Panda Cupcake Fun and Book Panda-Monium

I am addicted to kids books and I'm proud to say so is my 5 year old daughter.  We love our bi-weekly library visits and although my daughter seems to gravitate towards her favorite books over and over I enjoy finding new stories that we can share together.

At one of our recent visits I stumbled upon a winner called, Panda-Monium by Cynthia Platt.

 I love when I close a book and can say, "that was a great book!"  That's exactly what happened with this one.  Panda-Monium is a rhyming story about an adorable and hungry panda named, Beckett.  As Beckett tries to find some bamboo to eat other panda's follow Beckett along.  One then two, then 3 and on and on.  I think my daughter counted a total of 16!  Such a cute story that engages the reader with it's colorful fun illustrations and rhyming words.

I love to pair a good book up with an activity.  Since we have been doing some baking over here with my son's recent birthday and preparing for the upcoming holidays, I decided to try making Panda cupcakes!  I'm all about easy and fun when it comes to baking.  You can read more about other cupcake ideas in our post 5 Cupcakes for the everyday Mom.  This Panda recipe is no different.  It's perfect for those of us who enjoy baking but not real fond of the decorating part of it.

For this recipe use any store bought cake mix and follow the instructions on the box.

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled here's what you'll need:

• White store bought icing (I used the whipped)
• Mini Reeses Pieces or mini m&m's.  (I only had the Reeses Pieces on hand so I used those and picked out the brown pieces.)
• Chocolate sprinkles
• White sugar (optional)

I started off by icing the cupcakes and then simply adding on the Reeses Pieces.  I used the Reeses Pieces for the eyes, nose and ears.  The chocolate sprinkles were used underneath the nose.  Option 2 is after icing you could dip the cupcake into a bowl of white sugar and then put the Reeses Pieces on.  I did a few like this but found the pieces stuck better without the sugar.

cupcake WITH sugar

cupcake WITHOUT sugar

My kiddos loved them and my husband admitted that he snuck back into the kitchen for more!!

Another reason baking with a child is fun is because it helps build a child's vocabulary, math and fine motor skills!

Such an easy, fun and delicious cupcake recipe to make!  

Styrofoam Turkey Craft

For a couple of years I have had a styrofoam ball sitting around my craft closet.  FINALLY, it was put to good use by making a Turkey!

Not only did I already have the styrofoam ball but had all the other materials on hand too....score!!

Here's what you'll need to make your very own Turkey:

• Styrofoam ball
• Brown paint
• Paint brush
• Feathers
• Pipe cleaners
• Craft foam

We started off by painting the styrofoam:

You'll need to allow for some dry time.  It took our ball a few hours to dry and even after that it was still damp to the touch.  

Once dry stick in the feathers.  This was my daughter's favorite part!

I didn't get pics of the last part but we simply cut out some craft foam for the eyes, nose and mouth.  You could also use googly eyes in place of the craft foam.  For the turkey legs we used pipe cleaners and my daughter being the girly girl that she is picked purple, of course!

Our Turkey is so cute and plump and fits nicely on the window sill!  

Gobble, gobble.......

Basketball Cupcakes

I love to bake but decorating, not so much.  That's why when I bake I look for easy.  My son LOVES basketball so for his 10th birthday I wanted to try making basketball cupcakes.  Seemed easy enough and it really was, check these out......

To make these, simply use a box cake mix, follow the instructions and then let the fun part begin.

Pillsbury's Funfetti icing is so cool and they offer up so many different colors.  Orange was one of them which was perfect for this recipe.

For the lines I used chocolate frosting icing that is all ready to just squeeze out! I forgot to take a picture but you can buy the icing all ready to be piped on, just snip the tip and you're good to go!  You could also use chocolate or black shoelace licorice to make the lines and I've even seen Reeses Pieces used.  I had mini chocolate chips on hand, just in case.  But the icing worked perfectly!

So, if you have a basketball star in your house these cupcakes are super duper easy.  If you're anything like me and don't have the best decorating skills this is seriously your recipe!

The Funfetti icing came with colorful star sprinkles.  I was hesitant to put them on top of the cupcakes so I used them as 'confetti' around the board I put the cupcakes on.  I had a few extra cupcakes that I kept aside and asked my 5 year old if she would like to 'decorate?!'  This was her creation...the sprinkles look good on top too!

My son was very pleased with his basketball cupcakes!  

My son is also a Mine craft fan and for his 9th birthday I made these Mine craft cupcakes and the best part about these were no decorating skills necessary at all!!  Wahoo!  You can check them out by clicking the link.

The holidays are coming and we'll be doing alot of baking as I'm sure most of you will so I found a few, 'no decorating skills necessary' cupcake recipes.  They look super cute and super easy.....win, win!

Check out these Minion cupcakes from Pillsbury.  Again, no decorating  necessary but yet so cute for your Minion fan!

Gobble....gobble!  Turkey Cupcakes that I will be serving with our Thanksgiving feast.

With winter around the corner how fun it would be to take advantage of the chilly weather whipping up these adorable Snowman cupcakes from Betty Crocker.

I hope this post has inspired you to start baking and not let all those pretty cupcakes you see out there be intimidating!  For those with less than superior decorating skills, these cupcakes are a great start!

Have fun and happy baking!

Halloween Popsicle Sticks

The weather has been beautifully refreshing in our neck of the woods.  Perfect for taking strolls and taking in all nature has to offer.  My 5 year old loves to collect leaves and acorns this time of the year.  Our most recent activity was perfect for her as she was able to do what she does best.....fill a bag full of leaves to make a Pumpkin Leaf Bag.

Yesterday she asked to play in the leaves that have fallen onto our front grass and that led to walking our neighborhood and collecting more of nature.  One of our neighbors has a row of pine trees and the pine needles are falling off like crazy and all I could imagine was using them as hair for a scarecrow craft!  So, I scooped up a bunch of the pine needles and stuffed them into my very own bag!!

While at the pine tree my daughter asked if we could take a piece of the pine tree because she loves the way it feels.  I was able to pinch a couple of pieces and added them to the bag also.

It took me a day but I came up with a craft we could do using the goodies we gathered.  We find so many great deals at yard sales and one of them is when my husband came across about 3 boxes of popsicle sticks with like 1000 sticks per box, yikes!!  I guess you can say we have quite a few popsicle sticks!  So, you guessed it this craft involves popsicle sticks.

I am not a fan of painting although I deal with it for the benefit of my children.  Lucky for me no paint was necessary for this craft because the popsicle sticks we have are already painted....score 1 for Mom!

I had orange, green and yellow sticks so we decided to make a pumpkin, witch and scarecrow.

....And I was able to use some of the pine needles for the hair of our scarecrow:

......And a piece of the evergreen tree for the stem of our Pumpkin:

As for our Witch we did not use any of our nature findings on her.  Although, in hindsight I bettcha I could have used some of the pine needles as part of her broom instead of the foam :(  That's ok, I have plenty more pine needles and we already know that I have 1000's of popsicle sticks to try our hand at another Witch.

Materials to make your own Halloween Popsicle Stick Crafts:

• Popsicle sticks 
• Foam
• Black permanent marker
• Googly eyes
• Hot glue gun
• Evergreen tree piece (optional) you could substitute for a green pipe cleaner or piece of green foam for the stem of the pumpkin
• Pine needles (optional) you could use more foam or yarn for the hair of the scarecrow
• Flower sticker for the hat of the scarecrow

To get the popsicle sticks to stick together simply take a popsicle stick and cut to fit across the back of the popsicle sticks and adhere with a hot glue gun.  

These crafts were fun to make but the most fun for me was the enjoyable and memorable Autumn morning with my daughter.

Happy Fall!

Witch and Pumpkin Leaf Bags

This time of the year leaves are plentiful and in so many different and beautiful colors!  How Wee Learn came up with a fun, simple way to display the fall foliage.  Once I saw their Leaf-y Jack-o-lantern   post I knew I had to give this a try and we added a friend to our pumpkin bag......Ms. Witch!!

My daughter was having a playdate this afternoon and I thought this would be a nice outdoor activity to do with the girls.  In addition to making a pumpkin leaf bag I thought since there are still plenty of green leaves too that we would also make a witch leaf bag!

I don't know of any kids who don't love to collect leaves and anything nature related.  Just as I suspected the girls couldn't get enough leaves and kept collecting and stuffing!  What a nice activity as the weather is ideal to be outdoors right now.

The girls thought the bags looked great with the pumpkin and witch face and my daughters friend had the idea of making her bag into a backpack - love young, creative minds!!

This activity is so simple - draw a face on the bag, head outdoors and start collecting leaves till your bag is as filled as you like.

We hung ours on a shelf hook in our living room but you could display anyway you want....maybe even make it into a back pack!!

For more leaf activities check out our post Preserving Leaves and Leaf Activities.

Identifying First Letter Sounds

Last school year while homeschooling my preschooler we worked quite a bit on letter sounds.  Now that my daughter is in kindergarten they are still working on and learning the sounds of the letters.  I volunteer once per week in the class and it's great on so many levels.  One reason I like it is because I get a front row seat at what the students are currently working on and how the teacher presents it.  Sounding out letters and words are some of the things they are currently learning.  My daughter is in half day kindergarten so I try and take advantage of our morning time with reading and other learning activities.

Stamps and stickers are two things most enjoyed by my 5 year old so I thought incorporating her love of stamps would be a fun way to work on first letter sounds.

  Using a zipper pouch with a clear and wipeable window on the front I inserted a piece of paper with some letters written on it.  Talk about SUPER EASY set up, huh!?

It was now my daughters turn....I simply took out our collection of stamps (which by the way are ALL yard sale finds!) and asked my 5 year old to say the letter sound and then find a stamp that begins with that letter.

The best part about this activity is that you can switch out the paper by simply unzipping the pouch and putting in another piece of paper with new letters on it.  Since the window on the front of the pouch is wipeable we just use a tissue or napkin to wipe the stamps clean and we can start all over again!

Super easy activity that my daughter had a great time with! Her love of stamps made this activity alot of fun and their is no better way to learn than when your child is having....fun!

Here is another letter sound activity we did using these same stamps but this time used popsicle sticks!

How do your Kids Play?

What is play?  Play is when you engage in an activity for enjoyment and recreation instead of a serious or practical purpose.

What is Structured Play? Structured Play is when play follows certain rules like for example when playing sports, putting together a puzzle or playing board games.

What is Unstructured Play? Unstructured Play is building blocks, drawing, dramatic play or make believe.

In the definition for "what is play" the word that jumped out to me was "enjoyment."  I believe that play should be enjoyed by the person(s) playing.  I believe that when children play with children that the play is being enjoyed by both.  Of course the normal squabbles might occur but for the most part play is mutually being enjoyed.  I know from personal experience that I have played with my children many times because I felt I needed to and not necessarily because I wanted to.  Please don't misunderstand I LOVE playing with my children and will continue too.  However, I have learned through the years to only play when the play is being enjoyed by both sides equaling good quality playtime, whether structured or unstructured.

 Personally, I try to steer clear of playing dramatic play or make believe.  I opt to play board games, basketball or arts and crafts, simply because I find that these types of activities are most enjoyed by both me and  my children.  In my opinion, their is not a 'one size fits all' kind of play.  Families and children are different and finding out which type of play works best for your family is  the key.

 Although I feel parents/adults playing with children is important and creates a bond I also feel it's just as important that a child be left to play by themselves.  Playing alone builds self confidence, independence and imagination.  It helps the child realize they can play alone or in groups and be fine either way.  Most importantly, play should always be fun and enjoyed by all who are engaging in it.

 Here's a saying I like: "Play to Learn and Learn to Play."  Meaning; when your child is learning whether with numbers or letters or whatever your child is working on that the learning time can be and should be fun time/playtime. I home schooled my daughter for preschool and I found that she did not work well sitting down with a worksheet or workbook to learn.  Instead, she learned better when I turned learning into a game.  For example, when we were learning number identification I took learning outdoors to our driveway.  Using some chalk I wrote a bunch of random numbers and had my daughter pedal her bike to the number that I called out.  She loved it, was learning and using gross motor skills at the same time!  She was playing AND learning at the same time!

The above is just one example of how a child can "Play to Learn."

And.... "Learn to Play" is simply that - just take the time to figure out what kind of play you and your child enjoy most and "Learn to Play", that way!

However or whatever you play ALWAYS have fun!

A quote from one of my favorite educators and tv personalities, Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) 
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.

I am happy to be a part of a series all about Play Matters being hosted by Encourage Play.