Search Results for: blog gingerbread food or art

Gymboree Art

We’ve missed our last couple play and learn classes at Gymboree. I hate missing our Gymboree play classes. Jessie really needs the time to run, jump, climb, and slide. We have so many make-up classes banked that we could go to any Gymboree class. We decided to make up the ones we just missed in Gymboree Art. Jessie doesn’t do that much art at home. We keep taking away pens and crayons because she won’t color only on paper. We gave her Play Doh and she didn’t like the feel on her hands. Jessie is a bit hesitant with Gymboree … Continue reading →

Food Gifts That Preschoolers Can Make

Around here, food is ragingly popular as a Christmas gift. We bake, and we bake a lot. Preschoolers love helping with that, and food gifts are very easy for a preschooler to make. They’re popular gifts, too. In the summer, preschoolers enjoy the goopy delights of making freezer jam. Get some frozen summer berries and add freezer jam pectin and sugar according to taste and according to the recipe, and you have delicious, super simple freezer jam. If you freeze berries in the summer, you can make small batches of freezer jam all year round. Full of beans? Collect beans, … Continue reading →

Top 5 Resources: Christmas Foods

As I hear from more and more of you, I am still in the process of setting up a more user friendly “resource” section in our homeschooling blog. Some of you have mentioned that while you like the top 5 format and the themes, you would like an easier way to locate the resources for later reference. Therefore, I am going to start listing themes at the top of the post. When there are enough, we will categorize them alphabetically in the categories. You’ll be able to search there, as well as in the search box on the families.com homepage. … Continue reading →

The Homeschoolers’ Advent Calendar: Gingerbread Structures

In just two hours, we will be on our way to our home schooling co-op for a lesson in physics (compliments of my husband) and the fine art of gingerbread making. Well, technically we’re using graham crackers. . .but we’re using real frosting and we’re using real candy to build a winter wonderland of gingerbread structures. Maybe it’s just me, because we live in a city with tons of bridges, but the study of structure has fascinated me. It actually started to fascinate my highly observant son who noted that most bridges are made out of triangles–which is true. This … Continue reading →

A Gingerbread House Made Easy

I grew up with my mother putting together a gingerbread house every year that we would decorate as a family. The gingerbread house would feature white snow frosting, a chocolate-orange stick fence, and green colored popcorn ball trees. One year she even made a blue candy pond. Her mother had done the same thing. I wanted to continue the tradition with my own children. So a couple of years ago I found a gingerbread house pattern on-line and copied it off. I then proceeded to make the same gingerbread recipe that had been in my family for years. But somehow … Continue reading →

Swedish Gingerbread Cookies

Even people who aren’t big cookie fans usually like gingerbread. It’s thin, smooth, and even a little spicy. This is a recipe that’s perfect for little hands to help with. If you have small children, they’ll love cutting out the shapes for these delightfully simple, yet delicious cookies. For this recipe you’ll need: 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon ground cardamom ¼ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted ¾ cup molasses ½ cup granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons cold water 1 large egg 3 cups … Continue reading →

Gingerbread: Food or Art?

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I happened to tune in to the Food Channel tonight and saw a great program on the Grove Park Inn’s Annual Gingerbread Contest. As I watched these people constructing these amazingly ornate structures out of candy and confections alone, I had to wonder: Is gingerbread as art just a cruel joke? There is no doubt in my mind that the structures I saw built tonight were art. I even watched as one woman spent a good deal of time sculpting a perfect, tiny teapot out of almond paste to place on the similarly perfect and tiny stove in her gingerbread … Continue reading →

Deals at Subway, Starbucks, Bakers Square, and Many Buffets!

What restaurants does your family enjoy dining at? It’s nice to be able to sit down and have dinner together without having to cook or do dishes. It is even nicer to take advantage of deals and coupons at restaurants, fast food places, and cafes, and save some money while enjoying your dinner. Firehouse Subs has a coupon for $10.00 off any catering order of $100.00 or more. This offer is valid through December 21, 2012. Au Bon Pain has a coupon for a catering order. Take $20.00 off your next catering order of $100.00 or more. When you place … Continue reading →

Holiday-Themed Sanity Savers

Whether you are hosting a Christmas party, a Hanukkah get-together or you simply need ways to keep your kids busy while they are home from school during the holiday break, the following ideas will go a long way to preserving your sanity: Games:  Get into the holiday spirit by modifying traditional kids’ games, such as “Duck, Duck, Goose.”  A holiday version could be “Reindeer, Reindeer Rudolph” or “Elf, Elf, Buddy” (Will Ferrell’s name in the movie “Elf”). Another option is to turn “Simon Says” into “Santa Says.”  These types of interactive games are great ways for kids to burn off … Continue reading →

My Little Turkey

That’s my little turkey during her second Thanksgiving meal. Her first Turkey Day celebration is a blur. She was pull-your-hair-out colicky and too young for solids. However, I’m positive she got at least a hint of spice while she was nursing, given how much pumpkin pie I scarfed down that day… and the next day… and the next day. I love pumpkin pie. But not as much as I love my little turkey. Only, she’s not so little any more. Now, she’s a big turkey, and she’s got the mouth to prove it. When she was a little, she’d wobble … Continue reading →