ninjapoodles

One of my very favorite things about fall is the harvest of many delicious foods, particularly apples in all their varieties. One fun way to celebrate the apple is to hold a family apple tasting contest. This is a tradition my sweet aunt started a number of years ago and I think your preschooler will enjoy it too.

What you’ll need:

• An assortment of different apples—try your local farmer’s market to find varieties beyond Red Delicious or Granny Smith
• Toothpicks
• Caramel dip

What to do:

1. Invite family and friends over for a fun night of apple tasting—you can even ask them to bring their own apples for even greater selection.
2. Cut each apple into small, bite-size wedges—remember, you’ll be sampling a lot of apples so don’t make them too big or you won’t have room to try them all!
3. Provide some caramel or other sweet dip. One thing we’ve noticed is that some apples have a much different taste when paired with the caramel versus eaten alone, so try both and compare.

One thing we do to make it even more fun is to encourage each person to vote on their favorites. Each year we tally up the vote and crown a new reigning champ for the families’ favorite apple. What’s yours?

MJorge

Here’s that second homemade popsicle. It might take a little more preparation than the fruitsicles activity and it also involves cooking on the stove, so be extra careful as you enlist your child’s help—the outcome is definitely worth it!

What you’ll need:

• 5 large bananas, cut in half
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 2 T margarine
• 2 cups crushed bran flakes, grapenuts, sesame seeds, nuts. (mix and match, your choice)
• 10 popsicle sticks or wooden skewers (as for shish kabobs)

Instructions:

1. Insert a skewer into each banana half and freeze until firm.
2. Melt together the peanut butter, marshmallows and margarine.
3. Cool slightly; pour mixture into a tall narrow glass.
4. Dip each frozen banana into the peanut butter mixture, coating evenly.
5. Immediately roll in the cereal and freeze. (For longer storage, wrap each banana pop in tin foil before returning to the freezer.)

You should be able to enjoy this delicious treat within an hour or so.

1. First, buy a lot of small (1″ to 1½”) cookie cutters. Larger ones are difficult for small hands to handle and the finished cookies are really too big for little ones to eat, too.
2. Second, either buy ready-made sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator section of your supermarket or make your own and roll it into 2″ by 12″ rolls, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate until hard. (I often make a large recipe, divide it into 12″ rolls and freeze it – make sure you’ve double wrapped it in plastic wrap followed by foil – and then take out what you need at a time.)
3. Cut the dough into ½-inch slices and have the child press a cookie cutter into each one. You can use both the cut out cookie and the part that is left with the design in the center to stack onto plain slices.

Instead of frosting, try these two ideas:

• Colored sugars are now available in dozens of colors. Have the child sprinkle the sugar on top of the cookies before baking. When they’re done, the cookies already look festive without the hassle of frosting each one.
• You can make sandwich cookies by frosting the plain slices with either jam or frosting and placing the cut-out slice on top. The design will show through the hole in the cut-out ones.

1. Peel hard-boiled eggs and cut them in half lengthwise.
2. Remove the yolks and have your child mash them in a bowl with some mayonnaise and a small amount of prepared mustard.
3. Put the yolk mixture back in to the egg-white halves.
4. Make sails for the ships by poking two small holes in a small square colored piece of paper. Stick a toothpick in one hole and out the other.
5. Place the flags in the yolk mixture and sail away.

jessicafm

July is National Ice Cream month. Nothing tastes better than homemade ice cream. And nothing feels better to your preschooler than to create or accomplish something exciting “all by themselves.” Here is a simple and effective way to make ice cream with your child.

What you’ll need:

• ice
• salt
• milk
• measuring spoons and cup
• small Ziploc bags
• large plastic bags (a shopping bag is fine)
• towel

Instructions:

1. Put one cup of milk into a small Ziploc bag.
2. Add two tablespoons of sugar.
3. Zip the bag and place into another Ziploc and zip that one as well.
4. Place this into a large plastic bag (grocery bags work fine). Then, put this bag into a second large bag.
5. Add ice into this last large bag, covering the smaller bags containing the milk and sugar mix.
6. Add salt to the ice. This makes it colder and will keep it cold. Note: use a generous amount of salt.
7. Close the bag by tying it tightly.
8. Wrap a towel around the bag and keep it closed around the bag.
9. Have your preschooler shake the towel with the bags inside. It must be shaken for about 15 minutes.

As the ice and milk mixture is shaken, the ice cream starts to form. The milk and sugar thicken and harden. It comes out tasting like ice milk and is thick. The bags with the ice cream can be removed once hardened. Make sure to wash off the salt from the bag right away. The treat can be scooped out and enjoyed!

Too-ticky

Did you know that an 11-year-old boy invented the first popsicle? There hasn’t been a kid since who doesn’t love these frozen treats. Here’s the first of two ideas for making your own popsicles with your preschooler’s help. Both of you will enjoy the results.

What you’ll need:

• popsicle sticks
• popsicle molds or small paper cups
• 2 cups fruit juice (or enough to fill the containers)

Instructions:

Fill the molds or cups with juice. Prop the sticks in the middle of the molds and freeze. Try covering the mold or cup with a piece of tin-foil in order to create small slits to hold the sticks in place during freezing. You can also try mixing up different juices and even adding fruit pieces although remember that purple- or red-colored juices might stain clothes—so white grape juice might be a better alternate.

• Try green food coloring in the milk (just a drop!) and put it in pancakes, too.
• Serve celery moons as part of lunch (cut the celery crosswise and little half moons are formed.
• Broccoli trees are another green food and fun to eat for dinner.

Too bad that St. Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday this year.

What you’ll need:

• 2- to 3-inch lollipop sticks (toothpicks are too little, popsicle sticks are too big)
• A melon baller
• Granny Smith apples (1 apple makes about 8 mini-caramel apples)
• Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
• Sprinkles, chopped nuts or whatever you like (optional)
• Small paper candy cups or wax paper

What to do:

1. Use your melon baler to extract a ball of apple (with the peel intact).
2. Pat the apple chunk dry and push the stick through the peel into the apple.
3. Melt the chips (follow the package directions) and swirl the mini apple in the melted chips.
4. Have your child roll the mini caramel apple in his or her choice of sprinkles or nuts.
5. Place on wax paper or mini paper cups to set.

Yum, yum!

Make plans to have a family movie night one evening. From construction paper, cut out little tickets for each family member to give as they enter the “theater” You can also give them a coupon good for refreshments. Settle everyone around the TV and enjoy a favorite movie together. This is also a good time to teach them movie etiquette, such as not talking during the movie or not standing up and moving around. Obviously, you would need to choose a that’s an appropriate length for the age and attention span of the child or children.

Halfway through, have an intermission and sit around the kitchen table for refreshments—popcorn and drinks are always easy. Here’s an easy recipe for chocolate popcorn that’s fun:

Ingredients

• 8 cups popped popcorn
• 1/3 c. melted butter or margarine
• 6 T instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions

1. Combine the butter and pudding mix
2. pour over popped popcorn
3. stir until it is all well coated

That’s it! Enjoy the show!

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 5 cups corn flakes

What to do:

1. Combine sugar, corn syrup and cocoa powder in a large pot and heat just to boiling.
2. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter.
3. Stir in corn flakes and pour into 9×13 pan.
4. When cool, cut into brownie-sized bars.

Although these are great for sharing, be sure to make enough for yourselves—they are delicious!