Apple Volcano!

Making your own volcano is soooooo easy!!! It is a lot of fun too! :) In fact, I think the twins enjoyed it the most, and they are only 9 months old. Lol!

Needed:

1 apple

1 tablespoon of baking soda

1 cup of vinegar

What to do:

1. First, cut a hole in the top of the apple (like you are carving a pumpkin).

2. Fill in the hole with baking soda. 

3. Take your apple and vinegar outside or some place that you have extra space. 

4. Pour the vinegar on top and watch it explode! The twins were so fascinated by it, and Harry poured the vinegar on it.

Applesauce Play Dough

For some fun fall themed play dough, I made the boys applesauce play dough. Although, you could could play with it anytime. We are having a fall craft and activities, so this went perfectly! Plus, the play dough is 100% edible. The boys are pretty much all of it. Lol!! 

Needed:

3 apples

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup flour (any)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Here is how you make it:

1. First, peel and chop up 3 apples, and place them it a medium saucepan with 3/4 cup water. 

2. Add 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes. 

3. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup flour and 2 tablespoons of olive oil together. Set aside. 

4. After 25 minutes, mash up the apples with a potato masher.

5. Add the applesauce to the flour and olive oil, and mix well! 

6. Have fun!!!!! :)

Homemade Butterfingers

Here's an awesome Halloween treat! I made our own Butterfingers, AND they are allergy friendly!!! They are peanut free, tree nut free, dairy free, wheat free, and gluten free! Score!!! Now almost everyone can enjoy these! This is awesome because my son is allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts, and he can enjoy a butterfinger. ;)

Here's what you need:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 jar of sunflower seed butter

2 bags (16oz) of candy corn (Costal Bay)

**Note: The Costal Bay brand is the only safe brand of candy corn. It can found at the Dollar Tree.**

What to do:

1. First, melt the candy corn in a small saucepan on low while continously stirring. 

2. Once the candy corn is melted, add the jar of sunflower seed butter and mix well. 

3. Line a 9x13 pan with wax paper, and press the candy corn mixture on the wax paper. 

4. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil on low. 

5. Once melted, pour over the candy corn mixture and spread evenly.

6. Refrigerate for about 2 hours and cut into bars.

 

7. Enjoy!!!! :) 

**Note: Store them in the refrigerator too!**

Why do leaves change color?

Why do leaves change color? We are doing a week of fall crafts and activities, so I thought this would be a fun experiment for Harry. Harry has been super interested in the leaves and how they have been changing. He always points out the new colors and gets very excited. Needless to say, he LOVED this experiment!!!! :) 

So, here is a little background information... Leaves are green because they contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the dominant color and hides the other colors in the leaves. In the fall, the leaves begin to shed the chlorophyll to get ready to rest in the wjnter. There isn't enough sunlight for trees to produce food for themselves in the winter. So, they get rid of their chlorophyll to live off of the food they had stored in the summer. This is why the leaves on your trees will change colors.

Here's additional information about it:

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html

To find out what color the leaves on your tree will change before they actually change, you can perform this simple experiment! Even toddlers can do it!! :)

Here's what you need:

1 mason jar

Rubbing alcohol

Green leaves (5-8 depending on size)

Plastic freezer bag

coffee filter (#4)

What to do:

1. First, gather some leaves from outside that are still green. Break them up, and place them in a mason jar.  

2. Then fill the jar with about 3oz of rubbing alcohol or just enough to saturate the leaves. Stir the leaves in the rubbing alcohol until the water turns green. 

Harry loved this part!! He loved stirring the leaves.

3. Next, I asked Harry some basic questions:

What color are the leaves?

What color do you think the leaves will turn?

Harry guessed that the leaves will turn yellow, and he drew a picture of the green leaves. 

4. Now, microwave a small bowl of water for 1 minute, and place the jar in the water after. Then put a plastic bag over the jar.

5. Let the jar sit in the water for about 45 minutes to 1 hour while occasionally swirling it to mix it up. 

6. When the time is up, cut a strip in the middle of the coffee filter and dip it into the jar.

6. The alcohol travels up the strip revealing the color that the leaves will turn! These leaves are going to turn bright red! :) Harry was super excited about this. 

7. To conclude our experiment, I asked Harry some basic questions about it,  and we talked about the leaves changing colors. This really fascinated him.

What color did the leaves turn? 

Was your prediction correct? 

Harry drew a picture of the red leaf too. I am looking forward to when these leaves change colors! Harry will be so excited to see it. 

This was an excellent lesson for comprehension, colors, predictions, and fall! Toddlers can learn science too!!! :) 

The Teal Pumpkin Project!

The Teal Pumpkin Project is an awesome idea!!!! It impacts our lives personally. This is my son's first year that he can go trick or treating, and he has a severe peanut and tree nuts allergy. This can make trick or treating very stressful because of all the things he can't eat. The Teal Pumpkin Project was created to bring awareness to kids with food allergies by offering non food treats. If you have a teal pumpkin on your porch on Halloween, you are showing trick or treaters that you are aware of allergies and are supporting them offering non food treats. We painted a teal pumpkin today because we are offering non food treats on Halloween in addition to candy. :)

Here are some additional links about the Teal Pumpkin Project:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/health/halloween-safety-food-allergies/index.html

http://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project

Here's how we made teal paint:

Needed:

1 cup blue paint

1/2 cup green paint

1/2 cup white paint

*Mix blue, green, and white paint together! 

*We had a lot of fun painting the pumpkin! :) Harry put the finishing touches on it! 

The finished product:

Gilbert Goldfish

G is for Gilbert Goldfish! Today we read the book Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet, and Harry had his first lesson on comprehension and predictions!! This book is so cute. We loved it. 

 I asked Harry some very basic questions before the story: 

What type of pet should Gilbert Goldfish get?

Why?

We briefly discussed it, and Harry drew a picture of the pet. Then we read the story together. 

I asked him so very basic questions at the end:

Was your prediction correct?

 What type of pet did Gilbert Goldfish end up getting? 

Harry then drew a picture of Gilbert Goldfish's pet. This was an excellent lesson to build reading comprehension!! :)

Here's the chart I made for the story:

*I would write Harry's answers in, and he would write them after me. Well, he can't really write, but you get the idea. Lol!*

Here's the what kind of pet Harry thought Gilbert Goldfish should have. Harry predicted that he should have a dog.

After reading the story, Harry found out that his prediction was incorrect. Gilbert Goldfish got a fish! :) Here is what Harry drew.

Completed chart:

Chex Mix Muddy Mix

Ok, I seriously can't make this stuff very often because it is way too addicting!!! Wow!! We did, however, make it for a book project for The Gruffalo. :)

This recipe would normally use peanut butter, however my son is allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts, so we use soy butter instead. It is just as good! :) 

Here's what you need:

9 cups plain Chex Mix cereal

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 stick on butter

2/3 cup of soy butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

What to do:

1. First, scoop the Chex Mix out into a large bowl and set aside.

2. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate chips, soy butter, and vanilla. 

(This should take about 5 minutes if you heat it on low.)

3. Pour the liquid mix into the Chex Mix cereal and stir until everything is covered.

4. Separate the mix into 2 freezer bags. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar to each bag. Seal up, and shake well.

5. Enjoy!!! :)

The Gruffalo

Harry and I joined an online book club on Facebook! Each month has a different author to explore. October's author is Julia Donaldson. To go along with the letter G this week, we picked the books, The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child. We even rented the movie, The Gruffalo and watched it. It was really good!!! :) 

We spent the morning doing several activities about the books and movie. It was a lot of fun for both of us! :)

Here's a look at what we did! :)

1.  Gruffalo Memory Match

I cut out several little picture circles from the books to play this game. I don't flip the cards upside down for Harry, but we still have fun with this. We close our eyes, or we just pick the pictures. He is very good at matching things. :) 

2. Picture and word matching

I cut out pictures of the characters and their names for Harry. We matched them together since he can't quite read yet. ;)

3. Stick Monster

Harry made a stick monster to go along with the book. It is pretty cute! :)

4. Gruffalo Muddy Mix (or Chex Mix Muddy Mix)

I saw this on another blog, so I copied the idea. I wish I could be more creative sometimes! Lol. Anyways, I made this a nice treat for us. It's Chex Mix cereal, chocolate chips, soy butter, and butter. Yum! It is amazingly good. We snacked on all day. Lol! Visit my other post for the recipe! 

5. Gruffalo Sensory Box

Using our sensory rice box, I made Harry a Gruffalo sensory box complete with pictures of the characters, rocks, leaves, sticks, and some grass. 

6. Gruffalo Hunt

Even though it was raining, we went on a Gruffalo hunt in the backyard! I cut out pictures of the characters, made a little trail with them in the backyard, and Harry had to find them! He loved this even in the rain. :)

We had such a great time with these books and movie! :) Below are the printables too!

***PRINTABLES***