Lego Jello

Look what I am making for Master O and baby sister this weekend.

Lego Jello, fun colorful, tasty, jiggly, wiggly, yet best of all, an easy peasy treat.

Watching baby sister squish it through her little fingers should put smiles on all of our faces, right Betsy? (and a mess on the floor no doubt)

Since we have been playing matching games lately, the plan is to match the Jello boxes with his Duplos.

Instructions

Have the Lego/Duplo blocks washed and ready to go. Choose your favorite flavor Jellos, or in our case, favorite colors. Master O will be matching the colors of red, blue, green and yellow; aka: cherry, blueberry, lime and lemon in Jello speak.

Prepare the Jello as directed on the package. This time, before filling the Duplo molds I am going to first spray them with Pam cooking spray. Hopefully the un-molding will be a snap. Place the molds in a cake pan before filing and then place the pan in the refrigerator until set.

There’s always room for Lego Jello, this week’s Recipe For Fun..

Get Crack’n

Your kids will love these eggs when they peel away the egg shell and discover cake hidden inside! The Cupcake Project will show you how you can have this special surprise treat for Easter morning.

 Oh Happy Day! has a cracked egg recipe for Easter too. Give it a try or save it for an April Fools Day trick next week. There’s always room for Jello.

Here’s looking at you! With their googley eyes and a full head of cress, who wouldn’t love these cracked eggs.  Nurture Store has the pictorial for those want to grow their very own Eggheads.

Get Crack’n; Easter is just around the corner.

Recipe For Fun

Last year we collected a basket full of those ever plentiful, colorful little plastic Easter Eggs and turned them into our favorite treats. This was voted the most favorite cook together. Round up your kiddos and give it a try.  This time, we are changing it up a bit and hiding some M&Ms in the centers of the Rice Krispies as we shape them into eggs.

Tried and True Easter Egg Stuffing Recipe

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Direction
1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add Rice Krispies and stir until well coated.

3. Using a buttered spatula, stuff  the mixture into your little plastic eggs which you will see are perfect molds.

WARNING: Two batches may be necessary to fill your eggs. At our house, the stuffing disappears quickly before making it to stuff the eggs.

We’re hoping your family enjoys This Week’s Recipe For Fun!

First Walk in Space Day

Today we celebrate First Walk in Space Day.

Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, of the former Soviet Union, was  born May 30, 1934 in Listvyanka, Kemerovo Oblast.  He is a retired Russian cosmonaut and Air Force General who, on  March 18, 1965, became the first human to step out of a spacecraft and walk in space.

While talking about space today, we thought what a perfect day to make and play with some moon sand.

Try this recipe  for moon sand, it is amazing moldable, holdable, squishable, squashable, sand that never dries out!

For anybody needing a Jr. Astronaut Helmet, you will find the latest and greatest ones right here.

St. Patrick’s Day for the Birds

Don’t forget your feathered friends on St. Patrick’s Day.

This activity is a perfect do together with young children. All you need is green pipe cleaners and some Fruit Loops.

String the Fruit Loops on to the pipe cleaners.

Erin and Erica complete the project by shaping the pipe cleaners in to Shamrocks.

The Shamrocks are now ready to hang on trees outside and making a fruitful St. Patrick’s Day for the birds!

The Crafty Crow adds fresh fruit to the trees. We think this would be an ideal pairing with the Shamrocks.

Playing By The Book kicks it up a notch for their neighborhood birds with  gourmet fruit garlands.

Building a bird house feeder for our young birdwatchers looks like a weekend project for this cold St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Pop over to Bless This Mess and you will find the construction instructions.

Spring Ahead Build Your Own Clock

Remember to SPRING AHEAD!

Are you familiar with the expression “ask him what time it is and he’ll tell you how to build the clock?” We’ll mention no names here, Dave.

Tick tock you really can build your own clock. Here is an educational clock project for the entire family.

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 10th, we need to set our clocks ahead one hour marking the beginning of Daylight Saving Time (DST) at 2A.M.

You can also use this as an ideal opportunity for teaching time.

The ability to tell time is a significant milestone in a child’s educational development and does not have to be a difficult nor frustrating experience. Choosing the right educational time teaching tools can lessen the stress. Fun time teaching toys can also help motivate little ones learning how to tell time.

“Block around the clock! “Here is a nice clock for 3 year olds or older combining both shape sorting and time learning.

It really is a good time all around to learn something new.

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Tempus Fugit,  hurry up and make a clock  cupcake.

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An old favorite is making your own paper plate clock.

More Gingerbread

This Gingerbread Man game is not only fun but educational at the same time. Just have the kiddos roll the die and mark the number on their recording sheet with a bingo dot marker. This activity is available in the Gingerbread Math Packet located in the printables section at pre-kpages.

We always like to have Gingerbread Man cookies to nibble (dismember) on as we play the fast moving game.

A not too spicy recipe for the Gingerbread Man is available at Homemade Mamas.

Gifting Gingerbread

And then….. the fox asked, “Would you like a ride?”

One of our favorite gifting ideas last year was DIY Gingerbread Playdoh. Take a look at Sweet Sugar Belle’s recipe for gingerbread Playdoh and  how adorable her packaging is; complete with a Gingerbread Man cookie cutter!

If you want a twist, try these Nijabread Men.

Message From Santa Claus

Have you tried this? Santa Claus and his amazing PNP (Portable North Pole) console will be online during the entire holiday season. With just a few clicks, this technological marvel will let your loved ones receive a personalized message from Santa Claus himself, sent directly from his village in the North Pole. It is not only very cute, but FREE. Give it a try, I tested this last year and must say it was a fun little video message that Oliver received from Santa.

Don’t forget cookies for Santa.  Help him get cookies at every stop;  share a jar with your friends and neighbors. Make It Do will show you how to craft the cheery covered jar and Bakerella has the recipe with the ingredients to fill the jar.

Totally Snowed

Our first major snowstorm of the season arrived yesterday dropping about a foot of the white stuff.  Dependable Team Totally members all battled the snow covered icy roads and managed to have the doors open on time at noon. Yay team! Britt, our fabulous art director, has logged the most time on ice. That is on ice in her younger days with a hockey stick in hand.

Hot apple cider and cookies waited in vain for anyone brave enough to make it a shopping day. It was a rather lonely day for us. Let it Snow and it did!  We were not totally snowed like the blizzard of 2010, but this snow was welcomed by some. My name is not on that list.

Sticky snow like this is the ideal snow for making snowmen. We may make some in front of the store today then paint them with special snow paint. Stop by and take a look, then come in and warm up.

If you prefer to stay warm inside, you can try your hand at building these Frosty Snowmen.

Build  Your Own Frosty The Snowman.

Ingredients

• Small powdered doughnut
• Powdered doughnut hole
• Decorators’ gel

• Pretzel or potato stick
• Haviland Thin Mint
• Reese’s peanut butter cup miniature

Instructions

1. Set a powdered doughnut hole atop a mini powdered doughnut. (For a taller version, use a pretzel stick or a potato stick to secure a second doughnut hole atop the first.)
2. Use decorators’ gel to add a face, buttons, and a carrot nose. (If the gel won’t stick, try smoothing the powder with a dab of water first.)
3. To add a top hat to a shorter snowman, stick a small piece of a pretzel or potato stick through a Thin Mint and into a Reese’s peanut butter cup miniature, then secure the hat in place on the snowman.

Family Fun has many other ideas for you too.

Sorry Christina, looks like Richfield High did not declare today a snow day. Maybe next time.