giant bubbles

Kids are fascinated by giant bubbles! With enough supplies, they also make great fun for a party, as long as the day is not too windy. Little Soren here almost got gobbled up and carried away by the above bubble -- but he doesn't look too concerned, as he was hypnotized by a bubble that had floated some distance away.

You'll need:
-- a few large bubble wands or butterfly nets (I found ours at Dollar General). The butterfly nets actually work better than commercial plastic wands.
-- water
-- dish soap (like liquid Dawn)
-- Karo corn syrup (I used "light corn syrup" because it was what I had)

Recipe:

6 parts water
2 parts dish soap
3/4 part corn syrup

Let sit, uncovered, overnight. In fact, letting it sit for a couple of days makes it work even better. Ours sat for 2 nights and made awesome bubbles! (Which is good, because you don't want your kids to get frustrated!)

Butterfly nets make great bubble wands because the netting part traps bubble solution. Cut out the middle of your butterfly net, leaving a rim of net about 2.5 -3 " wide around the wand.

Variations:

-- A "bubble cone": roll up a piece of paper into a cone shape, and trim the larger end so it's even. Dip into bubble solution (let sit 30 sec the first time), and then blow into the smaller end. The layers of paper trap bubble solution, so you get some really big bubbles!

-- If you're having a playgroup or a party, it's easy to get enough supplies for everyone....you can either buy a bunch of butterfly nets (cut out the centers) and use a couple of pans of solution, or raid your local Dollar Store or Dollar General for cheap supplies. We found these long, awesome bubble wands that looked like swords (at Dollar General); they came in different colors, too. They blew good bubbles, but the bubbles weren't as large and easy to make as the ones we made ourselves (not to boast :) -- it was still good fun for a dollar. You can also buy various sizes of wands, bubble machines, battery-powered bubble blowers -- all kinds of fun for parties -- BUT you could just make some homemade solution and have good, clean, cheap fun, too.


Alternate recipe with glycerine:

-- 4 1/2 cups water; 1/2 cup liquid dish soap; 4 tablespoons glycerine (found at most pharmacies and drug stores -- you might have to ask). We didn't try this, just because we had corn syrup at home, but I hear it works well.

coffee filter butterfly

You'll need:

-- 6 - 7 coffee filters, stacked
-- a clothespin
--a pipe cleaner
-- a few watercolor paints

1. Let your child paint the watercolors all over the coffee filters (oh, put down some newspaper first). The bottom layers of the filters will catch most of the paint and keep it from soaking through.

2. Peel off the top 3 or so coffee filters (discard the rest). Scrunch the filters into the top of the clothespin, then fan them out a bit to make "wings."

3. Wind the pipe cleaner around the top of the clothespin (for antennae) as shown below:

4. Draw a face on the butterfly; or, if your child is old enough, let him or her draw the face. These are cute enough to be a simple Mother's Day gift from the child -- maybe to an aunt or grandparent?

Friendly Easter-Egg Snake

 

Do you have more plastic Easter eggs lying around than you can use? We do. Somehow, we collected dozens from the various egg hunts we've gone on in the past 2 weeks!

So we made this snake, which we discovered at Preschool Rock.

Here's how you make it:

1. Gather 2 whole plastic Easter eggs, plus 15-20 Easter egg bottoms.

2. Drill a small hole in the bottom of each egg half (large enough for yarn to pass through). I know you're thinking, DRILL?, but this took less than 5 minutes.

3. Cut a generous length of yarn and tie a BIG knot at one end. Have your child begin stringing the eggs: first a whole egg (we put a few kibbles of cat food inside to make it rattle -- classy!); then all of the egg halves, and then the last whole egg. Once the "snake" is on the yarn, tie it off again to make the tongue.

(Helpful hint: My daughter found it a little difficult to string the eggs -- and no, not just because her extreme case of bed-head was getting in the way, but because our yarn was floppy and the holes were small. I put a little tape on the very end of the yarn and snipped it to a point. Voila! -- more like a needle and very easy to get through the hole. This made the craft much more enjoyable for my daughter.)

 

4. Have your child draw a face on the snake. And there you have... a fun little slithery snake that you can drag all over the floor and play with.

 

 

Okay Moms, get cracking!!!

 

I saw this online -- it's from a Canadian family magazine. Now, maybe those Canadians have a lot of spare time over their long winters, but.....I thought this was insane. In a cheerful and well-intentioned way, but...clearly insane. Can you imagine making one of these for your kids' lunch??? Painstakingly slicing each bento radish to create the perfect miniscule hamburger? Your poor kid would get so beat up on the playground.....

I admire the mom who would do this, and yet I fear her.

Making a Painted Stick Garden

When I saw this painted stick garden on the blog Sweet Thing(s),

 

I knew we had to make our own.

Isn't hers beautiful? I especially love the black-and-white striped one. Her children are older than mine, and she primed the sticks with primer first, so she took her stick garden project a bit more seriously than we did. But we still had fun with ours, and it does look pretty cool and artsy! We finished three sticks in an afternoon, and if Nora asks to add more to the garden, we will.

You'll need:

-- driftwood or just dry, fallen tree branches
-- paint and brushes, smocks, etc.
-- spray shellac if you have used washable paint (to make the finished sticks waterproof)

1. Gather a few sticks -- let your child choose sticks with shapes that appeal to her

2. Cover a surface with newspaper, gather your paints and smocks, and paint the sticks. For younger children who may have trouble filling in a whole stick, Sarah recommends painting the stick a base color first, letting that dry, and then letting the child paint over it. You can see from her sticks that she and her kids applied a few coats of paint that they let dry, and then added to -- the sticks have distinct stripes and color areas. They look really nice that way. (Nora wanted to paint hers all at once and she doesn't like to clean the brush between paint colors, so we ended up with a couple of lavender-blue-reddish sticks...they had more of that "painted by a three year old" look, which was fine by me!) Nora wanted to add some feathers, so we did.

 

3. Allow sticks to dry. Since we used washable paint, I later sprayed the sticks with a light coating of shellac so that the paint wouldn't melt off when it rained.

4. "Plant" your garden! We planted our sticks in the decorative rock by the deck.

 

 

Paper Plate Easter Bunny

Thank you, Kit at www.amazingmoms.com!

Paper Plate Easter Bunnies

You'll Need:
1 or 2 white paper plates
white or pink construction paper
google eyes
3 pink pipe cleaners
hole punch
cotton balls (optional)
black or pink marker
white glue, glue stick or glue dots
stapler

Instructions:
Cut two white bunny ears from the construction paper and smaller pink ovals for the inside ear. Have child glue the pink oval inside the ear. Staple the ears to the top edge of your plate from behind.

Have child glue on the eyes and draw a triangle nose. Punch 3 holes on either side of nose. Cut the pipe cleaners in half (preschoolers can do this with safety scissors) and tie into the holes for whiskers. Have child draw on a mouth with marker. (Optional: Have child attach two or three cotton balls to the back of the bunny to fashion a tail.) Children make want to add a hair bow or bow tie to dress up their bunny!

Variations:

-- Surround the edges of the plate with cotton balls.
-- Cut the second paper plate in half and staple it to the bunny to create a pocket in the back. Fill the pocket with Easter grass and fill with treats or cards.

Kit's Tips:
-- I find that chenille stems are difficult to secured with white glue,
I used a hole punch to insert the whiskers instead.
-- Also, in my experience, young children find it frustrating to attach cotton with glue; it gets pretty sticky. I usually skip the cotton ball step.

CUPCAKES: THINGS OF BEAUTY

Most of the time, I am quite glad that it is the year 2009. The only thing that makes me wish it were 1960 is this: the baked goods. In particular, cupcakes.

Weird, lovely, possibly sickening or delicious, highly intricate cupcakes made with buttercreams and meringues and trompe l'oeil decorations of, say, the Statue of Liberty made out of egg whites and shredded coconut, or whatever.

Wouldn't Dave be delighted if he came home from work and saw that I had spent my day constructing this:

While that may not technically be a cupcake, it very well might save my marriage:

Ladies, take heed. (Do click on that to enlarge it: it's fascinating. He returns to his wife mainly for her gingerbread -- and her relieved response is, of all things, It's that plantation molasses he used to have when he was a boy -- thanks to Brer Rabbit!)

Truly, though -- cupcakes are fun. Kids love them. The possibilities are endless. So I've compiled a short list of cupcakes that meet my Official Criteria for being Very Good Cupcakes.

OFFICIAL CRITERIA FOR VERY GOOD CUPCAKES:

1. They are relatively simple to make.

2. They are blatantly thematic. I love themes, I love kids, I love parties. Put those three things together and you have some idea of how I hope Heaven turns out.

3. Here's the shocker: They must be prepared (or preparABLE) with boxed cake mix. I like to decorate the little buggers; I will not waste my time making cupcake batter from scratch. I'd rather spend four hours slicing licorice whips into tiny threads, thank you.

Here are some cupcakes suitable for birthday parties or just for fun. I've arranged them in four categories according to difficulty. I think you'll be delighted at just how EASY they are. And if you've got a cupcake up your sleeve (not literally, I hope) please do share. I may even start a Cupcake of the Week feature (although I'm leaning towards a Birthday Theme of the Week feature -- then I can combine my two loves).

And now, I am off to construct the Taj Mahal out of marshmallows, in the hopes of securing a happy marriage. Enjoy the cupcakes!

Level One: So Easy, Your Husband, I Mean Kid, Could Do It

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC CUPCAKES

Aren't those great? So simple, but perfect. Your preschooler could invite over some friends, have them each bring their teddy bear, and play; have a little picnic with triangular sandwiches and apple wedges; and finish off with these adorable cupcakes. Here's the easy-peasy recipe.

ICE CREAM CONE CUPCAKES

The only difficult thing about these is getting them to stand up. I am convinced that they glue them to the plates in these pictures. (Also, the icing in the picture is probably made of shaving cream or something. You know how sneaky those "food stylists" are.) But making these is simplicity itself. Buy a box of confetti cake mix; prepare and pour into a cupcake pan; and smack an ice cream cone on top. Bake them that way, and the cupcakes puff up to fill the cones. Turn them over, ice them, and they look great! They are also wonderful for toddlers and preschoolers because they are much less messy than a traditional cupcake. Plus, it's super cute to see a bunch of icing-faced kids wandering around in their glory, munching on a cupcake on a cone.


Am I right?

Here's the recipe.

See? Mine wouldn't stand up with any reliability.


Certain partygoers did not seem to mind.


SPIDER CUPCAKES

These are from Nora's third birthday party. Make chocolate cupcakes and frost with chocolate icing; decorate with jimmies. To make the eyes, slice a big marshmallow in half and "glue" an M and M on each half with chocolate icing. The nose is another M & M, and the legs are black licorice whips. These are great for Halloween, too, of course. They look really cute "in person."

WORM IN THE DIRT CUPCAKES

This may be the easiest cupcake recipe ever. Frost a cupcake with chocolate icing. Break a gummy worm in half and stick each half into the frosting. Then, cover with chocolate cookie crumbs or graham cracker crumbs. They actually look SO lifelike that a few of the kids at Nora's party (as well as her daddy) were a little scared to eat them. ;)

FROG CUPCAKES

SO easy. The baker here decided to ice the top of the cupcake in blue so that the frog is "peeking" out of the water. However, I think I'd color the whole cupcake green so that the top of the cupcake is the frog's mouth/face. I think it's less confusing. I know, this is really controversial here. WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Now, get ahold of yourself, please.. Here's the recipe.

TIC-TAC-TOE CUPCAKES

Don't you want to host a game party just so you can make these?

Here's the recipe.

Level Two: A Little More Effort

PET PARADE
These are easy and cute, and kids can even decorate their own at the party. You don't need fancy icing bags or tips; if you don't have them, just use foldover plastic bags, fill with icing, and snip a tiny corner to pipe the icing out of. You can read the complete recipe here.

SPORTS CUPCAKES
Here is the recipe.

I couldn't get the picture to download for some reason, but here is a recipe for fantastically cute little penguin cupcakes.

CAMO CUPCAKES
There are two varieties I found online: those made with fondant

and those made with dyed food coloring.

Fondant scares me. It looks so easy. I bought some one time,though, and it was a dry, unworkable mess. I've never gone back. However, re-reading how Camo Cupcake Mom #1 made hers, it sounded so simple: she rolled out some colors of fondant, cut the little shapes, and stuck 'em on chocolate frosting. How hard can that be?! (Famous last words.)

Camo Cupcake Mom #2 is clearly a perfectionist; she got all those edges of food coloring lined up without excess smearing and blending. I think that's harder than it looks. Still, I think anyone who did a trial run a couple weeks before a birthday party could do these fairly easily. And they're pretty cool. You go, Camo Cupcake Moms.

Level Three: Involved, But Doable Cupcakes

CLOWN CUPCAKE

This clown is far from creepy. It's downright cute. (It's a Martha Stewart recipe, of course.) These would be perfect for a carnival or circus-themed party. They look difficult, but the only hard part is cutting a triangular core out of each cupcake to use as the clown hat. Okay, now that I wrote that out, it's downright intimidating. But with a small, sharp, serrated knife and a few practice runs (I'd bake a whole extra batch), I think it could be mastered. Then all you have to do is affix some colorful candies, and you've got these darling cupcakes. Maybe I'll test out this recipe and let y'all know how it goes. 'Cause I'm sure the two people who look at this blog are waiting on pins and needles....

LEGO CAKE

These are not actually cupcakes, but because they are single-serving size I decided to include them. Also, they're awesome. And easy: you just cut a sheet cake or two up into rectangles and ice them. The knobs on the tops of each Lego are frosted marshmallows! GENIUS!

Here's a variation that is, decidedly, a CAKE:

BUG CUPCAKES

These are not hard at all, but affixing all those durn candies (and having to buy so many types of candy) lands them in the "involved" category. They are not all that different from the bug cupcakes I made for Nora's 3rd birthday (which I will share later -- they were easy and cute!). Here's the complete recipe from bettycrocker.com.

Level Four: "I Have a Little Secret" Category

Now here's where it gets really fun. The following cupcakes look like something made by Pixar. But they are EASY. The secret? Little cupcake wrappers called "Roundabouts."

"Roundabouts" make impossible-looking cupcakes easy for us laypeople who might be dangerous, or at least awkward, with a pastry bag. Most styles are $8.99 for a dozen roundabouts: pricey, but worth it, I think, if cupcakes are your thang. (Plus, you save a lot of money on all the millions of weird little candies you'd have to buy -- and then have sitting in your cupboards until they turn rock-hard because you only used five of each -- if you made intricate cupcakes all on your own.)

Popcorn, anyone?!

It's ingenious. You put the "roundabout" wrapper on the outside of your cuppy cake, and make the "popcorn" out of mini marshmallows that you cut in two and then squeeze back together.

Now, these are for sophisticated, highly cultured kids, OR adults, but I thought they were hilarious:

Again using the mini mallows, and bam, we have George:

Level Crazy: "Impossible But too Cool Not to Post" Category

LOOK at these, people, and geek out with me.

What little boy (or girl) wouldn't love that???!!!

And how about these Super Mario cupcakes:

Space Invaders:

These were professionally done (using fondant, which frightens me). Pac Man!!:

These games are probably too "old" for kids' cupcakes anyway. These would be for, like, your IT guy at work's birthday, or maybe your geeky husband's. (No, I don't mean to suggest that YOUR husband is geeky.)

Thanks for reveling in cupcakes with me. 'Til next time.