Lava Lamps: An Oily Exploration

I know it totally bites that I'm posting Chanukah activities after the holiday festivities have ended, but I was so not used to my new big-city life that I really couldn't keep up over holiday break!! And some crafts and activities were too fun not to share - even if you wait until next year to utilize them! Freida had her first little chemistry lesson this week: water vs. oil. She was mesmerized!

I initially made these "lava lamps" for Babyccino, and while those little guys sure enjoyed shaking the bajeebers out of these contrasting elements, there was another slightly-larger part of the lesson waiting to be explored by a little lady at home: add alka seltzer to the mix!

To make these lava lamps you'll need a water bottle with the label removed, oil, water, food coloring, and alka seltzer tablets. Fill the bottle with 3 part oil/1 part water. Add 10 drops food coloring (and point out the balls of color as they slowly go from floating in oil to bursting in the water at the bottom - way cool!!). Once the water is fully colored, break an alka seltzer tablet in four pieces and slowly drop them in one at a time (wait until each piece stops bubbling) - then watch the magic!!

Afterwards, keep the bottles around for the kids to manipulate and discover the properties by shaking, straightening, and observing.

Freida took this whole thing very seriously, and I was blown away by how long she explored the whole thing!! Definitely a great way to teach the properties of oil/water to a kid around Chanukah time, but would make a fantastic rainy-day activity for any ol' time of the year!

Holiday Cookie Art

Freida had some serious Chanukah fun with this box-of-cookie-crafts that her Zaidy sent her for Chanukah (thanks Ta!). It was such a fun and simple way to engage her in the holiday prep (peeling potatoes is exciting and all but doesn't hold a little candle to making and decking-out a tray of holiday desserts!), and get her creatively involved in hosting a Chanukah dinner. She was literally able to do the whole thing on her own (with a little help from the Kitchen Aid), and the box included everything you need to make a super-cute sweet and edible Chanukah display.

The instructions were written out with little icons making the recipe reading skill-free.

It was basically just a regular sugar cookie mix (you add margarine, eggs, and water), Chanukah cookie cutters, and a mix of white royal icing.

After the royal icing hardens, the kids can literally "paint" onto the cookies with the most adorable little food-coloring paint palette and water color brushes!

Basically, 'twas a super-fun way to deck the holiday table! Just thought you might want to keep this in mind for a great pre-Chanukah gift next year! :)

Book of the Week: Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah

This little family has instituted a new activity as part of our weekly routine: on Tuesday evenings before dinner, the 3 of us take a walk at dusk to the Los Angeles Fairfax Branch Public Library to take out 2 books for the week. We started the first week we moved here. Well, to be quite honest, Manasseh started the tradition. As I was cooking dinner one Tuesday, he said he is taking Freida out for a walk (mind you, she was in flour-covered leggings and fuzzy bear houseslippers) - and came home 45 minutes lady with a bright faced little girl carrying her very own library card! Her excitement over the whole event (application form, her name - in bold, black letters - on the card, and the 2 new books she excitedly shared at the dinner table) was insanely adorable! Since then we've been taking these lovely walks each Tuesday once dinner is in the oven, and it's quickly become one of my favorite times of the week. This week we've been reading a charmingly illustrated Chanukah title: Maccabee! The Story of Hanukkah.

I thought the author and illustrator did a lovely job at conveying the actual message of the Chanukah miracle in it's time.

It's humorous and heartwarming, and definitely depicts the images I would have liked to relate to Freida...

I won't lie, her favorite parts are the quirky illustrations :)

Check it out if you're looking for a new Chanukah book - we've really been enjoying it!!

3 Cheers!

Last Sunday we celebrated Freida, and her arrival at the big 3. There are so many things to be grateful for when a child reaches a new age, a new year... but the most important thing to celebrate is the child themselves. I can't even begin to describe the magnitude of joy that having Freida in my life has brought about for me. When we named her Freida (yiddish for joy), I did so with my great-grandmother (her namesake) in mind - there was nothing quite as joyful to me as the memory of the intense joy that older women portrayed when I met her as a young girl. She twirled me in circles singing Hava Nagillah with the brightest of smiles lighting up her warm and wrinkled face. I so wanted joy like hers in my old age as well, and so I named my firstborn daughter with what I hoped would be a guarantee for giggles, good nature, and great big smiles. This little 3-year-old blessing has in fact brought such intense happiness to every moment of my life - and while days surely go by when I take this for granted, her very special day of birth serves as a concrete reminder as to how much appreciation I truly have for the gift of birth, life, and for the special little birthday girl herself!

Naturally, having my mother in town to celebrate her with was the icing on the cake. I just kept thinking of the day after Freida was born - Shabbos morning - sleeping in my hospital bed, cuddled up with my sweet sleeping newborn, and opening my eyes to see my mother sitting there on the chair just watching us sleep... There really is nothing even close to the bond of a mother-daughter relationship, and I feel so blessed to be so close to my own mom, and even more grateful to be given the gift of a daughter!

We gathered the gang of family and cousins together for a little afternoon backyard princess-gone-medieval party :)

Freida took the "no bouncing without a costume" rule very, very seriously. To get into that bouncy house you must don some dress-up garment or accessory. No two ways about it.

Happiest Birthday wishes, little lady!! I can't believe I've only known you for 3 short years - and yet can't believe you are 3 years old!! Looking forward to sharing many more bright moments through your sweet blue eyes in the year to come! Happy Birthday!

Playing with Pie

Just wanted to drop a line to those of you heating up your kitchens in preparation for some Thanksgiving bounty!! I've been having deep pregnancy-craving dreams of fresh cranberry sauce dribbled over slices of juicy turkey...and sweet potato casserole topped with just-browned marshmallow...and oven-roasted brussel sprouts and fresh-herb-infused stuffing...mmm! Right now I'm feeling grateful that our Thanksgiving will be spent amongst family and friends (not to mention grateful that we got invited out to an old friend's legendary kid-free feast! Thanks Sariti - looking forward!!)

Freida came down with a bout of autumn cough/cold this week (I'm giving thanks that she held off on the illness until we were settled post-move and not in the interim of it all!), so we've got our own version of seasonal bounty cooking up on the stove. I'm all about attempting to "heal through foods", and I've got chunks of root vegetables (butternut squash, rutabaga, turnip, garlic, leeks, and parsnips) simmering in vegetable broth waiting to be processed into a velvety, sick-banishing, chock-full-of-vitamins soup!

Anyways, for those of you hosting Thanksgiving feasts, and planning on entertaining families with children (not to mention your own), I thought I'd share a little delicious tactile activity that is sure to keep tiny hands busy (for a little while, anyway). 3 words: pumpkin. pie. playdough. Yep, you read that right. And just wait til you actually try this stuff out - it's such an insanely yummy (not to mention stress-relieving!) activity - you will just want to keep some on you, available for relaxation and manipulation, all day long! Plus, making the stuff is easy as pie!

Use a general playdough recipe like the fool-proof one I posted here. While mixing it all up over low heat, add in:

- 2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

- 1 teaspoon Maple Syrup

- Drop of Red and Yellow Coloring

Just kneading this stuff (I made it the night before the Babyccino launch - the class was "pumpkin" themed, and this dough went into one of the sensory tables), had all my senses in overdrive. It was warm and fragrant, and I simply didn't want to put it down!!

Not that you need anything extra to cook, but if you make it around to this, you can set up a kids table with pumpkin pie playdough, cookie cutters, empty pie tins, tart dishes, cupcake liners etc. and let the kids mess around with this tactile and olfactory activity while the grownups get started on cocktails! :)

Also, in case your looking for some more kid-busying activities for tomorrow, I filled another sensory table with pumpkin seeds (still shelled), and left out some measuring cups and spoons to play around with. Another 15 minutes of happy occupation makes all the difference while entertaining! And don't forget last year's hit popcorn turkey kid tablescape!!

Happy holiday of thanks to you all!! Wishing you heaps and heaps to be grateful for...!