Kids and Teen Blog
Category: Craft
Mom Minute- Holding on to Those Last Minutes of Summer
by Crystal
Craft + Excerpts + Food & Drink + Kids + Parenting / August 31, 2011
The last days of summer are upon us, and this mommy is doing everything she can to make the most of every last moment. From buying flats of blueberries to make freezer jam, to visiting the water park and spending lazy afternoons eating PB&J in the shade of a big oak tree and running through the spray, to visiting the farmers stand every weekend to buy the freshest, local produce that money can buy.
To help you hold onto these last, lazy days of summer here are two summertime recipes that you can make with the help of your little one.
What's summer without spending at least one afternoon setting up a lemonade stand? No lemonade stand is complete without a sweet treat to go with your lemonade. When flipping through a copy of Cutie Pies for Kids recently these Beach-Style Lemonade Pies looked like they would be a fun summertime treat.
Beach- Style Lemonade Pies
For Crust:
-2 cups Nilla wafer crumbs
-4 tablespoons butter, melted
For Pie:
-1 can (21 ounces) lemon pie filling
-2 cups whipped cream
-Thin lemon slices
Instructions:
To make crust, combine wafer crumbs and butter in a medium bowl. Press into the bottoms and sides of 12 minie pie pans or paper cupcake liners and chill for at least 2 hours before filling.
In a large bowl, fold together lemon pie filling and whipped cream. Spoon creamy lemon filling into prepared mini pie pans. Garnish with lemons slices.
Makes 12 mini pies
Beach Style Lemonade:Photograph by Zac Williams from Cutie Pies for Kids by Jennifer Adams. Reprinted with permission by Gibbs Smith.
My daughter and I love taking trips to the farmer's stand together. She helps me pick what fresh, local produce she would like to try. She loves peaches, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, apples-- basically if it's fruite she loves it, wish I could say the same for vegetables.
When I cracked open my copy of Cake Mix Cooking For Kids this morning the Mini Cupcake Kabobs recipe immediately caught my eye. The recipe calls for strawberries, pineapple and bananas but really I think you could substitue any fresh fruit you have available. I bought a mini cupcake pan at the beginning of this summer with the intention of making mini muffins with my little girl. I think this weekend might be the perfect opportunity to give it a test run with the below recipe.
Mini Cupcake Kabobs
Ingredients:
-1 Strawberry or pineapple cake mix
-Ingredients listed on back of box
-20 hulled strawberries
-1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks
-2 to 3 bananas, peeled and cut into chunks
-20 wooden skewer sticks
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake mis according to package directions. Prepare mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1 tablespoon batter into each cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden around edges. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack where the cupcakes can completely cool. Repeat process with remaining batter. You will have 80-84 mini cupcakes when you are done.
On each wooden skewer, thread cupcake, banana chunk, cupcake, strawberry, cupcake, pineapple chunk, and a final cupcake.
Makes 20 kabobs
Mini Cupcake Kabobs- Photograph by Zac Williams from Cake Mix Cooking for Kids by Stephanie Ashcraft. Reprinted with permission by Gibbs Smith.
I hope you, and your kiddos enjoy these recipes. If there are any specific ideas you would like to see in my Mom Minute posts or my Notes From A Children's Book Publicist posts please let me know through our comment form.
Also don't forget to enter our contest to win the fantastic new card game Quallop!
Happy (last days of) Summer!
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food mom minute recipe recipes summer
Mom Minute- Celebrate Cinco De Mayo With This Viva La Piñata Project!
by Crystal
Craft + Kids / May 05, 2011
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Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! Have a kiddo that loves to craft? If so, for today's Mom Minute I have the book for you. Every Day's A Holiday : Year Round Crafting with Kids by Heidi Kenney, photographs by France Ruffenach.
I'm the mama of a 2 year old and while many of the crafts in this book are still too advanced for her she has been delighted with every single one that I have crafted and given to her. Not only are all of the big holidays covered (Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day) b
ut lesser known holidays like National Bird Day (January 5th) and Eat Your Veggies Day (June 17th) are also covered.
So to celebrate Cinco De Mayo here is a downloadable pdf for how to make this adorable Viva La Piñata Project. Enjoy!
How do you celebrate Cinco De Mayo?
Do you do special crafts with your kids to help celebrate different holidays? We would love to hear about them!
In the Countdown to Christmas, Advent is Awesome
by Siobhan
Craft + Gift & Stationery + Kids / November 27, 2009
Christmas is juuust around the corner. I know, right -- you still have a long list of presents to buy, not to mention getting a tree and organizing that big dinner... Yeah, there's a lot of work to be done (and eggnog to drink), but personally, I'm excited for the countdown to start.
In fact, the countdown itself is something I love. Mostly because of advent. Or, more precisely, because of advent calendars.
Wikipedia tells me that advent calendars were started in the 19th century, first as simply marking lines in chalk to count down the days of Advent, with some rituals becoming more elaborate, such as lighting candle each day. Paper advent calendars -- the ones I adore -- were introduced in the mid-1800s.
In my opinion, if you're going to have an advent calendar, don't go with the kind that are filled with chocolate that tastes like wax (or should that be wax that tastes like chocolate?). Blegh. That is just not a taste you need in your mouth every day. You don't need a little present every day either. For me at least, there's something simple and beautiful about just opening a paper door every day and seeing a little surprise drawing.
I like to make my own advent calendars for friends. Last year, for instance, I used photos from our summer trip to Costa Rica, so on every cold, dark December day, they'd open a little door and see a beautiful beach, a plant in the rainforest, a crocodile or a monkey. (Monkey days are the best days.)
Making your own advent calendars is definitely a time commitment, and there are some really cool ones available in stores, too. I'm a fan of Chronicle's pop-up advent calendars.
Eric Carle's Dream of Snow Pop-Up Advent Calendar (pictured above) features a pop-up Santa and a Christmas tree surrounded by presents. Each day, the advent windows open to reveal a new decoration that you can take out and add to the scene. By the time December 25 arrives, this calendar will be totally decked out.
The Olive the Other Reindeer Advent Calendar is over-the-top cute. In this one, every day there's a new stand-up figure -- elves, trees, reindeers, and more -- to make Santa's Castle into a rockin' holiday party.
Both of these pop-ups were designed by Ray Marshall, who also created the very cool The Castaway Pirates. You can see some "behind the scenes" photos of how he developed the Eric Carle calendar on Ray's blog.
How do you celebrate the countdown to Christmas? Do you use advent calendars? Is that waxy chocolate a guilty pleasure?
Kangaroos and Frogs and Deer, Oh My!
by Siobhan
Craft + Kids / November 16, 2009
Check out this video, showing how to assemble the cardboard punch-out animals of the MAGICAL MENAGERIE by Junzo Terada. So quick - and so cute!
Junzo Terada is an artist who has illustrated a wide range of products including stationery, fabric, toys, and more. He lives in Osaka, Japan.
Also by Junzo Terada:
HAPPY ANIMAL TIME POSTCARD BOOK
ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLAY JOURNAL
Make a necklace inspired by Leonardo da Vinci
by Siobhan
Art & Photography + Craft + Kids / October 09, 2009
Need something for the kids to do while you’re busy cooking turkey this weekend?
Chronicle Books have posted a free craft project on their blog, excerpted from ARTFUL JEWELRY by Jo Packham.
The book offers 11 jewelry projects inspired by famous works of art: earrings that capture the soft Spring colors of Botticelli’s La Primavera, a necklace celebrating the swirly sky of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and teardrop pearl earrings straight out of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. The kit even includes materials - beads, embroidery floss, earring posts, and more - to make 6 of the projects straight away.
Visit the Chronicle Books blog to download instructions and print-ready templates to make Bewitching Beaded Necklace, was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, which he painted around 1490 when “long, ropy strands of pearls, stones, or beads were very much in vogue.”
