The One and Only Ivan Movie/Book Party

The kids and I read The One and Only Ivan this summer as one of our read alouds. We were so excited to see that the movie was going to stream on Disney Plus, so we knew we had to have a little celebration for its release. 

I put together some activity kits and dropped them off to some other kids that we knew had read the book and were excited to see the movie (a little virtual book club). 

There were two STEM challenges in the kits, a blank puzzle, a gorilla mask to color, and some yogurt raisins. 

The first STEM challenge was to build an animal cage that could hold the most weights using 5 straws, 1 piece of cardboard, and playdough or clay.

The second one was to build a free-standing billboard using popsicle sticks, straws, tape/glue, and one sheet of white cardstock. 

I ordered a set of blank puzzles for the kids to create their own Home picture like Ivan did in the book. 

I printed a gorilla mask template for the kids to color and attach to a wooden dowel. We also did some finger painting too. 

We made some edible "me-balls": No bake cookies. http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2017/04/no-bake-cookies.html

We also made french fries and strawberry shakes (Ivan's favorite foods from his childhood days with Mack). We also had popcorn, mangoes, and mini marshmallows (this is what the zoo keeper used to lure Ivan into the cage to take him to the zoo). 

After the party we started reading The One and Only Bob. 

Blueberry Bread

 Ingredients: 

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup Greek yogurt

2 eggs

1 stick butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup blueberries

Start by mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Add in the melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in the oatmeal and then the blueberries. 

Put into a greased bread pan and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. 

S'mores Milkshake

We put together a milkshake for National S'mores Day. It was absolutely delicious! 

Ingredients: 

12 jet-puffed marshmallows

2 Tbsp milk

5-6 scoops of vanilla ice cream

10-12 chocolate melting discs or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

crushed graham crackers

Place the marshmallows on a baking pan lined with tinfoil. Broil on high for about 1 1/2 minutes until the tops of the marshmallows are toasted. 

Put the marshmallows (leaving two aside) inside the blender with the milk and ice cream. Melt the chocolate discs in the microwave for about 45 seconds, or until melted. Dip the top of the glasses into the melted chocolate. Then dip the chocolate in the crushed graham crackers. Pour the marshmallow ice cream in the glasses, top with the remaining 2 marshmallows and drizzle the remaining chocolate and crushed graham cracker on top. 

Virtual Minecraft Birthday Party

 Rachel wanted to have a small birthday party this year, but because of the pandemic, we thought it was a better idea to do a virtual party instead of a traditional party. It worked out really well. We gathered supplies for crafts, put together treat bags, and bagged up some cake and did a porch drop-off the night before her birthday. On the day of the party, we did a Zoom call and had the kids do the crafts together on the call; they sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and other treats, and did a Scavenger Hunt. 

Rachel has been doing a lot of building on Minecraft, so that was the theme she picked. It worked out really well because I could make individual block cakes for the porch drop-off. In the party packs we also included some water blocks (Jello) and sand blocks (Rice Krispie treats).  

The cake was made from brownies, Jello, Rice Krispie treats, and chocolate cake.

I put a variety of crafts into the party bags that we dropped off. We did a Creeper mask, a Creeper painting, and a torch. For the mask, I cut a piece of black posterboard into 8x8 inch squares and cut out two 1 inch square blocks for eyes. I hot glued a stick to the posterboard. I gave the kids enough 1 inch squares to fill the 8x8 inch area following a template I found online. I also took a mini canvas and divided it into 64 squares. I included Sharpies and oil pastel crayons so they could choose how they wanted to fill in their canvas. The Sharpies worked the best. For the torch, I just printed a template that I found online and added a tealight so they could put the light inside the torch. 

The bags also had slime bars (Jello), gold (Hershey nuggets), diamonds (Hershey kisses), TNT (licorice), potion of healing (Kool-aid drinks), and some Minecraft blocks that had jewels hidden inside. 

I made some treasure blocks out of 3/4 cups flour,1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cups used coffee grounds, 1/4 cup water, and 1/8 cup cornmeal. I put a small jewel on the inside of this dough. I baked them for 45 minutes at 175 degrees. 

I used these as the base to each Scavenger Hunt clue. I found 5 clues on Pinterest and printed them out. 

For another hunt, I made Minecraft boxes, taped inventory items on the boxes, and hid them around the house. The kids matched up all of their inventory to make sure they found all of the items. 

The Nether Portal was a huge hit! 

The other decorations and inventory items that I had out for snacking were a fun addition too. Most of these things were in the party bags too.

Korean Beef (Turkey Burger) Rice Bowl

I was looking for some Instant Pot recipes to try, and found a lot of Korean Beef recipes. I only ended up using the Instant Pot for the rice, but this was a fast, delicious dinner anyway. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups long-grain brown rice

1 1/2 cups water

(I added the rice and the water to the Instant Pot and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. I let it naturally release for 5.) 

While that was cooking, I made the meat sauce: 

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey or hamburger

4-6 cloves garlic

1 tsp ginger

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

sesame seeds for optional garnish

Brown the turkey in a pan. Drain any grease. Add the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, pepper, and pepper flakes. Let it simmer while the rice cooks. Put the rice in a bowl. Top with the meat sauce and add sesame seeds for a garnish if desired. 

Moon-themed Party

There was a partial lunar eclipse this summer, so on the night it was visible, we did some moon crafts and ate moon-themed food. 

We did these paintings with watercolors to showcase what the moon would look like during a lunar eclipse. 

We made moon phases out of Oreo's, and had some Moon Pies and Cosmic Brownies. 

Blueberry/Honey Freezer Jam

We make a lot of strawberry and raspberry freezer jam, but I wanted an option that didn't have white sugar, so I started making this blueberry honey freezer jam. I add it to my oatmeal and use it on toast for a healthier alternative. 

Ingredients: 

2 pints of fresh blueberries

2/3 cup honey

1 Tbsp lemon juice

After washing the blueberries, add them to a small, deep skillet. (Smaller surface area is better). I mash them with a potato masher. They don't all have to be mashed completely; they will cook down. 

Add the honey and lemon juice. 

Let the mixture come to a bowl. 

Stir continuously with a heat-resistant spatula. This is what it looked like after 10 minutes. 

Continue cooking until your jam has reached the consistency you would like. I cook mine for about 12-13 minutes. It is very thick when it sets up. Place in small jars and refrigerate or put in the freezer when cool. 

New Orleans Pelicans Cake and Watch Party

The boys were pretty excited to have NBA games to watch again. They asked me to make a cake and a themed party for the first Pelican game. This is what I came up with...

I frosted the cake with white frosting and drew the design with a toothpick. Then I used a very small line tip to fill in with gold, red, blue, and white frosting. 

For the basketballs, I dipped Oreo's into orange chocolate discs that I had melted. I melted some dark chocolate and put it in a Ziploc bag to pipe on top of the orange. For the cups, I used a sharpie to draw on lines and cut two slits in a piece of cardstock to attach it as the backboard. I filled those with Cheeseballs. We also had homemade cheese bread and puppy chow.