Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins...

Besides the usual carving pumpkins with the kids, there are other things you can do with them, too! We roasted the seeds this year and the girls devoured them! An easy recipe:

1. Boil water (1 cup for every 1/2 cup of seeds). Add salt. (1 tsp per cup of seeds, more if you like them pretty salty).
2. Add rinsed pumpkin seeds and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Drain. On a cookie sheet, drizzle some olive oil and roll the seeds in them. Spread the seeds in one layer.
4. Cook for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Look for them to be golden brown.

Charis scooping and sorting seeds:

Atalie was a little young to help with the carving and not that interested in the pumpkin goop. So, I pulled out the paint and let her design her own pumpkin. She had a BLAST. (FYI- if you use washable paint and they want to do the activity again, let them

give the pumpkin a bath, dry, and start painting again!)

Fire Truck Cookies

October is National Fire Prevention month, so we decided to learn about fire safety, fire fighters, and all the extras that go along with it! For our yummy craft, we made fire engine cookies.Here's what you need:

• graham crackers
• red icing (or white icing and red food coloring. Gel works best for the red color, otherwise it ends up looking somewhat pink)
• mini oreos
• pretzel sticks
• gum drops or mini marshmallows
  

Step 1: Spread icing all over a graham cracker.


Step 2: Using 2 whole and 2 broken pretzels, make a ladder.
Step 3: Using oreos, add wheels
Step 4: Add marshmallow or gum drop for siren
Step 5: If you want, break up a graham cracker to make a window for the front of the truck.
Get creative...you can even use Pull-N-Peel Twizzlers for the hose. My daughter wanted a firefighter and all I had were some Teddy Grahams. He worked well...we just stuck a little icing on him and "glued" him in the window.

It was a little tricky for my 20 month old, but it was fun nonetheless. And yes, I had a very hard time getting the icing off her face, due to my overuse of red gel. FYI- a little goes a long way. Ooops.

Mmmm...Spinach!

As many of you may have guessed, one of my favorite things to do is cook with my daughters. I love it, and so do they!
Today we made lunch together. Both loved it, and spinach was part of the process! No scrunched up noses, picking leaves out, or refusals. Success!

(I wanted to take a picture, but I needed both hands to directing the slopping of pizza sauce and cheese.)

Twirly Whirly Pizzas (from Parents magazine)-- These pizzas end up looking like little cinnamon rolls.

Ingredients: pizza dough (homemade or refrigerated), pizza sauce (or marinara or leftover spaghetti sauce), fresh spinach leaves, mozzerella cheese (or whatever you have in the pantry).

Steps:

• Roll out the dough into a large rectangle on a floured surface. Hard to make a mistake, so you can let your munchkin help.
• Spread sauce over the dough.
• Top with cheese.
• Top with spinach.
• From the short side, roll into a tube shape.
• Cut into 8 pieces and put in a greased pie pan. Top with more cheese.
• Cook on 400 for 20-22 minutes.

If you want to see a picture of what it'll look like, click here.

This is a great way to get your kids involved in cooking and trying new foods. My daughter, apparently frightened by anything green these days, was eating raw spinach leaves as we cooked.

DIY Bubbles

Bubbles always tend to be very messy around here. Though bubble solution isn't generally expensive, it's always nice to know how to whip up a batch when needed. Certainly saves a trip to the store!

Carefully mix ingredients:
1 cup Dawn or Joy detergent
10 cups Distilled water (you can try tap water first to see if it'll do okay. Mine was fine.)
1/4 cup Glycerin or White Karo syrup

(Of course you could always cut the recipe in half or whatever your needs may be).

Then look around for things you can use as wands. Some ideas:

• clean flyswatters
• sour cream/yogurt lids w/ holes
• pipe cleaners
• cookie cutters
• slotted spoons or spatula
• coat hangers (wire)
• make a circle w/ your thumb and pointer finger, dip it in the solution!

Hands On Fun : PB & J Cookies

Peanut butter and jelly has to be one of my daughter's favorite foods. She's been known to eat 3.5 sandwiches at a time...seriously. I found this recipe and we really enjoyed making these. I think scoping the jelly was her favorite part. Well, besides the eating. This is a a great cooking activity to get your little ones involved , gaining hand strength (rolling, stirring), following directions, and great one-on-one (or two on one...however many kiddos you involve in this one) time for you and your munchkins.

PB&J Thumbprints (recipe from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups flour


• 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter


• 1 stick butter, softened


• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar


• 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling


• 1 egg


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 1/2 cup raspberry jam
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat PB and butter together until smooth (I used a mixer). Add sugars. Beat until pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Scoop level tablespoons and roll into balls. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar and transfer to parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart (I used my Pampered Chef baking stone without the parchment).

(This is where my daughter loves to wash the dishes to help clean up!)

Bake until puffy, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and use end of a wooden spoon to make indentions. Return to oven and cook 6-7 minutes more, until golden brown on edges. Transfer to wire racks and let cool completely.

.

Heat jelly/jam in small saucepan just until loose, about 30 seconds. Scoop into cookie indentions! Enjoy!

Marshmallow Snowmen

Materials: Large marshmallows, pretzel sticks (or toothpicks), mini chocolate chips or raisins, craisins (something for the nose), fruit leather/fruit roll-up/pull-and-peel licorice for the scarf, marshmallow fluff (for "glue").

Directions: I built one first to show my daughter how to do it. Take one marshmallow and stick a pretzel in it. Some of the pretzel will still be sticking out. Take another marshmallow and stick it on the pretzel piece sticking up. You now have 2 marshmallows stacked. Stick another pretzel stick in the 2nd marshmallow and add the 3rd marshmallow on top.

Add 2 pretzel sticks for arms.

Twist around whatever you decided to use for the scarf. They'll need help with this!

I let my daughter use a pretzel stick to smear on some marshmallow fluff (we used ricemallow creme) on the face or on the individual chips. The chocolate chips/raisins/craisins will all stick to it and you won't be able to see the fluff since it's also white. :)

Ta-da!

Then eat! Yum.

Skills: fine motor, hand-eye coordination, hand strength, building and stacking, self-control not to eat :)

No-Bake Turkey Cookies

These were so much fun! I got this from the Disney Family Fun magazine.

Ingredients:

Oreos (I used double stuffed)

Candy Corn

Whoppers

Icing (called for Royal, but regular worked fine)

Plastic sandwich bag

Directions:

1. Each cookie needs 2 Oreos: one whole and one half (icing side).
2. Put a little icing on the whole Oreo and stick in on the half Oreo. (I put some icing in a sandwich bag and cut the tip for easy application).
3. Ice a Whopper and stick in on the bottom of the whole Oreo.
4. Put icing on each tip of candy corn and stick them on like feathers.
5. Break off a tip of one candy corn. Stick in on like a beak. Use icing to make eyes.
6. Eat.

Homemade Play Dough

Preparation:

3 cups flour
1.5 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tarter
3 tbsp oil
3 cups water

1) Dissolve salt in the water.

2) Pour all ingredients into a large pot.

3) Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms by pulling away from the sides.

4) Knead the dough mixture until the texture matches playdough (1-2 minutes).

Store in plastic container. Should last for at least 3 months.

Optional: dye play dough with liquid food coloring. Knead the color in until it is mixed evenly.

Note: This recipe is made from edible ingredients and not toxic in small amounts for children. However, a dog got sick after eating a batch of playdough. It is not intended as a food item. Please be sure to put it away after your children have finished playing.

Activity:

-use in highchair, at a table, or on the floor on a cookie pan

Toddlers- 1) allow them to squish it, poke it, etc. 2) make some balls of the play dough and sort them by color 3) use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes 4) roll into cylinders and give your child a butter knife to practice cutting skills

Preschoolers- 1) do any of the toddler recommended activities 2) use play dough to make letters by rolling it into long cylinders and shaping it 2) make simple animals or people out of the play dough for fun. This can coincide with any theme you are working on this week (dinosaurs, bears, cats, etc.)

Skills Practiced:

-fine motor skills

-hand strength (when kneading or rolling)

-color recognition

-measuring/math

Pictures:

Sugar Cookies

Okay. Here is the truth. I really don't enjoy making sugar cookies. By the time they are made, my back is just killing me and my stress level is peaked. When I am eating them, I think to myself, "Chocolate chip cookies taste a lot better than these and they are WAY easier." However, the kids love to make them. They are a lot of fun to make around holidays. So, I make them a few times a year. One day this month while I was grocery shopping, I found these cute Halloween cookie cutters and in a moment of thinking like a child instead of a mom, I bought them. So now add October to the list of months I must make sugar cookies. Some day I will miss it :) I will be like my grandma who made TONS of sugar cookies every Christmas in anticipation of our arrival.

AGE RANGE

One and up. My kids love to help cook. I let them start as soon as they are interested and I allow them to "help."

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Cooking/Baking
• Math
• Fine motor skills
• Colors if you do frosting

PREP

• If you let your child help make the dough, you don't need to do anything more than put on your apron and wash your hands.
• One more thing...put your "patient" hat on.

ACTIVITY

• Make dough (recipe below)
• Chill dough if needed
• Roll out dough. Let your child help
• Cut out shapes. Let your child help. At first, I let them put the cookie cutters wherever they wanted to, but I soon realized we would be there all night that way (since they were not spaced close together). I then placed it on the dough and let them cut it out
• Bake the cookies
• Make frosting (recipe below)
• Frost cookies once cooled
• Eat cookies

NOTE

Note that the cookies are not going to be perfect. They are going to be mis-shaped. They will have large finger imprints in them. They will still taste the same :) This is for the kids!

PHOTOS

Note the imperfect cookies

RECIPE: SUGAR COOKIES
I got this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book .

• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 1 tsp vanilla (I sometimes change this to another flavoring...like almond. I love almond)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Beat butter on medium speed for about 30 seconds
2. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt
3. Beat until combined, scraping sides occasionally
4. Add flour. Finish by hand if it gets too thick for mixer
5. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until it is easy to handle
6. Divide in half
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/8 inch thick
8. Cut using cookie cutters
9. Place on cookie sheet one inch apart
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes (until edges are firm)
11. Cool
12. Ice if desired

RECIPE: FROSTING
I got this recipe from a neighbor. It is delicious. I half the recipe when I use it with the sugar cookie recipe above. Take note that this is a frosting recipe, not a icing or glaze. I use this because I love it. If you want an icing or glaze, do not use this recipe.

• 1 cube margarine or butter softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 caps full of flavoring of your choice. If you put a flavor in the cookies other than vanilla, you might want to just do vanilla in the frosting. I find vanilla might need a bit more than two caps full
• Coloring (if desired)

1. Mix together ingredients with beaters
2. If too dry, add milk or water (I add water)

NOTE ON COLORS
If you add coloring to the frosting, it helps your child with colors. For the older child, you can mix two colors together to make a new color (like red and yellow to make orange).

EXTENSIONS
You can do this with any holiday. You can also cut out letters for teaching letters or shapes for teaching shapes.

Sweet Treats:Fall

One of my favorite things to do with my toddler is cook. It's a great way to teach her self-control with her hands, following step-by-step instructions, practice scooping, measuring, and pouring, and spending some quality time together. It also helps her learn hands-on kitchen safety, the names of the cooking tools we use, and proper clean-up after and during cooking.She then gets to enjoy the fruits of her labor...literally! We've been cooking together since she was one. It can get messy, but it's worth every second of it, in my opinion.


Here's a fun one for you and your little one(s) to try together:

Pumpkin Pie Popsicles
Ingredients:
*1 can of 100% Pure Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
*1/4-1/2 cup of Maple syrup
*2/3 cup of light cream
*1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
*Popsicle molds

Directions:

1. Put pumpkin and cream in a bowl and mix. Add maple syrup to desired sweetness. You may not need as much as 1/2 a cup. Add cinnamon.
   
2. Pour into popsicle molds. Let it freeze.
   
   

*This makes 6-8 large popsicles. You can also freeze it in an ice cube tray, put plastic wrap over it, and stick the popsicle sticks through to keep the sticks in place while it freezes.

Most importantly...don't be afraid to make a mess. :)