Summer Snowman Snacktivity

We've finally gotten settled in enough at our new house to start back into our summer reading/crafting.  The girls (ages 9 and 10) read volume 5 of Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew series.

If you remember from our earlier posts, each of the books in the series has instructions for a craft at the back.  In the "Case of the Sneaky Snowman" - in which the sleuthful friends at first believe they are being "pranked" by a snowman, and then set off to solve the mystery of who is really behind the joke, the instructions at the back are for making a beaded snowflake ornament.

I thought about using yellow and orange beads, to make sunbursts instead of snowflakes, but opted to stick with the wintery theme, and make summer suitable ice cream, snowmen treats, instead.  One of these days we're actually going to make the craft as presented in the book.  In the meantime however, this turned out to be a nice compromise.

I prepped for the snacktivity by using rounded measuring spoons to dip out a tablespoon, a half tablespoon, and a teaspoon sized scoop of ice cream for each child.  I figured D (age 12) would want to join in the fun, even though he hadn't read the book.

I placed the small scoops of ice cream into a plastic container with a lid, and allowed them to firm back up in the freezer, before presenting them to the children with candy and cookie bits for decorations.  We used pulled apart licorice ropes, mini sandwich cookies, as well as cut up wafer cookies, mini Rolos (which ended up looking like Shriner's hats), mini chocolate chips, bits of orange gummy bears, and the tips of some old candy corn I found at the back of the cupboard.

I maybe should have checked the instructions for putting together ice cream snowmen, because it turns out...

...it's pretty difficult to keep them balanced and standing, while adding candy decorations to them.

We ended up knocking ours over, and decorating them flat on the plates, before rushing them back to the freezer to re-freeze.  They were melting about as quickly as you might expect on a warm, summer's day.

In keeping with the prankish plot-line of the story though, I waited for the children to go outside to play, and then snuck back to the freezer to reposition the men.

So, when the children went to retrieve them for dessert, after supper, they not only found their treats all on one plate together...

...but standing!  Not that they stayed that way that way for long.

Of course, I feigned ignorance of the whole affair, and was as surprised as the children to find the snowman standing in the freezer - not that they fell for my act, but they're good sports, and not the sort to blame a mom for trying, anyway.

Summer Writing for Teens and Tweens - Comic Fill-in-the-Blanks

To keep tweens and teens on their creative writing toes this summer, try challenging them with a set of fill-in-the-blank comic strips.

I copied some for my children off of Yahoo's comic page to my computer (if you were planning this for a group setting, you would need to get copy write permission).  Then I combined them onto a single sheet in "Paint", and used the eraser to blot out the original captions, so the children could fill in their own words to go with the pictures.

I had planned on saving it for later today, but my older girls (ages 14 and 16) discovered, and filled theirs in, during a late night kitchen raid, last night already.

They got quite a kick out of seeing how their dialogue differed from each others, but still managed to fit with the pictures.

I crammed quite a few comic strips onto one page - fewer strips per page would make for larger word bubbles, and might be easier for slightly younger children to fill in.

It might also be fun to leave the words, and erase the pictures, for the artistically inclined.

Or, for children blocked by empty word bubbles, you might start off with a matching exercise, by cutting out a set of word bubbles for each blank comic strip, so they could mix-and-match the original words with the pictures.

Encouraging Critical Thinking for Children in the Summer - Sidewalk Chalk Cryptograms

I snuck (or sneaked, for my non-American friends) out early this morning, before the children were awake, to chalk out a quick cryptogram puzzle for them to discover, and hopefully, solve later in the the day.

Who says we have to give up teaching thinking skills, just because it's summer?

I read an interview with a female engineer (I forget who, now) reflecting on the events in her childhood, that had encouraged her into pursuing a math heavy career.   One of the things she remembered most was a daily puzzle, put up by her father, on a chalkboard in their kitchen, for the family to race to solve. 

I  would love to do that eventually, but I haven't found the right chalkboard to fit with our new house, yet.  In the meantime, we have plenty of patio space here and there around the yard, the weather is fine, and I want the children outside, anyway.  So, a sidewalk chalk puzzle seemed like a natural fit for summer.

Kid Zone has a fantastic cryptogram maker.  You just type in your own message (or let the computer choose one for you), indicate how many clues to give, and it generates the puzzle for you.  I decided to start out with a familiar Bible memory verse for our first try.  I'm all about killing two birds with one stone.  If we can strengthen strategic thinking, and build better Bible knowledge at the same time - so much the better.

The book of the Bible is included at the end, but the chapter and verse are not (one final challenge for the children).

Can you solve the puzzle, and find the verse?

Summer Challenge - Learn to Juggle with Water Balloons

Learning to juggle is tricky...

...no matter what the YouTube guys say (below are a couple of videos we did find helpful, though).

Learning to juggle with water balloons?

Well, that's just plain, summer fun.

We didn't really learn to juggle.  But, much to my surprise, the children stuck with it for quite a while, before beginning...

...the inevitable water balloon fight.

One tip:  If you decide to try juggling water balloons yourself, you'll want to have plenty of filled balloons on hand.

We used a couple of the instant fill boxes - not the ones pictured (non-affiliate link), but I think they're all somewhat similar.

They are fast to fill, but we had quite a few duds.

However, the children discovered the little filler stems they come on (see the arrow above) make excellent water sprayers.

That was clearly my cue to head back inside...

...while they finished up the morning watering for me.

It's always so nice when children help out with the chores.

Braided Tail, Mouse (or Vole) Bookmark Craft

A shy little mole 

lived in a hole 

and was lonesome by night and by day 

'til a spry little vole 

tumbled into the hole

and said, "Oh, how nice.  May I stay?"

-excerpt from "The Courtship of the Mole and the Vole" from Thunderboom! Poems for Everyone by Charlotte Pomerantz.

When we moved to our rental house, last summer, we had to rescue a baby bunny from the girls' window well.

 We thought at first it was a snowshoe hare, but realized later it (and the hundreds of others around town) was a mountain cottontail.

 We have one that visits the yard of our new house regularly, too.  So, when the girls heard a scratching at their window this time, they were expecting a bunny - but were surprised by a mouse, at least we thought it was mouse (the same mouse - I'm hoping, that I spotted in the garden, and the one that skittered across the phone guy's shoe, while he was hooking up our Internet).  Only, on closer inspection, I'd have to say our little visitor (relocated by the Man of the House to a nearby field) was not a mouse...

...but a vole (with a rounded nose, and in-set ears).  Which of course, has led us on a day of searching out books from our boxes with a sentence or two about the little guys, and crafting a quick bookmark to keep our place in each book, as we look for more.

I think these might be cute bookmarks for when we reread Mouse and the Motorcycle (which naturally, we'll have to now).

I've seen mouse bookmarks with long tails for the bookmark part, and I've seen mouse crafts made out of hearts before.  Our bookmarks are just a combination of the two.

We cut medium to smallish sized hearts out of flattened cereal boxes, using the crease that was already in the box, as the center of our hearts.

Since we were making voles, and not mice, we rounded the tip of the heart/nose of the vole.

 Then, we folded the crease backwards...

...glued the printed sides closed...

...and drew on little beady eyes, inset ears, and twitchy noses (some of us opted for whiskers, too).

All that was left then, was to poke a hole at the back...

..to thread through...

 ...two long pieces of yarn...

...which could be divided into three...

 ...to be braided and tied off...

...into a long tail; a tail that is too long for a vole...

 ...but just right for a bookmark.

And, I'm happy to say one fact we learned about voles today, is that they don't usually like to live in houses. 

Phew!

Morning Message Muffins

It only takes a few extra minutes to add a touch of magic to a summer morning, with a special message written right on a batch of otherwise, plain old, morning muffins.

First off, mix up the muffin batter.  We prefer the Best Ever Muffin recipe from Allrecipes.com.  Not only is it quick, easy, and fairly foolproof, but it's extremely adaptable, and can be made into banana-nut, berry, savory (think bacon or cheese) or chocolate chip versions with just a few quick substitutions.  Nuts, berries (though they might be tricky if they "bleed"), bacon, or chocolate chips would all work for this sort of thing - so choose your own favorite.

We (meaning the children) prefer chocolate chip muffins.

Mix up the muffins as usual, and place them into the muffin pan, but save aside a little of the add-in ingredient (again for us that would be chocolate chips) to spell out a message on top of each muffin.

The message could be anything (that uses 12 letters or symbols) - such as a birthday greeting, or smiley faces, or even a special child's initials.

Once you have your message in place, pop the muffins in the oven (in our case, for 24 minutes at 350° F).  Again, save a few of the add-ins aside, out on the counter, where they are handy...

...so that if any of the message disappears into the muffins during baking, you can add a few replacement pieces right to the top, as soon as you take the pan out of the oven. 

For chocolate chips, that means pressing them down into the hot muffins, point first, and then not touching them again, as the heat of the muffin will instantly melt the chocolate into place.

Arrange the muffins on a plate to display the message, and serve without saying anything.

It's fun to watch the look of surprise as your family realize their breakfast has something to say.

Backyard, Beetles, and a Book - Summer Science

A new yard to explore...

...and a new ladybug to identify (we're thinking Anatis lecontei - a Rocky Mountain native).  What could be better than that?

Maybe a great backyard science book, chock-full of interesting facts, colorful illustrations, hands-on projects, and suggestions for exploring even the tiniest of yards?  Thanks to Donald Silver's One Small Square series...

...we have that, too.  I almost passed the thin little picture book up, thinking it might be too young for my children (ages 9 and up).  I'm so glad I didn't, because it's just perfect for us, and so full of information - we'll be paging through it all summer, I'm sure.