Mini Easter Cakes

We saw some pictures on Pinterest of mini bunny cakes, so we tried to make some of our own. 

I mixed up two boxes of white cake mix and divided it into four equal parts. Then I colored them pink, blue, purple, and green. I just used a large sheet cake pan for two of the colors. 

I baked the cakes for about 10 minutes. 

Then I cut each color of cake into circles. I piped the outside of each circle with frosting and then stacked them up. 

Using a star tip, I piped frosting on the top. 

For the ears, I cut a large marshmallow in half. Then I shaped the marshmallow to look kind of like an ear and dipped the sticky side in pink sprinkles. I added a pink chocolate candy for the nose. 

Easter Handprint Picture

This simple craft doesn't take a lot of supplies and is very quick. 

We started by making a yellow handprint. Then we glued down scrapbook paper for a hill. We cut out a cross and glued that down. 

Rachel wanted to add animal stickers to hers as well. 

Peep Experiments

We decided to do some experiments with Peeps tonight. We started by placing Peeps into various liquids for observation. (I will update the post in the next few days with our results. For liquids, the kids chose, vinegar, laundry detergent, water, Coke, and Gatorade.

The next experiment involved the microwave. We cut the top off of a Gatorade bottle and stuffed some Peeps inside. Then we set the microwave for 1 minute. We watched the Peeps expand before our eyes. We did an observation at one minute and then started it for about 20 more seconds. 

The overflow actually pulled off of the microwave very easily. We let it sit for about half an hour on the counter. It became very hard on the bottle. 

St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt #4

We had our 4th Annual St. Patrick's Day Scavenger Hunt today. The kids just love this activity. Steve writes all of the clues for these hunts, so definitely have to give him credit for his rhyming skills. 

Clue #1:

With green in your hearts

You look for new clues.

Get this party started

By looking in shoes.

Clue #2

Shoes can be stinky,

Especially Matt’s.

Find some relief

Where David takes baths.

Clue #3

Bath time is fun

Until you get out.

But grab a new towel,

Get dry and don’t pout!

Clue #4

Towels need cleaning

And then they need drying.

Find the next clue in that room,

And there’s no need for crying.

Clue #5

Your journey’s nearly over.

The puzzle’s almost done.

If you locate jumper cables

The party’s begun!

For more clues, here is a link to our first three hunts:

http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2015/03/st-patricks-day-scavenger-hunt-3.html

Annual Pi Day Celebration

Today we had our annual Pi Day celebration, complete with Pi cheese bread, mini pies, and pi-inspired activities.

We started with our pies on a stick. I just used refrigerated dough to make these mini pies. I used homemade apple pie filling to fill the circles, crimped them together with a fork, brushed egg white over the top, sprinkled on cinnamon and sugar, poked some holes in the top, and baked them for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees. 

Then I made our regular cheese bread dough and shaped that into a pi sign. (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2014/01/snowman-cheese-bread.html)  

Next, I had the kids graph the number pi on some graph paper. (I just used scrapbook paper that had a set of lines on it. I added another set of lines to make it look like traditional graph paper.)

Then we did some patterns on pictures of circle-shaped objects. 

The last thing we did was make whole "pies" out of our fraction paper plates. 

Leprechaun Trap Stem Activity

The kids wanted to do an activity together this weekend, so I tried to come up with something that would interest all of them. (Ages 13, 7, and 4)

To build on their different abilities, I gave them piles of popsicle sticks of different sizes, scrapbook paper, a box, some colored paper straws, thread, rubber bands, paper clips, pipe cleaners, plastic cups of all sizes, and a mini pot of gold and coins. Then I showed them some different examples of traps and told them to construct a leprechaun trap with the materials they had. 

They all had different roles. The 4-year-old started by painting popsicle sticks. The 7-year-old started by constructing a ladder. The 13-year-old worked the glue gun and started covering the box. (We only had two sheets of grass paper, so he had to find a way to cover the box without wasting supplies. 

Then they worked together to build the straw/popsicle stick structure. The only part I had to help them with was poking a small hole through the cup so they could put the thread through the cup. 

The trap works very well. They have had fun trapping their little figures! 

National Grammar Day Treats

March 4th is National Grammar Day, so I decided to celebrate with my freshmen and sophomore English classes. After making double batches of everything, I had 45 cupcakes, 30 brownies, 90 cookies, and a number of chocolate-covered pretzels, I had enough treats for all of my students. 

The students broke up into teams and took a grammar quiz and then we played Grammar Jeopardy. The winning team got first pick of the treats each hour. 

Dr. Seuss Birthday Activities

We had a snow day today so we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with reading, treats, and crafts. 

Marshmallow, strawberry, and banana Cat in the Hat (I  used a food marker for the face.)

Cat in the hat paper plates. We used black tissue paper for the fur. The kids painted a red and white pattern on white cardstock for the hat. 

We also made fish bowls for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. 

These two titles are definitely favorites of my kids.