, while the tissue is still wrapped, flip pencil over and push it against the glue filled lid. Slowly pull the pencil away from the tissue and you will leave behind a happy tissue flair. Repeat with the red and arc across the top part of the lid creating a rainbow shape.

Continue with each color in rainbow order (or not). Notice how each arc grows smaller and smaller? Dialogue with your kiddos and see what observations they make.

 

After the last arc is in place. Give your kiddo a cotton ball to tear into smaller pieces. Place the cotton "cloud" at the bottom of the rainbow and set side to dry.

Once dry, loop a length of ribbon, yarn or string, through the hole-punched hole and hang in a happy place!You can also let your kiddo glue their rainnbow squares however they like to create a happy party of color!