Thursday, April 20, 2023
Another week is nearing the end!
How did that happen so quickly? Goodness me!
🫢
Are you planning to celebrate Earth Day, this Saturday - April 22,
with your loved ones?
If so, we hope that the weather around you cooperates!
And… we really hope that the Earth Day activities we shared earlier this week
gave you LOTS of ideas for ways to celebrate!
If you haven’t had time to check out Monday’s post, feel free to tap HERE!
Today, Laura is sharing some edible options to celebrate
Earth Day with your family…. And most especially, your grandkids!
Participating in food activities with your grandkids helps them learn and practice
some basic math concepts and build language skills.
Cooking encourages Littles’ thinking, problem-solving, and creativity!
It also provides opportunities to use the knowledge they have and apply it
by counting, following a sequence or directions and measuring.
Today we’ve got three easy and healthy snacks as well as a
tried and true chocolate favorite that would make a special Earth Day dessert!
This activity can be as simple as you’d like it to be! Your Littles, from toddler up, will have fun adding green and blue fruit to a plate, creating the planet Earth! Challenge your older Littles to arrange the fruit to create continents and oceans! What a great way to start talking about our Earth and how much we need to love it and take care of it!
INGREDIENTS: green grapes (cut in half) OR kiwi (cut into small pieces) blueberries, banana slices (cut in small pieces)
OPTIONAL - rice cakes, vanilla yogurt and blue and/or green food coloring
DIRECTIONS:
NOTE: Your Little(s) can build their planets directly on a plate or they can use a rice cake as a base.
If using a base, spread a thin layer of vanilla yogurt that you’ve colored with a drop or two of blue and/or green food coloring.
Arrange the kiwi slices or green grape halves to create the land. (I used kiwi since my Little is under 2 and the grape halves could still pose a choking hazard.
Add blueberries to make oceans.
You can also add small slices of banana to show Antarctica and the Arctic or islands.
When you are ready… gobble it up!
This is an activity I’ve done with kids many times over the years! It’s a healthy snack that preschool Littles could probably make on their own, with little help required. Older Littles will have lots of fun… it may almost feel like they are painting their parfaits! As you make the parfaits, spend some time talking about the planet we live on, its shapes and colors (representing water and land)!
INGREDIENTS: (These ingredients are for one parfait) vanilla yogurt (I used Greek), blue and green food coloring (I used gel), granola or rice krispies/rice cake pieces, a raspberry
DIRECTIONS:
NOTE: To make these you’ll need 2 small mixing bowls, a small serving cup (I used a clear Pyrex custard cup) and toothpicks. You will need about ½ cup of yogurt for each parfait being made.
Divide your yogurt into two bowls. Add one drop of blue food coloring to one bowl and mix. Spoon the blue yogurt into your serving cup. Add one drop of green food coloring to the other half of the yogurt. Once mixed, spoon the green yogurt on top of the blue yogurt to resemble the land masses on Earth.
Use a toothpick to add green yogurt islands or blue yogurt rivers. Add small pieces of granola (I used rice cake pieces) to show “mountains.” Let your Littles be as creative as they’d like!
OPTIONAL: Cut the raspberry in half and then add a few small cuts to turn it into a heart. Place your raspberry heart on your Earth Day parfait!
When our kindergartners studied Trees as part of their yearly science curriculum, these Veggie Trees were a special way to review what we’d learned! These Veggie Trees would be a wonderful accompaniment to your Little’s lunch or as an afternoon snack. Your Little will have such fun creating this tree! It’s another meaningful way to review Earth Day or even Arbor Day which takes place on the last Friday of April each year! As your Little creates this edible tree art, talk about the different parts of trees and the important role they play in our world!
INGREDIENTS: raw broccoli spears, pretzel rods (or pretzel sticks), cucumber slices, red pepper, veggie dip (OPTIONAL)
DIRECTIONS:
Use a pretzel rod to make the trunk of the tree. Break it if it’s too tall for your plate. (NOTE: You can also use pretzel sticks to make the trunk, using two to three sticks across and about two sticks tall - feel free to break the sticks, as needed.)
Add broccoli to make the leaves of the tree. If you’d like, you can use more pretzel sticks to make branches. Then add broccoli (leaves) around the pretzel sticks (branches).
To make this snack/lunch extra special, add a heart to your tree… using a heart cut from a red pepper to do so! If you’d like, serve with a veggie dip of your choice!
Again… every spring Laurie and I each taught a science unit about earthworms! There were so many squeals… at first filled with fear that would quickly turn to excitement! We’d observe redworms and nightcrawlers and compare them and talk about how they helped create rich soil! Years ago, we’d culminate the unit by making “Worms in Dirt”... this timeless classic may not sound too appetizing, but you may quickly become a believer! This activity is perfect to do with young Littles as it comes together in about 15-20 minutes or less! Your Littles will love making and eating these wiggly treats!
INGREDIENTS: 1 package Oreo cookies, 1 3.9 ounce package chocolate instant pudding, 2 cups cold milk, 8 ounce carton Cool Whip, gummy worms (enough for 1-2/dirt cup)
DIRECTIONS:
NOTE: These amounts will make about 8 servings.
Begin by making the dirt! Place the Oreo cookies in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them (or put the cookies in a food process and pulse to “dirt” consistency. Set aside.
Make the pudding by whisking the chocolate pudding mix and cold milk together. Mix together until it’s smooth. Let the pudding sit for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, add the Cool Whip and half of the cookie crumbs. Gently stir together until the ingredients are well mixed.
Spoon the pudding mixture evenly into glasses or jars (you can use plastic glasses or mason jars).
Tap the glasses/jars a few times on the table to level the pudding. Add 1 or 2 gummy worms by sticking one end of each worm into the pudding mixture.
Pour extra cookie crumbs over each glass/jar of pudding and gummy worms so that the “dirt” covers the top of each. Pat the crumbs around the gummy worms.
ONE MORE IDEA...
TURN YOUR WORMS IN DIRT TREATS INTO FLOWER POT TREATS!
You can turn your Worms in Dirt treat into Flower Pot treats by serving your dirt cups in small terra cotta pots (or you can make one large batch in a big flower pot)! Of course, you can still add a worm or two to your pot AND make these FLOWER SPOONS for one more special touch! I simply added the flower spoons to my dirt cups! Very festive!
FLOWER SPOONS:
Make enough flower spoons so each person gets one! You’ll need 2 pipe cleaners (one full one and one cut in half) and a plastic spoon for each flower.
Fold the full pipe cleaner into a “W” shape and the half one into a “V.”
Take the points of the “W” and bend them to the center, curving the straight sides into four petals.
Place the point of the “V” over the center of the flower, catching the bends of the flower that are across from each other, not the open side.
Place the flower on top of the spoon, tucking the loose ends under the flower. Wrap and twist securely around the top of the spoon.
Come back to the front and twist the ends, Pull the ends back again and twist tightly again.
Tuck in all last ends… repeat to complete all the flower spoons!
Have fun with these food faves to celebrate Earth Day!
In recent weeks, we’ve been adding Instagram/Facebook posts
with more ideas to celebrate your Grand Lives with your loved ones!
We know that many of our blog readers might not be active on social media…
We totally get it!
If you’ve missed these posts we thought we’d share them! Lots of fun ideas!
We originally shared this Instagram post around St. Patrick’s Day
but it would be a yummy springtime activity, too!
How fun is this tasty craft and/or snack!! We originally shared this Instagram post around St. Patrick’s Day but it would be a fun activity to do with your Littles as you celebrate spring with them! used Froot Loops to make a St.Patrick’s Day or springtime rainbow!! Set out Froot Loops and let your Littles create their own rainbows! This one is just laid out on a piece of paper, but you could glue the Froot Loops to the paper to keep and display your masterpiece! Great sorting skills for younger kids!
This post was shared to celebrate the first day of Spring…
Here is a fun way for your family to celebrate. See who can spot the first robin! Yes, many robins stay around for the winter in northern climates now, but they will always represent that beautiful season after the long winter! Here are some ideas for that lucky winner who sees that sweet birdie – Peeps chick, choose the route for your nightly walk, choose something for dinner this week, a Cadbury egg, the lead dancer in the song “Rockin’ Robin”!! Happy Spring everyone!
Did you catch our post, On the Go with the Grands! We Love the Library!
If you love the library as much as we do, we shared a book list of 17 stories that you and your Littles can enjoy reading together! Check them out… at the library, that is!
!
Laurie shared this special idea with us all earlier this week!
When my husband and I became grandparents for the first time, we realized what an honor and a gift it was. Now, four times a year (once each season) we donate a Costco box of diapers to our church that partners with a church in a lower income area that desperately needs donations to help their members. It is a small thing we can do to honor the miracle of our own Little. Fun fact – we always donate the size diaper our Little is currently in!
Of course, we also shared lots of Easter ideas during the past weeks, too!
we’d love to have you follow us!
Remember though…
that while ALL the ideas we’ve shared during this week’s posts are
geared toward Earth Day,
they can certainly be used at any time of the year…
winter, SPRING, summer or fall!
After all, our motto is Earth Day, Every Day!
If you’d like to subscribe to our blog,
we’d love to add you to our site members!
We’ll see you back here next Monday with our post,
Spring is in the Air!
We’ll share fun ways to celebrate the season with your Littles!
🌷
We wish you a wonderful weekend ahead…
Hopefully filled with sunshine and the promise of Spring!
:
❤️ We are delighted to join the following link up parties and blog hops! ❤️
MONTHLY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY