Virtual Book Club for Kids--Don and Audrey Wood Week 2

Looking for Multicultural Monday? Sorry, after a long night of taking a good friend to the Emergency Room, I decided to take a week off and do a bit easier of a post that I was trying to figure out when to write it this week anyway. Multicultural Monday will return next week though!! (Oh, and the good news is that my friend is home and all right. She did not need the surgery we thought she might need!!)

The July Author for the Virtual Book Club for Kids is Don and Audrey Wood. Last week the link party started and I shared our activities for The Dragon and The Princess. If you missed it, please go see it. I included activities for different age children including one on gender identity to open discussions about how we have preconceived ideas of what gender will do certain jobs or have certain behaviors.

Carrot Zucchini Bread

Reminder: Sharing Saturday is still going on. Please stop by and share your child-oriented crafts and activities and be inspired by the ones already shared!

So my parents sent me home with lots of zucchini from my father's garden. My mother does not like to turn the oven on at their house in the summer (it heats up the whole house and they do not have central air). So we brought home several and made some carrot zucchini bread this week. I searched for the right recipe and decided to adapt this one at Food.com.

I wanted one with whole wheat flour, not too much sugar and not too much fat.  There are many choices out there, but none were exactly what I was looking for. So the adaption happened.

We first grated one of the large zucchinis and two large carrots (from the local farmer's market). Hazel loves to help use the food processor!

Next we whisked 1/2 cup of olive oil, 2/3 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of applesauce (well we used carrot applesauce since that was all we had). Then we added 4 beaten eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla.Then we stirred in the zucchini and carrots.

Next we mixed together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. They were 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup almond meal, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 cup of oatmeal. Then we mixed this into the first bowl.

After mixing it a bit we added 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of raisins.

We poured this into two greased (sprayed with cooking spray) loaf pans and baked them at 350 for about 50 minutes. We cooled them in the pans for 10 minutes and then tried some warm bread. Hazel could not wait to try it! 

Overall I think it is delicious!! Plus you can have it as a snack or a healthy breakfast!

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Sharing Saturday #29

Is anyone else amazed by all the wonderful ideas that are shared here each week? I  know I always am!! Last week was no exception. If you have not had a chance to visit and leave some comment love to any of the 52 entries, please go and visit them. There are so many great ideas!!

Well it has been on the hot side here and summer is in full swing. So as I picked my favorites this showed. (Sorry to all of you in the Southern Hemisphere who are in winter now.) Apparently I am not alone though since our most clicked was about staying cool.

Most Clicked

From Mama of Many Blessings: 10 Fun and Inexpensive Ways to Beat the Heat This Summer

A Few of My Favorites

From Watch Me Learn and Play: Sunscreen Experiment

From Making Memories...One Fun Thing After Another: Bannock: Native American Skillet Bread

From School Time Snippets: Handprint Dolphin

From Momma of 4 Cutiez: Saving a Baby Bird Fallen from a Nest

From Mommy Lessons: Camouflage: Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

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From Your Host:Fireflies Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

  Now for This Week's Party  
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Hosts are Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart. 

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post.

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All right everyone...This is a PARTY!! Have Fun!!

Fireflies Part 3 & More Summer Fun

Now for our third and final installment of firefly crafts at least for this summer. If you missed the first two you can check them out here: Part 1 and Part 2. For part 3 we were inspired by Tippytoe Crafts. We had a huge thunderstorm so I couldn't go check them out before we started so we did them a bit from memory. And we made a few changes. First Hazel painted the ends of spoons with glow-in-the-dark paint.

 
 After letting the paint dry, I cut out shapes from black construction paper. Had I looked at Tippytoe Crafts I would have realized it would be easier to do several shapes, but I did not. We glued them onto the spoons and then added googly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae. On some we added six pipe cleaner legs as well.

Next we used a glow stick. I found glow stick necklaces that are thicker and just have a top with a string attached. I thought these would be perfect since I didn't like the glow coming through the materials on Part 2. We basically did the same thing but glued the black construction paper onto the glow stick. We let the glue dry longer before adding everything else since the glow stick is heavier and bigger. We added legs and eyes and antennae and then hung it in Hazel's house/Horsey's shed depending on what she wants to use it for (today it was a school and a restaurant as well). 

Our final ones are similar to Tippytoe Crafts first ones. However Hazel was not too interested in crafting at this point so we did not use the tissue paper to make the tails. I used a coffee filter and her yellow and green dot markers. Glued that to the black paper and cut out the shape.

We have been having a few hot days here in New England. Well today wasn't but the previous few have been. To cool off we decided to make some popsicles. This is the first year that Hazel has really liked a popsicle, but she seems to love them, so I figured we would make some with less sugar. I had bought popsicle molds previously and just never used them. 

Our first attempt was just simply watermelon. We put some watermelon pieces in the food processor. Hazel pureed them and then I put them in a measuring cup so she could pour it into the molds.

 Then we put them in the freezer. Hazel could not wait to try them, but she had to wait until the next morning. Yes, I let her have a popsicle this morning. I figured I would feed her watermelon in the morning and these popsicles are just frozen watermelon. She enjoyed it, but did not eat it all.

 The second flavor we tried was with fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries and plain, non-fat Greek yogurt. Sorry I didn't get many pictures of these, but Hazel and our babysitter enjoyed them this afternoon. Again Hazel did not eat it all, but her eating was very off today. To make them we put some blueberries, cut strawberries and yogurt into the food processor. Hazel pureed them and then I put them in the measuring cup so she could pour them into the mold. Then they went into the freezer.

Since this mold only made two, I ate the leftover yogurt mixture. Our babysitter said the popsicle was really good. So these are our new summer treats without all the added sugar. Such a fun way to keep cool!


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The Garden Classroom--Book Review

One of the gladiolas blooming in my yard

As you probably have guessed I love gardening. Or maybe I should say I love the products of a garden (I am lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who likes to do much of the labor for me). I also love the planning. Well my love of nature comes from how my parents brought me up. Each of us girls had our own flower garden in our yard. We also helped choose and plant the vegetables in my father's big vegetable garden. I still remember the day my father dug out my little flower garden in the middle of the grass between the patio and the evergreens bordering our property. I cannot tell you how young I was, but I wanted my own garden space so he made me some. Each spring we would go to a local nursery and get to pick out flowers for our garden space. We would also go through the Burpee Seed Catalog to choose which vegetables we would try. I remember several years trying carrots, because I love carrots. Needless to say my upbringing taught me how important it is to love nature and to garden. Ever since I have always tried to grow something. Even when I lived in apartments without garden space I grew plants on balconies. Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a wonderful e-book written by Cathy over at the Nuture Store.

Cathy just released the e-book, The Garden Classroom: 52 Kids Gardening Activities this week. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy to review for you!!

The Lower Garden in My Parents Yard

First let me start off with if you have not visited the Nuture Store you are really missing something. It is one of my favorite places to go and get ideas. Now this book takes so many of the wonderful gardening with kids ideas floating around out there and puts them in one place as well as introducing some new ones. 

Hazel helping Pop water the flowers at the Cape

The book starts with the introduction as to why gardening with kids is important and goes into the basics of gardening from starting seeds to choosing the right plants for your area, etc. Yes, even if you haven't planted a seed before, you will be able to use this book!

Let's face it, children love playing with dirt, leaves and water. Thus they will love gardening. It combines all of it and you can also teach them while doing this. The Garden Classroom goes beyond just the garden and crafts for the garden, but also gives you math activities, science experiments, literacy activities and so much more. If you are homeschooling, this book is a perfect addition to any curriculum.

Hazel's Sunflower Garden (First Planted)

I, of course, love the crafts and art that goes along with it. There are the creative ideas for planters and watering cans to the flower related crafts that can be done in the colder weather. We will definitely be doing some of these and you may see us delve into some of the sunflower activities as Hazel's sunflower garden grows. I love all the different ideas introduced there.

So I recommend you go visit the Nuture Store and purchase a copy of this wonderful e-book. It will be a wonderful addition to your library for great activities to get your child outside and moving!