Productivity has been my middle name lately. I feel the need to share because the productivity streak is bound to leave any second and it could be weeks before it hits again. Therefore, you have to hear about it.
We had a crafty and creative day yesterday. Check out our skills…..
First we tried these snacks from the Pioneer Woman. It is my kinda recipe with only three ingredients, which I always have in my pantry.
Goodness gracious, I love all three of those components and who would have thought, put together and broiled, they’d be so divine! I find joy in the fact the marshmallow was roasted, gooey, and melted, but did not taste one bit like a campfire!
Marguerites is the fancy, smancy name Ree uses for them, but since I made them with my boys, they preferred to call them Ritz crackers, Peanut Butter, and Marshmallow Stacks. They are creative little ones!
You’re probably not aware that Pioneer Woman was the only blog I read regularly for a year. I wasn’t aware there was a big, wide, blogsphere world out here. Man, have my eyes been opened over the last six months!
After eating a dozen Ritz, PB, and Marshmallow Stacks (or Marguerites) we moved onto craft time.
We made slew of these little gems! My kinda craft with only two items on the supply list! Both of which I picked up on a Publix run. Are you noticing my pattern of simplicity? I wouldn’t have attempted either of these if I would have needed more than three supplies or ingredients!
Marie over at Makes and Takes inspired me to make these. Heck, we’re halfway through the summer we need something new to entertain us during our frequent pool visits.
Marie is a former kindergarten teacher. Let me tell you, a good kindergarten teacher is a gift from God. My first teaching job right out of college as a newlywed was one week subbing in a kindergarten classroom. Goodness gracious, that was the cheapest and most effective birth control I’ve ever used!
Well, I’ve got half a summer left and I’m looking for some more activities to fill our days since I’m still feeling productive and all. Please send all your creative ideas my way!
College Football ‘09 comes out next Tuesday and Madden comes out Aug. 15. Get those games and let the boys entertain themselves.
By: Giant Idiot on July 9, 2008
at 8:27 am
My parents made “Marguerites” (never heard them called that) all the time when i was growing up except w/ saltines instead of Ritz. I LOVE THEM!! I will give the Ritz a try. A man from our church calls them “What-nots” or something goofy like that. I think I’ll stick with your boys & start calling them “Stackers”. My taste buds are going crazy now. I must make these today (with Ritz). Thanks for sharing!
By: Tonya on July 9, 2008
at 9:14 am
Yummy, yummy. Sounds like my peanut butter/marshmellow toast. Take peanut butter and the marshmellow cream (found in the baking section of your store) and put it on warm toast. Its kinda melty and gets all over your fingers and mouth.
Activity wise, I have been pulling out the snoopy snow cone machine, easy bake oven, play-doh (yuck), basically all the things that take like forever to clean up. Its nice to use up some indoor playtime at McDonalds and then get a little ice cream treat. Its been so hot and humid so some cool air playtime is always nice.
By: Kara Prater on July 9, 2008
at 11:38 am
Those sponge things are ingenious!
By: kristiapplesauce on July 9, 2008
at 11:52 am
OH MY GOODNESS I’VE NEVER THOUGHT TO ADD PEANUT BUTTER TO CRACKERS AND MARSHMELLOWS. AT OUR HOUSE WE PUT MARSHMELLOW CREAM OR REGULAR MARSHMELLOWS ON SALTINES OR PRETZELS, STICK THEM IN THE MICROWAVE UNTIL THEY ALMOST EXPLODE!! I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THEM WITH PEANUT BUTTER( HOW BRILLIANT)!
By: JULIE BELL on July 9, 2008
at 12:36 pm
Girl!! We do the same thing just on saltines!! My man thinks it is the greatest thing ever!! I just started reading pioneer woman the past month. I love her blog!!
It’s pretty hot here in Atlanta too:) Stay cool!
By: hollie on July 9, 2008
at 3:30 pm
idea?
play Twister.
but not after eating chili.
nuff said.
By: tam on July 9, 2008
at 6:23 pm
We used to have those, too! Even though they are not exactly the same, we called them “indoor smores”.
As for activities, try making salt crystals. I don’t know the exact recipe, but you can easily google it and find quickest way to make them. Granted, it will take several days for them to appear, but it’s REALLY cool to see the outcome!
My mom’s a kindergarten teacher so let me check with her for some great ideas.
By: loridknerr on July 9, 2008
at 7:30 pm
I miss you Brandi, but love reading your blog! We just got back from Orange Beach (loved that Ferris Wheel!) and the boys are already screaming that they are bored. I was so excited to find these great craft and recipe ideas! Devin saw the photos for the marshmallow treats and
want me to make them right away.
By: Holly Black on July 9, 2008
at 9:46 pm
I really should come back and comment later. My wife is always doing creative stuff with our boys, so I should go ask her. Many times, Gavin (our 5 year old) will have a light bulb come on and want to create and cook some new dessert or something. No prompting, no help, he comes up with it on his own and Nicki will help with any thing that could be a safety issue (stove) but Gavin comes up with the recipe and she lets him create it.
By: ncarnes on July 9, 2008
at 10:32 pm
Love these! My kids like to change colors of food so we make vanilla pudding together (they lick the spoons) and we add food coloring to make blue or bright green or some funky color. We also use sprinkles a lot – I put whatever food they are working on onto a cookie sheet to catch the extra sprinkles. Like apples dipped in soynut butter (allergies here) with sprinkles – healthy & yummy!
As for crafts, we fingerpaint with rules like use your thumbs only to make snowmen or two fingers to make mountains. Sometimes changing the ‘rules’ of a normal activity makes it fun again. An outside activity is to do colored sand in bottles. You can color the sand ahead of time with food coloring or let the kids color it with markers if you really want to eat up time. Then give each kid a funnel and a bottle and let them create. As a last resort, I always keep construction paper and various glitter/paint pens on hand so the kids can make cards for family or a welcome home banner for daddy.
By: rachbeav on July 10, 2008
at 7:46 am
YAY!! A new snack…my family will LOVE this.
Ideas…when my boys were your boys’ ages we made books. We called them “special books” since they were homemade:
Materials needed:
1 piece of construction paper (their choice of color)
3/4 pieces of typing paper
Crayons, markers, stickers, whatever to create “illustrations”
Fold in half and staple in the middle – instant book. We would give whatever title they desired: Alex’s Lego Book, Kellen’s Family Book, Maggie’s Cat Book. Sometimes they would give me words for the pages then they would “illustrate” or use stickers to help finish it off.
We would also take some of their favorite kid songs and write the phrases out – one phrase for each page – instant songbook AND helped them to learn to read. Some of our best memories are wrapped up in those books, which stay on the bookshelf today 12-16 years later.
Thanks for the memories…
By: Michelle on July 10, 2008
at 10:23 am
Have you read this site? I love the easy crafts she writes about and her kids have tested each one. I receive her newsletter.
http://www.kidscraftweekly.com
Alyson LID 01/27/06
By: Alyson on July 13, 2008
at 4:26 am
Aside from wearing my kids out at the pool, I took them berry picking this week and they loved it! There were tons of kids & moms out there, even a couple brave souls with strollers! I used this link to find a farm near us: http://www.pickyourown.org/TNmiddle.htm
By: hthr on July 17, 2008
at 11:43 am