Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Spring has sprung!

Spring is here in its full glory - rain showers, mud, and overactive kids who still haven't adjusted to the time change yet. Need to keep the kids occupied while you grab a cup of coffee or [heaven forbid!] a shower? Springtime sensory bins are for you! 

Bin #1: 
You will need: 
Black beans 
Fred neat eats cups 
Build a bouquet play set 
Baby spoons 

Bin #2: 
You will need: 
Green dyed egg noodles 
Spiders and critters 
Vinyl frogs 
Artificial flowers 

Throw together one of these springy sensory bins and let the kids go wild, without the muddy mess! Enjoy! 

Product links: 

Vinyl frogs: 

Monday, March 30, 2015

Badass Breastfeeder

Snappy Greens' latest endeavor: 

Supporting the Rebecca foundation by donating four epic diapers which read "the badass breastfeeder" for auctioning! 

The Rebecca Foundation is a nationwide cloth diaper bank whose goal is to help ease the burden of diapering children who are born into families with financial needs. 

Read about The Rebecca Foundaion here: 

http://www.clothforall.com

See the Snappy Greens badass breastfeeder designs up for auction here: 


One day left to bid! 

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Apple tree counting and worm in the apple spelling!

I only have an infant right now, so I don't have anyone to do these activities with. Never too soon to plan ahead, though! 

Apple tree counting

What you need: a few sheets of felt, glue, scissors and staples. 

Cut out your shapes. 

Glue your apple basket just around the edges like this so you can store the apples while you're not using them. 

Like this:

Staple the edges together and you have a book! 


Remove the apples from the tree and practice counting, adding and subtraction! (Hint: you don't glue the apples down) 


Worm in the apple counting
What you need: 

Construction paper 
Watercolor paint 
Sharpie 
Exacto knife 
Scissors and glue 

Cut out your apple and carefully cut the slits in the apple for the Popsicle stick to slide through. 


Glue on your leaf, paint your "worm," and add letters. 

Use the backside, too, so you aren't wasting resources! :) 

Have fun spelling!! 

Leaf candleholder

Do you love leaves, but don't have a way to use them as decoration? Here's a project for you! Go gather up a handful of those beauties before they get trampled by little feet and make this beautiful fall-inspired candleholder!

Supplies: 

First, cover your jar with mod podge: 

Start placing leaves: 

Cover each leaf with another layer of mod podge. Don't worry, it dries clear. 

My husband suggested some glitter, so it's not pictured in the supplies. 

Let dry overnight. Add ribbon or twine and there you have it!


Popsicle stick puzzle!

Do you need 5 minutes to fix your makeup, or take the dog out to potty? Have a few easy, fun puzzles on hand to entertain your little to buy yourself some time! 

I use watercolor paint

Paint the Popsicle sticks and let dry 

Draw on picture of your choice (I'm no artist)


And voila! That'll keep the kid busy for at least enough time to put on your mascara!


Chicken corn chowder

There's almost nothing I love more than coming in from a chilly day outside raking leaves (and keeping the kids from eating leaves) to a warm bowl of soup. I love making soups and stews because they're easy to customize and you can substitute all kinds of ingredients. They're not strict like other dishes. So, here is my corn chowder, which can be made vegetarian and gluten free! 

Ingredients: 
3 chicken breasts (boiled and shredded) 
A few pieces of bacon, cooked and diced
An onion 
A few tablespoons of oil to sauté
A couple gloves of diced garlic 
2 T flour or cornstarch
3-4 taters, peeled and diced 
Paprika
Salt 
Pepper
6-8 c broth 
2 c. Of milk, heavy cream or half and half 
3-4 ears of corn or whatever corn you have on hand (frozen, canned, doesn't matter!) 
1 T butter (optional) 

First, boil your chicken until cooked (or, use leftover rotisserie chicken, or even thanksgiving turkey!) 


Next, cook up your bacon and set aside 

Start sautéing your onion 

Add in your garlic 

Meanwhile, prepare your potatoes 

Continue watching your onion and garlic until it looks like this, and season as desired with salt and pepper. 

Next, add in a couple T of flour or cornstarch to make a roux. 
Cornstarch is the gluten free option. Either will work just fine! Promise! 


Make sure to stir until the flour is all absorbed.

Slowly add in broth and whisk the entire time (medium heat) 

Also add in your milk/cream (you could probably use coconut milk or soy milk too!) Make sure the onions don't have clumps of flour stuck to them. They should look like this:

Next, dump in your potatoes and corn. 

Then add in some paprika

I like to add in a T of real butter. Because butter is amazing with corn and potatoes. 

Then, turn the pot up to boil, then once it reaches a boil turn it down to simmer. Hint: place a wooden spoon over the top of the pot to keep it from boiling over! 


The potatoes should be tender like this: 

Add in your meat and continue to let simmer for the meat to get heated up, then you're ready to go! 

Perfect for a chilly fall day! 

Friday, October 24, 2014

Pumpkins! Slime, Play Dough, Books, & Songs


The Snappy Greens BST is such an awesome community of parents, grandparents, even a few older kids! We've decided to expand and share the activities we do with our little ones. Our very first 'Theme of the Week' was pumpkins. We had so much fun brainstorming ideas and learning what other families do! 



Pumpkin Guts Slime

Pulp and Seeds from 1 Pumpkin (we used a medium size one)
1.5 Cups Cornstarch
1/2 Cup Water

Mix pulp/seeds and cornstarch in a large bowl. Add water a little at a time, until desired constancy is reached. Play! We added cauldrons, mugs, plastic pumpkins and the scoopers (from a carving kit). The kids had a great time scooping the slime into their cauldrons!







Pumpkin Play Dough

1 c flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1.5 tbsp oil
Orange food dye
1 c water
1 tbsp glycerin (optional)

Mix first 6 ingredients in a medium saucepan. In a bowl, mix water with dye. Pour dye into saucepan while stirring. Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the dough pulls away from pan sides and forms a ball. Remove from pan and cool. Knead in the glycerin (if using). Play!






Pumpkin Books


Pumpkin Songs

Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground/ How'd you get so big and round?/ Once you were a seed

 so small,/ Now you are a great big ball!/ Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground/ How'd you get 

so big and round?


(To the Farmer in the Dell- syncopated)

The pumpkin is here; the pumpkin is there.

The pumpkin, the pumpkin is everywhere.

The pumpkin is up; the pumpkin is down. The pumpkin, the pumpkin is all around.

The pumpkin is in; the pumpkin is out. The pumpkin, the pumpkin is all about. 

The pumpkin is low; the pumpkin is high. The pumpkin, the pumpkin, says, "Goodbye!"


Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my it's getting late"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"
The fifth one said, "Isn't Halloween fun?"

Then Woooooo went the wind
And OUT went the lights.

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.


♫ This is the way we scoop him out, scoop him out, scoop him out. 
This is the way we scoop him out. [Pretend to scoop out the insides of a pumpkin.]
This is our jack-o'-lantern. [Jack-o'-lantern gesture.]
This is the way we make his eyes, make his eyes, make his eyes.
This is the way we make his eyes. [Draw a triangle shape in the air in front of one eye, then the other eye.]
This is our jack-o'-lantern.
This is the way we make his nose, make his nose, make his nose.
This is the way we make his nose. [Draw a triangle shape in the air in front of your nose.]
This is our jack-o'-lantern.
This is the way we make his mouth, make his mouth, make his mouth.
This is the way we make his mouth. [Draw a smiling mouth in the air in front of your mouth.]
This is our jack-o'-lantern.
Jack-o'-lantern shining bright, shining bright, shining bright.
Jack-o'-lantern shining bright. [Jack-o'-lantern gesture. Wiggle your fingers.]
This is our jack-o'-lantern.
This is our jack-o'-lantern. ♫