Color-Stained Clothespin Sorting Activity

When I was pregnant with Clare, waaaaay back in early 2012, I went through a new and unfamiliar sort of maternity nesting - the desire to paint wooden toys.  It didn't go very far; the craving was satisfied with one evening of painting clothespins for a sorting activity for Ruth.   

I had first seen the idea on Pinterest, from this website here.  Ruth used it for a while before I took it back to satisfy my nesting urge.  I needed something wooden to paint, stat.

So I painted the tops of each clothespin and we used it as a color sorting activity.  (The ice cube mold is the type for making those long ice cubes cylinders for bottled drinks.) 

"old version"

Fast forward to present-day - it's Clare's absolute favorite activity.  Some of the pieces have been lost and I had never been entirely happy with how it had turned out.  So I decided to do a little refurb project...

I grabbed the leftover pins from the pack I purchased last year, sanded them and then used some mineral oil on them.  I had read on several different websites that using mineral oil was an inexpensive and safe way to seal wooden toys.  I didn't know what mineral oil was or what it was for.  So I was kind of embarrassed when I told the girl at the grocery store register that I couldn't find it and they went to get it for me.  

oh brother...

I used very fine sand paper.  Thanks, Dad!

I used a old soft kitchen towel to rub in the oil

this just shows you the difference in appearance that the oil makes. Of the natural pins on the left, the top one is oiled.  Of the red pins, the one on the right was oiled before I stained it.  I like the more vibrant look, so I oiled all the pins before staining.  

I stained 24 of the pins rainbow-ish colors.  I used non-toxic acrylic paints, watering each down a little until I got the stain that I wanted.  I wanted the colors to be vibrant, but I also wanted to be able to see the grain of the wood.  (It's pretty!)  I left three of the pins natural.  I didn't want to dry the pins laying down and risk damaging the stain, so I dried them on a cookie rack that I propped up on either side.

After the stain dried, I oiled each pin again twice to seal them.  

I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I like having the entire pin colored, and I'm so happy that the grain of the wood was preserved!  

All done.  Lots of fun.  Pretty baby toys for a pretty sweet baby!

  

Celebrating Independence Day

I love Independence Day.  It's a holiday-combination of a love of our country, appreciation for the innumerable freedoms we have, and my love of Thomas Jefferson - it's something to do with his being a strict Constitutionalist who also played the violin... a very sexy combination.  

Ahem.  Back to independence.  Well, actually, I'm really tempted to launch into a soap box editorial on the attempt of some folks to separate God and country...  And I actually did, but just deleted it 'cause I thought I'd better just stick with celebratory for today.  

So we celebrated the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and the inventor of the dumb waiter (that's Jefferson, of course!) with cake.  I use to make these flag cakes when I was a kid, so I thought it was time to turn the task over to my boys.  I tried to stay out of it and let them take creative control.  That was tricky.  But here's the delicious cake we ended up with... 

We added mini pictures of the Declaration of Independence and the famous pic of the signing - taped on wooden skewers and stuck in there - but my camera ran out of batteries before I could get a shot :(  

Happy Independence Day, America!  

Heavenly Father, You are the real foundation of nations, raising them up
to serve and care for the people dwelling in their boundaries.
I thank You for making me a citizen of this land of freedom
and unlimited opportunity---which are the result of its Christian base.
Send forth your Spirit to this country and make it a source of wisdom
and strength, order and integrity throughout the world. Amen.

(from 2heartsnetwork.org)

Thoughtful Apps for Thoughtful Pre-Schoolers

Thoughtful Apps for Thoughtful Pre-Schoolers

(thoughtful, as in "absorbed in or involving thought" not "how thoughtful of you to share that iPad with me"...)

Our new iPads are school tools, so I've got to keep it that way even when little Miss Ruth is using one.  She's got her own little folder of Apps to choose from, same rules apply to her as the boys, and I feel pretty confident that the times she's spending on the iPad is worthwhile.  So, worthwhile educational  apps that are perfect for pre-schoolers???  I share them with you... 

Here's what she's using...

TeachMe (Toddler) - simple games to master colors, numbers, letters, letter sounds, etc...  A cute Mouse Teacher encourages and corrects!  You can set up different players and can track their progress, but there is no customization feature.

TeachMe: Toddler

The Math Tree - by Bellamon - cute scrapbook-y (?) graphics - Birds and fruit are the manipulatives of choice for practicing addition and subtraction.  Practice counting and learn the basic concepts of adding and subtracting.  

The Math Tree, from Bellamon

Shape - O!  ABC's - Bellamon again.  This app is like a dream come true for me because it's just like the types of toys we actually have in our home... You build pictures using shapes, and spell corresponding words using scrabble-style tiles.  (You can change the settings to hide the letter "hints" for the advancing speller in your family.) Oh, PS - one of the other nice things about the Bellamon apps is that the music is nice and not annoying!

Shape-O ABC's, from Bellamon

Beck and Bo - this app was a border-line purchase for me.  It's not educational.  It encourages building pictures and completing scenes so that the characters, Beck and Bo, can have fun... in the park, in the snow, in the grocery store, etc...  It's not objectionable, there's just not a ton to it.  However, it's those darn style of graphics that I like - artsy-craftsy.  So Ruth uses it and she likes it.    

Beck and Bo

Bugs and Numbers / Bugs and Bubbles / Bugs and Buttons - I LOVE these graphics - really creative combination of industrial-style photographs and graphics with realistic insect animations. The games are nearly all educational or involve thought processing and/or motor skills (ex: "pulling" back a slingshot to launch a bee towards a moving flower-target.)  A couple of the games were confusing to figure out at first, so I "played" all of them ahead of time so I'd be able to tell her how to enjoy each one.  Oh, and the music????  So sweet, not annoying, and on at least one of them, I've heard strains of the Pachelbel Cannon in D, a Bach Brandenberg Concerto and some Tchaikovsky.  Can't go wrong there.

Bugs and Buttons

Bugs and Numbers

Bugs and Bubbles

Sam Phibian - a funny counting practice game.  Sam the frog is hungry for lunch and it's your job to feed him the exact right amount (and type) of bugs.  If he eats too many bugs, or if you feed him the random items that float past, he may get a little too big to balance on his lily pad :)   

Sam Phibian

The last here are repeats from an earlier post I wrote on apps we've used for school... but they're worth repeating because they're appropriate for varying ages and Ruth has enjoyed them a lot!

Monkey Math School Sunshine - decent Math practice with a silly monkey guide.

Monkey Math School Sunshine

Monkey Word School Adventure - allows you to select varying levels of difficulty for up to four players.  So little kiddos can play the simpler phonics games and still feel like a bigger kid.

Monkey Word School Adventure

Word Grab - practice spelling, vocabulary, and phonics with this funny-looking monster.  (Unfortunately, he sounds funny too - a little more like a moan than a roar.  Weird, but not a deal breaker.)  

Word Grab

Rocket Speller - has a setting for younger kiddos, wherein the word that the player needs to spell is written in light gray and the player has to place the correct matching letter on top.  This game and it's various levels is a favorite of all three i-pad using kids.

Rocket Speller

Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnd, finally...

Reading Rainbow - Oh, my love of Reading Rainbow runs deep.  I grew up on this stuff and have scoured the public library system to borrow all the available DVD's of the old show.  Bravo, and "thank you," Lavar, for resurrecting one of the best kids show concepts out there!  Even though we don't do books on ipad, we do Reading Rainbow.  The books are not animated - that's one of my big things-to-avoid, - and in fact, they are so by design.  At RR, the books speak for themselves, without animation or enhancements.  (with the unobjectionable exception of things such as, when you click on George Washington's horse in the book on George Washington, you hear the animal neigh and gallop off.)  The book selection is mostly fabulous, and the videos are so fun.  Recently, Ruth has been alternating between listening to the National Geographic book on Sharks and watching a video on how Crayola crayons are made.  I'm a happy mom, indeed!

While the subscription to Reading Rainbow is a little pricey, ($9.99 a month or $6 a month if you buys 6 months at a time - go for that option!)  the subscription covers your multiple devices.  I made the mistake of letting more than a month go by with only having it on one ipad because I thought I'd have to pay again to put it on the others.  Not so.

It took Ruth a little one-on-one time with me to figure out how to navigate through the app - how to check out books and return them when her backpack was full and she wanted another.  But now she is able to choose the books that interest her and she can "take a look" to her heart's content.

And if you loved Reading Rainbow too when you were a kid... click here and have some warm fuzzy retro feelings.  My gift to you.  

Scrumptious Specialty Jams (...of the freezer variety...)

So, I love freezer jam.  But lately I've been wondering, does freezer jam have to be plain ole?  Can I make designer-flavored jams without turning on the stove top and simmering things all day?  I did some experimenting with our recent us-picked local organic strawberries and I'm so happy to have found that freezer jam can be glammed up!  I share my experiments with you, because  busy moms deserve a designer-flavored freezer jam stash just as much as the next busy person...

The three new jams I experimented with were Strawberry Basil Lime, Strawberry Mint, and Strawberry Orange Almond.  I was especially excited to make the first two since I got to use basil and mint from our recently planted mini herb garden.

 the poor wilty lemon mint is doing better now!  doesn't look so great in this shot :(  

So, here are my experiments...  

Scrumptious Specialty Jam No. 1

Strawberry Basil Lime

This was everyone's favorite.  The kiddos helped me make a triple batch after we tried it and decided it was superdelicious.  (I've included some pix of my helpers on this one, but don't worry, I won't bore you with a photo play-by-play on the other two flavors...)

Using Ball Instant Pectin for freezer jams, follow the instructions to prepare your sugar and pectin for one batch of jam.  (about two half pint jars worth)

Chop a handful of fresh basil and finely as possible. (for one batch I did it by hand, and for the larger batch I used a manual food processor)  I used the amount pictured above, plus a little more, for one batch.  I didn't want my experimental jam to just taste like plain ole strawberry jam with green dots in it, so I went heavy on the herbs and additional flavors.  As far I as I can tell, you can add as much or little as you like.

Prepare strawberries according to the instructions on the pectin jar.  I used almost 2 cups chopped berries. 

Mix in the basil, as well as the zest and juice from one small lime.  If possible, let it sit for a little while to allow the flavors some time to blend.

Add sugar and pectin according to the instructions... stirring for three minutes.

Ladle into pre-cleansed jars.  Add lids.  I had enough jam left over after two half pint jars to fill a small 4 oz jelly jar.  Let it sit for 30 minutes.  Freeze. Or enjoy immediately!  

My family has already polished off two jars of this amazing jam, spreading it on anything they can get their hands on.  I took a more refined approach and had it with some creamy brie on french bread...

Scrumptious Specialty Jam No. 2

Strawberry Mint

I've seen this flavor of jam done elsewhere, so I was pretty sure it would taste great.  And it did! 

Simply follow all the directions on the instant pectin jar, but add a medium size handful of finely chopped fresh mint leaves to the chopped berries.  Allow to sit for a while before stirring in the sugar and pectin.  For our jam I used both orange mint and lemon mint.

Scrumptious Specialty Jam No. 3

Strawberry Orange Almond

Again, prepare berries and sugar/pectin mixture according to the instructions on the instant pectin jar.  

Before combining, add the following to the berries (for a single batch): the zest and juice from one medium orange and 1 tsp. of almond extract.  (I actually added 1 1/2 tsps, but the flavor was a little too much, so when I make this again I'll just be using 1.)    

* * * * * * 

There you have it!  I am soooooo excited about discovering that even though I like the ease of no-cook freezer jam I'm not restricted to basic single-flavor fruit jam.  (Well, I've always combined blueberry and raspberry, but you know what I mean.  Speaking of which... I'm already starting to plot my specialty makeovers for next month's fruit crops!!  You know if I come up with anything tasty, you'll hear about it here!)

I hope you get to try one of these new (simple) specialty jams this year, or that you'll even create one of your own.  Either way, I'd love for you to comment on it here!!

* * * * * *

ps - we tested all three flavors out on our first guests this morning - the after-Mass crowd.  Ok, it's just my parents, but they said the jams were uh-mazing, and I don't think they were just being nice ;)  

Extolling the Pleasures and Benefits of Freezer Jam

This is our third year of making freezer jam.  I've always been interested in learning how to can things for real... but since I like to involve my kids (and they like to be involved!) I'm pretty sure we'll be avoiding activities that involve words like "meticulously sterilized jars and lids" (or meticulously sterilized anything for that matter) and "boiling hot water bath" for quite some time.  

So freezer jam it is.  And oh! how we love it!  Every year we make more than the year before because no one can bear to think of running out before next year's berry season.  Last year, even though the strawberry jam was a flop (used the wrong pectin and it didn't set... we used it as an oatmeal sweetener instead of on sandwiches) we still had almost enough jam to last us through the year.  (In fact, the above photo was taken on Monday - the day we used the last of the 2012 blueberry raspberry jam!)  

Freezer jam is so simple to make.  In my mind, it's the obvious choice for busy modern-day moms who like to play a little "Little House on the Prairie" on the side.  It makes me feel thrifty, industrious, and healthy.  And - super sappy mom alert - it's such a joy to see the kids "love" the jam that they made from the berries they picked!

I use Ball Instant Pectin.  This year before jam making I did some pectin-related research.  It's safe (don't eat it out of the jar, though.  Ugh, I just gagged.)  It's natural (most commercial pectin is extracted from apples.)  The instant pectin I use contains dextrose (obviously it's wise to limit added sugar in our diets, however one of the great things about freezer jam is that it requires very little sugar, period!).  The rest of the ingredients on the bottle are all on the "safe" list of food additives published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.  I checked several other websites and received similar information elsewhere.  Soooooo... after all that I decided to stick with the instant pectin again this year.  

Since you do not cook the fruit used for freezer jam, it retains its true flavor and sweetness.  For a traditional batch of cooked jam, recipes typically call for 4 CUPS OF SUGAR for ever 2 cups of fruit.  Insanity!  (Though I'm sure some of it is cooked out?  But I couldn't find that info.)  2 cups of fruit for freezer jam takes about 2/3 cups of sugar.  Big difference, right?  Freezer jam also retains all the flavor of the fresh fruit as well as all the nutrients that would be cooked out of the fruit while making traditional jam. 

Again, it's a kid friendly process.  Lots of measuring, chopping,  and stirring.  Kids can touch (or sneeze on) the jars and you don't have to hyperventilate about sterilization issues, because the jars for freezer jam have to be clean, but not sterile.  No fancy equipment needed... no giant pots, no foot-long tongs.  No sealing required.  Just fill those non-sterile jars, twist those lids on, and your done! 

You can freeze it for up to a year.  (Remember just this week we finished the last of last-year's August jam, so I know it's ok!)  Once opened it will last in the fridge about 7-10 days, but honestly, it won't last that long.  

Finally, the cost.  My thriftier-than-me husband did some figuring for me the other day.  At a local organic farm, we picked 10 quarts of strawberries for $25.  From those strawberries, plus the sugar and pectin, each half pint jar of jam cost a little over $1.  We did not add in the cost of the jars because we reuse them from year to year. 

So, those are my reasons to love and promote freezer jam.  And did I mention how delicious it is??  I'll probably go on and on about it again when blueberry-raspberry jam season rolls around. Only a few short weeks to go!

* * * * * * 

This year, I made several batches of plain traditional strawberry, but I also started to wonder if the freezer-jam method meant you had to forgo creativity.  Could I make specialty jams using the instant pectin??  I began some experimenting and will soon post my  three new "artisan" freezer jam recipes.  I can't wait to share them!   

* * * * * *  

PS - BONUS tip of the year:  I've always used a manual food processor to prepare our fruit (as opposed to a potato masher).  And every year it's been a super awful mess.  Until this year.  I used my new Pampered Chef manual food processor and those strawberries were jam-ready lickity split, with no mess.  I filled the canister about 3/4 full of berries and then pumped the chopper "handle" for 20 counts and the berries were the perfect consistency - chunky, but not whole.  I'm so happy to have a new perfect chopper!  Use yours if you have one!  If you don't, you can order one on their website, but it's so much nicer to support your local P.C. rep!  Call her (or him!) today!