Saturday Baking and Crafts for Kids

Cookie Plate for the new neighbors

Autumn Maple Cutout Cookies

So today, we have started baking some maple cookies. I searched the internet for some good autumn recipes. We have new neighbors and we thought we would bake something to bring over to meet them. We made the dough for Autumn Maple Cutout Cookies from My Recipes this morning. The dough ended up being very dry and hard to work with. I left in the refrigerator for several hours, so I do not know if this is why. They are tasty, but not my favorite.

 

Signs of Autumn

Lights to help with the shorter days

For the first full day of autumn, Hazel and I spent the morning reading books about autumn and doing some crafts. We really focused on the signs of autumn. (I should add that yesterday at school we "read" Autumn by Gerda Muller. Since it has no words I'm using read loosely.)


This morning we started with two of our library books Step Into Fall: A New Season by Jane Belk Moncure and Seasonal Crafts Autumn by Gillian Chapman. (Please note: I have provided links to Amazon, but I  in no way am suggesting you buy them there, etc. I just know I like to have a place to see where to purchase the book when it is referenced.)

Shorter Days and Diwali:
Next we started our crafts. Seasonal Crafts: Autumn discusses the festival of Diwali (the beginning of the Hindu New Year) and suggests making lanterns.  We took the suggestion but changed the lanterns. We used baby food jars (I saved some from when Hazel ate it), Mod Podge glue, and fall colored tissue paper and of course a tea light. We had read how the days are getting shorter, so making lanterns seemed to be an obvious connection to it.

To make the lantern take a clean baby food jar and spread the Mod Podge glue on it. Then stick small pieces of tissue paper everywhere. It can overlap. The most important thing is to cover all of the outside visible surfaces. If it extends to the top do not fold it over, but leave it to dry and be cut off. It can be bent around the bottom of the jar. Let the glue dry some then paint another coat of Mod Podge on it. Let it dry completely and then trim top if necessary and put tea light candle in it. Light for a stained glass light.




Leaves Falling:
And of course autumn is not autumn without mention to leaves. This week I read on Mom on Timeout how to make Stained Glass Fall Leaves. To make this you will need a leaf pattern (or multiple--Mom on Timeout includes some), fall colored paper (the thicker the better, but construction paper will work), wax paper, glue, scissors, exacto knife, and tissue paper.

Have child rip tissue paper into small pieces. While he or she is doing that, cut the leaves (you need two for each leaf) and then leaving a frame, cut out the inside with the exacto knife or razor blade of some sort. Take a piece of wax paper that will be able to fold in two and completely cover past the cut out part of the leaf. Spread glue one half of it and have child put small pieces of tissue paper on it. The goal is to cover the entire half of the wax paper. They can overlap. Then spread glue on the other half and fold over. Let the glue dry a bit. Then glue the leaf frame on each side of the wax paper so they overlap appropriately. Then trim excess wax paper/tissue paper. Tape to a window and let the sun shine through it.

Birds Migrating
The last sign of autumn we focused on today was the birds migrating south for the winter. The idea of this craft came from Seasonal Crafts: Autumn, but we expanded on it by adding feathers and decorations. Instead of making it into a mobile, I tied them to the different arms of a light in our kitchen. So we now have a circle of birds flying south. With older kids, I would probably make the mobile and try to do it in the V-shape and discuss why the birds fly in that shape. For this craft you need cardstock or cardboard in nice colors, crayons or markers, tissue paper, scissors, glue and feathers and string (and a stick if you are going to make it into a mobile).

To make this craft do your best to draw and cut out a bird shape and cut a slit where the wings should go. Let child decorate bird. Take a piece of tissue paper (I cut mine into thirds or so) and fold it back and forth in accordion style (see picture to the right).  Stick the folded tissue paper into the slot you cut for the wings. Glue feathers to tail. Poke a hole in bird and tie a string/thread through it and hang.  Make more for your flock. You can open the wings like a fan to make them appear to be flying.

For our next crafts I'm hoping to include more with smells of fall. I'm thinking of playing with my playdough recipes and adding scents again. I'll let you know how it comes out. I'm also almost finished with my oversized queen quilt top. I'll share it soon.  Enjoy your weekend!

Leaves, acorns, pine cones and crafts!

Hazel's handprint

Today I adapted a recipe for No-Bake Craft Clay from The Arts and Crafts Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. When it was ready, we made nature impressions from the things we gathered on our nature walk on Sunday. We also did one of Hazel's hand. Hazel really enjoyed this craft and my hands smelled of cinnamon for quite awhile afterwards even with washing. We are going to try new scents next. I'm thinking I will add some vanilla extract the next time and may play with other extracts and essential oils. It adds a whole new sense to play dough.

Oak leaf and acorns

Oak Leaf

My oak leaf and acorn

No Bake Craft Clay Revised:
Food coloring (I used red and yellow to make orange and the dots are the cinnamon)
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups baking soda
Cinnamon (or other scent of your choice)
Saucepan
Plate
Damp cloth (that you don't care if it gets messy)

Add the food coloring to the water and then put in pan. Then combine the water with the cornstarch, baking soda and cinnamon (I probably used about 2 teaspoons, but didn't measure it). Mix over medium heat until it becomes the consistency of mushy mashed potatoes. The original recipe said about 4 minutes but I found it took much longer like 15 minutes. Then scoop onto the plate and cover with the damp cloth until cooled. (It does solidify while cooling.) When cool knead the dough and shape. To do the nature impressions take a small ball and make it into a disc big enough to take your piece of nature. Press the leaf or whatever you are using down into the clay and then lift up. You may want to let the disc set a little before pressing to make sure you get more details.

The other craft we did today was leaf rubbings. I found this idea on Michaels website...well actually an email they sent me. I printed out a few copies of their leaf shaped book and gave some to Hazel and kept some. I showed her how to do leaf rubbings. My original hope for this project was to keep her busy while her toe nails dried, but she decided she did not want to try the Piggy Paints with me today after I touched her toe to apply the base coat. So my toes are pink and hers are not. However she did have fun doing some rubbings and coloring in general. You can definitely tell which ones I did and which ones she did. We did not cut them out and I probably won't since several of them went outside of the outline. Hazel has not learned to color in the lines yet.

Crafts, Quilts, and more

Ok, I don't have any finished projects for you. I have been preparing to make some quilts but am waiting on the last few fabrics I ordered. I was hoping they would come today, but they did not. I'm also working on fabric pumpkins, but I haven't sewn the stem on yet. This blog takes you step by step and is perfect even for the people who really do not know how to sew, but want to try.

Today in the mail I did get my order of Piggy Paint. If you haven't heard of Piggy Paint yet it is a natural non-toxic nail polish. Hazel has been admiring my pink toes all summer and mentioned that she wanted hers to be pink as well. Now I have some polish (including base and topcoat) that I feel will be safe to use on her. They also have an adult line called Refined.

I also found out I won another blog contest today. A huge thank you to April at April's Homemaking for the contest and prize of the book Back to the Basics. I will let you know how I like it after I receive it and read it.

Yesterday we took a family walk at Breakheart Reservation State Park and gathered leaves, sticks, acorns and acorn tops, and pinecones. This week we will use some of them for Cinnamon Leave Prints. You can download a free ebook there with all sorts of play dough autumn ideas.

Fall Weather = Beef Stew Saturday's Cooking

Yesterday while wasting time waiting to pick up our cat, Pumpkin, from the groomers Hazel and I ran into Michaels. They had a bunch of their "impulse items" on sale for 3 for $1. Among them I found some inspiring notecards and small spiral bound binders. I cleaned off my bulletin board and put some of the cards up and then added back a few of my favorite pictures. Now I have some inspiration above my computer. The messages on the notecards are "Dream BIG", "all things are possible", "remember the important things", and "celebrate each day" and one of the journals also adds "count your blessings" (the other is another "remember the important things"). They all have flowers with bees or butterflies and glitter. Thought I would share some of my inspiration with you today.

Today, Hazel and I made beef stew or at least it is cooking in the slow cooker. It was the first time I let her help me chop the vegetables and we had a blast. The first fun task was putting the beef in a plastic bag with the flour and spices and shaking it up. She loved that. Then getting to chop vegetables with a sharp knife (and a lot of help from Mommy) was very exciting. And of course she did her normal jobs like putting everything in for me and washing the green beans. She also got to help open a can today. Lots of fun new jobs for us to play with.

After chopping the celery

Adding the celery

Washing and breaking the green beans

Recipe: Beef Stew
1.5 pounds raw lean stew beef
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large white potato, chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
2 medium carrots (chopped)
2 stalks of celery (chopped)
1 large onion, chopped (I used a sweet onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5 oz. can of Organic Diced Tomatoes, No Salt Added (I love Trader Joe's)
2 cups beef broth
2 cups raw green beans
1 cup frozen peas

1) Put the beef in a large ziplock bag and add the flour, thyme and rosemary. Seal and shake. While shaking put oil in frying pan and heat up.
2) Brown the beef in the oil. Then put in slow cooker. Try to scrape the flavorings that are browned to the bottom in as well.
3) Add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic in that order. Then put tomatoes on top and pour on the beef broth. Cover and turn onto low. It will need to cook for 8 hours total. Prepare the green beans and measure the peas out and let them defrost next to the slow cooker.
4) After 6 hours add the green beans and peas. You can also give it a stir and check the liquid and see if it is how you like it. I tend to make it more liquidy but tried to cut it down this time.
5) In two more hours, serve with a nice whole grain bread and enjoy!!