STEM Halloween Mystery Bags

Tonight I made some Halloween Mystery Challenge Bags to take to a Halloween party. Each group of kids will get a bag and will set out to accomplish their challenge. 

The challenges: 

1. I can make something that reminds me of Halloween (Examples: pumpkin, pumpkin patch, skeleton, monster, etc.)

2. Build a boat to hold as many pumpkins as possible without sinking. 

3. Make something out of the toothpicks and candy.

4. Make a skeleton out of cotton swabs. Build a coffin out of the black paper. 

5. Build a web to trap the bugs. 

6. Build a tower using all of the cups and index cards. Place the pumpkins on your tower for decorations. 

7. Make a bridge you can roll your pumpkin across. 

Halloween Ornament Crafts

To make these crafts, I used LED tealight candles from Wal-Mart. 

I drew a bat template, taped it to the black felt, and cut out multiple bat shapes. I used hot glue to attach the felt to the light. Then I added black ribbon to the back. For the pumpkins I drew on a mouth, added google eyes, and a pipe cleaner for the stem. 

Lego Ninjago Photo Board

I always start the boards by drawing it with pencil and outlining with black Sharpie. 

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest tonight and decided to give it a try: http://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/2015/10/11/the-best-pumpkin-coffee-cake/

It is delicious! 

Ingredients: 

Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup graham crackers, crushed

3/4 cup flour

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and then cooled

Cake:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup buttermilk

Mix the topping ingredients together with a fork until it crumbles. 

Whisk all of the dry cake ingredients together in a bowl. 

Whisk the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan. Pour the batter in the pan.  

Top with the crumb mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

Elephant and Piggie Photo Board

We love the Mo Williems books. Our latest photo board represents Knuffle Bunny, Piggie, Elephant, Duckling, and Pigeon. 

Apple Crisp

I found this recipe online at: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/winning-apple-crisp

I just changed a couple of things. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour

3/4 cup rolled outs

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups of peeled, chopped apples

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. 

Press half of the mixture in the bottom of a greased 9x9 in pan. Place the chopped apples on top of the crust. 

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, water, and vanilla. Let the mixture boil and thicken. Add about 1 tsp of cinnamon when you remove from the heat. 

Pour the filling on top of the apples. 

Place the remaining crumb mixture on top of the apples. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. 

Serve with ice cream if you would like. 

This recipe is very sweet, but delicious. 

The Kissing Hand Book

The day before Rachel started Kindergarten, I read her The Kissing Hand book. We then shared a kissing hand cookie. I just used sugar cookie dough from the store to make the hands. I then took a little bit of the extra dough and colored it red to make the hearts. 

She told me today that whenever she is missing me she just puts her hand on her face and she knows that I love her and am thinking about her too. :) 

Easy Jam Cheese Danishes

After making about 10 different kinds of freezer jam this year, we thought we should try some different recipes. My mom found this one to try. It turned out amazing and was very easy. 

Ingredients:

2 packages of crescent roll dough

1 8 oz cream cheese (softened) 

4 Tbsp butter (separated)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla
Your choice of jam (about a tablespoon per danish)

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 tsp milk

Open the package of crescent rolls, but don't unroll the dough. Use a knife to cut the dough into slices (We did 6 slices per roll.) Lay each slice on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use your fingers to create a well in each of the slices. 

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and add the 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir that together and brush on each of the slices of dough. 

 Combine the cream cheese, 2 Tbsp butter, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Place a scoop of the mixture in the dough. 

Then add a dollop of your favorite jam flavors. Here we have peach, raspberry-peach, and blackberry-raspberry-peach. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes. 

Mix the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla together to make the glaze. Top the danishes with the glaze after they come out of the oven. These are delicious warm or chilled! 

 

Solar Eclipse Party

We decided to have a little fun for the solar eclipse (even though we will only see about 80% coverage in our area). 

I went to the Dollar Tree and got all of the decorations. I covered the table with a black tablecloth and the kids covered the tablecloth with star and space stickers. I also found yellow plates at the dollar store. Also on the table is Eclipse gum, Oreos showing the moon phases, and sponges I cut into stars, moons, and suns. (The sponges and the glow in the dark paint will be used to create galaxy paintings and t-shirts) 

Also on the table is a sample of one of the crafts the kids will be making. I taped a circle to a piece of black cardstock and outlined the circle with chalk. Then, using my finger, I spread the chalk around the circle. Remove the taped circle when done. 

Another craft we will do is this...The kids will glue a yellow circle to a piece of black cardstock and decorate the sun's rays in any way they want. Then they will glue a strip of paper to a black circle and attach the moon to the sun sheet with a brass fastener. I decorated the moon circle with chalk. 

We also made some moon dough yesterday. This is just baking soda, water, a little black paint, and some glitter. We formed the dough into balls and let them dry in the sun. Today, we will make the "moon rocks" erupt by squirting vinegar on them. 

We covered all of our windows with glow in the dark shapes I found at the Dollar Tree.

For some eclipse food, I baked these brownies in a circle pan, put a mason jar lid on top of the cooled brownies and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top. Then I spread the powdered sugar around the circle. 

These are sugar cookies with chocolate frosting to show the stages of the eclipse. 

We will also be making our own little pizzas for lunch. 

Moana Birthday Party

For Rachel's 6th birthday she wanted a Moana theme party. To make a photo area I constructed a boat out of a cardboard box. I made a flag pole out of toilet paper rolls and a piece of fabric. I cut out the red circle design from cardstock and hot glued it to the fabric. The flag pole was hot glued to a cardboard base. The background was two backdrops I found from the dollar store. I also found a decorative net from the dollar store and hung it over the boat. The fish are cut from cardboard. The ceiling was covered with a blue tablecloth from the dollar store. I placed cardboard turtles and fish on top of it and put a light up there to make it stand out more. The paddle is made from toilet paper rolls and a piece of cardboard. I covered it with wood grain masking tape. Maui's hook was made from cardboard as well. I used a Sharpie to draw on the designs. I covered the bottom of the hook with brown yarn. I did use some extra stain we had to make the boat look more realistic. 

The boat was also used as a spot to open the presents. The whole set-up cost under $10. 

We also made a paper mache volcano. I cut the top off a water bottle and glued it to a cardboard base. I wadded up some paper and set it around the bottle.  

Then I mixed one cup of flour and one cup of water together. I dipped strips of paper in the paste mixture and arranged the strips over the wadded paper. I let it dry overnight. 

The next day we painted it brown and added some red, orange, yellow, and copper accent. 

We made it erupt with baking soda and vinegar (colored red with food coloring). 

Close up of the hook.

Close up of the paddle.

Then I made this cake. I found the Moana topper from Amazon. The rest is all fondant. 

Rachel really wanted a pinata, so I found a mermaid pinata at Wal-Mart, and because we were having her party after the parade that day, I collected the kids' parade candy and stuffed the pinata. (It was a win-win for everyone. She got her pinata and I didn't have to buy extra candy we didn't need!)