RAK week & Valentine's countdown

 With this nifty project you can RAK someone AND send them some Valentine's Day cheer! Introducing Shortbread Necklaces! If you are pressed for time, store bought sugar dough will work also, maybe even better but the shortbread is a bit tastier!

The cool thing about making shortbread is that anyone can do it. Write out the recipe on large flash cards and you've got yourself a fun math lesson for yer kidlets! Another nifty thing is that since there is no egg in the dough, your wee ones can sneak all the dough they want and not get sick...well...relatively speaking. Shortbread can be VERY flakey so the more you handle the dough and the thinner you roll it out, the less crumbly it will get. My basic shortbread recipe is as follows:

*2 sticks of butter, softenned almost melted

*1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar

*2 cups flour

*1 tsp pure vanilla extract

*additional seasonings like cinnamon, ginger, black pepper to taste...go to town!

Mix the butter and sugar first, add the vanilla and spices next then the flour. Kidlets can do the first part with a wooden spoon and mix in the flour with CLEAN hands. It is like play dough, they will LOVE it! Once the dough is mixed, loosely wrap it in a floured dishtowel or wax paper and stick it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up. Roll it out on a floured surface and let the fun begin!

Roll out the dough so that it is less than a 1/2 inch thick. Cut out your heart shapes using different sized cutters:

Add your sprinkles and whatnot...you can even have yer kidlets "paint" the dough with food color if ya like and then "punch a hole in the center of the cookie using a straw.

Arrange them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The thinner your cookies the quicker they bake so keep an eye on them:

Remove from the oven, allow to cool. If the holes have closed up a bit you can widen them using a chopstick. Be gentle. the warm shortbread is pretty delicate. Once the cookies have cooled, thread 2 or 3 onto a skinny ribbon, red & white twine or a licorice whip. Wrap 'em up in a trusty chinese take-out container that has been decorated by yer wee ones and deliver pronto! You may want to make extra's for yourself..these cookies are YUMMY!

Stay tuned all week for more lurvely crafts for you and yer wee ones!

Random Acts of Kindness Week

February 12th-18th is Randome Acts of Kindness Week. Take this time to teach yer wee ones a little bit o' altruism! Kick of the week with a reading of another one of my favorite books:

How Kind!
Wrtten & Illustrated by Mary Murphy
Published by Candlewick press

"How Kind" is a perfect tale of how one good thing leads to another. The story starts out with Hen giving Pig an egg and Pig feeling just so dandy about it that he gives a little something to Rabbit and so on and so on. With brilliantly colored illustrations and the repitition of "How Kind!", yer kidlets will need little encouragement to come up with kind ideas of their own. Take a cue from the book and spend the week dialoging with yer wee ones about Random Acts of Kindness. Do something nice for a neighbor, bake cookies for a dear friend, donate old toys to a local charity or take a walk with sidewalk chalk and spread some colorful cheer. The possibilities are endless and being a smilemaker is a good thing to be!

For more fun things to do check out my Kaboodle Page!