4th of July Party Ideas for Kids

 Here are a few fun details to add to the party this year and make July 4th extra special for the little ones. This is a super easy way to make a cool and festive party cup without using disposable cups.

 Grayson helped me decorate some small mason jars with red, white and blue felt star stickers.

 We added a fun paper straw and some strawberry lemonade and he was as happy as could be!

 No one wants to be baking in July! For an easy special treat we cut stars out of an ice cream sandwich using a very small cookie cutter. The kids quickly rolled them in sprinkles and we laid them on wax paper to go back into the freezer. So easy and my kids loved making them (and eating them!!)

 You can easily change these up for any party theme with all sorts of shapes and colored sprinkles.

 These disposable tins are great for crayon making. Add your old broken crayons and pop into the oven for a few minutes (300 degrees.) Once melted just pour right into a candy mold. We used stars for this 4th of July.

Pop into the freezer for about 10 minutes and your crayons fall right out of the molds. If you would rather more prominent colors--melt each color in separate tins.

These would be fun to have at the kids table and also has a cool party favor.
I shared these ideas and many more over at Kiwi Crate. Head there to check out more.

Happy 4th of July! Make wonderful memories, eat great food, laugh, love and be safe!!!

Healthy Caramel Apples

 You know those family traditions that you just can't break, but you also just can't continue? Well, caramel apples for Halloween is that tradition for me. I remember the pure joy and excitement when it came time to make these sweet treats and I want my children to have that, but in a healthier way. I have been brainstorming for weeks on how I could make this happen and I finally got it!

 I have a food blog crush on The Nerdy Farm Wife. She is amazing and her site is full of DIY goodness. One of our favorites is her Nutty Caramels. They are pure bliss. When I was browsing around on her site recently I realized these little squares of caramel heaven were exactly what I needed to make my healthy caramel apple happen! All that is in this caramel is honey (get a good quality, it makes a difference,) nut butter and coconut oil.

 The kids washed the apples for me and I added popsicle sticks to each one.

 You start by bringing a cup of honey to 270 degrees....a candy thermometer is a necessity. Once this happens you remove from the heat and add 1 cup of nut butter and a tsp of coconut oil. You mix this all together over a cold water bath. Check out The Nerdy Farm Wife for full details.

 While I was making the caramel Emma crushed some peanuts to go on the apples. This is optional, but helps keep the caramel in place. You could also use shredded coconut.

 Once the caramel becomes thick it is time to dip those apples. You have to work fast because it keeps getting thicker as you go.

 The kids enjoyed rolling their apples in the crushed nuts, but were not happy when I popped them into the fridge for an hour or so. Once the caramel hardened I sliced it off the stick and I had a very happy family on my hands, continuing a very sweet tradition.

 We brought home a whole lot of apples yesterday, so we thought it would be the perfect time to make our shrunken apple heads. Spooky, right? Check out my full tutorial from last year for all the details, Shrunken Apple Heads. They are a lot of fun.

No-Cook Treat: Dates and Walnut Balls

 

Oh yes, fall has arrived and for some reason it made me think of these yummy date balls that my friend filled me in on last fall. She is my whole food loving, partner in crime and like me is always looking for a healthy treat to give the little ones.

Best thing about this-- what you see above is all that is in these sweet fall treats! You need about 1 cup each of dry pitted dates and shelled walnuts.
First, measure out a cup each of the walnuts and dates. Emma and I have been talking a lot about measurements as we cook. This recipe was a good chance for her to get some more hands-on practice.

 Next, with adult supervision, let your child toss all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Emma took her time while sneaking bites of each and telling me how sticky the dates felt. We talked a lot about dates since this was a new food we haven't used much. Emma was interested in where and how they grow. (I needed some help from Google on that one!)

 Once everything is in the blender, it's your turn to take over for a minute. Get the walnuts and dates processed down to a paste-like texture. It takes a few minutes and a few scrapes with a spoon to get it all fully incorporated.

 Use a spatula to get the mix out of the blender and let those little clean hands get to work on rolling the mix into balls. Easy-peasy, right? If you have any treats left after your little ones have been eating and rolling, the balls can be stored in the refrigerator.

I can't tell you how good these are. No need for sugar to have a special treat after dinner this fall! Enjoy!

I shared this recipe over at Kiwi Crate.

The Healthy Plate

 I truly believe you can set a path for your children to create healthy eating habits as soon as they can take down the mush. Being a healthy role model is of course the most important, but I also like to educate my children about nutrition. By making this healthy plate craft, my kids really got involved in decisions about their food choices. Here's a fun way to teach your kiddos how to eat healthy, balanced meals!

 I first drew a diagram on a few paper plates. Half of the plate was for fruits and veggies and the other half was split for proteins and grains. We talked about these groups of food and gave a few examples of what kind of food might fit into each one.

 Next, they got to personalize their plates by drawing a few of their favorite foods into the correct spot on the plate.

 This eventually turned into a fun game for them. I would name a food and they would decide which group the food would fit into. What a fun way to learn about nutrition!

We keep our "healthy plates" in the kitchen and the kids like to build their meals just like the diagram. They are making healthy choices and learning how to balance a meal to fit their growing bodies. And this makes my heart smile.

No-Cook Oatmeal

Is it just me or can school mornings feel like herding sheep in all different directions? It's chaotic and rushed and the morning always ends with not enough breakfast eaten, hair never brushed to my satisfaction and something always left behind. Last year, I found a few things to be very helpful in making the morning run more smoothly and one of them was healthy breakfast recipes that could be made on Sundays for the entire week.
Refrigerator Oatmeal is fun to make with the kids and is a very healthy option to grab easily for the whole family each morning.

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

3/4 cup milk (we like almond milk in ours)

1 tbs chia seed

1 tbs greek yogurt

almonds

cranberries

 We use wide mouth mason jars for our oatmeal. Any container will work, but I suggest using glass. Emma helps me make about 6 of these jars each Sunday, that way we have them ready for the week. She adds all of our ingredients to a jar.

 Once everything is in it's time for the fun--shake away!! She loves this step!

 We place our jars in the refrigerator and in the morning we have breakfast ready to go. Once you have this basic recipe down it is easy to change up to fit each family member. You can add fresh fruit to it when you are ready to eat and this can be eaten hot or cold.

I like being able to grab a jar and head to the park with Grayson. Emma likes hers warmed with a little honey. This is such a great way to be sure we are eating a healthy breakfast each day and leaves more time for hugs, kisses and hair brushing!

If you like this simple "made ahead" breakfast, check out my Easy Eggs for the Week recipe.

DIY Lemonade Stand

I seriously think Emma may have actual dreams about lemonade stands. It's one of those things that makes her eyes light up and gives her the biggest smile on her face. We have had a few in our time with just a simple kiddie table and a few plastic glasses, but on the first day of summer this year I decided we should finally do it right!

 We had this large box that delivered recently and I knew it would be the perfect base for our lemonade stand. Along with a couple PVC pipes, markers, paint, easel paper, X-Acto knife and tape we were ready to get building.

I made 2 "x" cuts on top of our box to hold the PVC pipes. These pipes are really inexpensive and at every hardware store. You can buy one and ask the store to cut it in half for you. Ours were each about 4 ft long.

We made the top banner with a long sheet of easel paper cut in half (the other half went around the box.) The kids had a blast painting and drawing all over it to turn our box into a lemonade stand.

While our paint dried we made some simple strawberry lemonade using a store bought lemonade and strawberries that the kids happily mashed up.

Our lemonade stand was now open for business! We never actually made it to the front yard, but we had a ton of fun selling and drinking lemonade with each other.

When we were done we moved our stand to the play room where it continue to get used for all sorts of imaginative play scenes.

I shared this full tutorial over at Kiwi Crate. Check it out!

Maple Syrup Sweetened Whip Cream

 We were busy bees in the yard today as we attempted to clean the deck. Eventually I just pulled out the kiddie pool and let the kids cool off. I heard Emma mention to the little guy how wonderful it would be to have an ice cream treat. Feeling in a summer kind of mood and very impressed with the help I got from the kids today I decided to surprise them with a little treat. Ice cream is not something we have in the house, but I did have some cream (way better in my opinion!)

I whipped up about 3/4 cup heavy cream, 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tbs of real maple syrup. Whip on high-speed in an electric mixture until you get a soft peak. We topped our yummy whip cream onto bowls of fruit. A few chocolate chips on top got screams of joy from the kids. Gotta love that!

The Real Mr. Potato Head

 Play with your food? Yes, please! That's how my kids feel. I always thought how neat it would be to make a "real Mr. Potato Head"--and today we did! We built, laughed, ate, and got silly. (You can't help but to get pretty silly when you're adding mushroom ears onto a potato.)

 To start this out I broke toothpicks in half and placed them into the potato. It takes a strong hand and since they are sharp I suggest this be a grown-up only step.

 Next, Emma helped me cut up a ton of fruit and veggies. We have some great kid-safe knives and she's been practicing her cutting skills, so this was perfect.

 Time to make some potato faces.....

 and some silly kid faces, too!

 Grayson got in on the fun.

 Pretty cute potato heads if I do say so myself! The kale eyebrows gave me quite the laugh.

 And then we ate! Being exposed to healthy foods in new ways is a great way to get kids trying new things. I don't think I ever had raw brussel sprouts until this day when the kids decided to try it out. Gotta love that!

I shared this yummy project over on Kiwi Crate. Join me there for the full tutorial.