Creative Family FunCheck out some fun and practical ideas that will help make family life fun! If you have any helpful tips or funny family stories that you would like to share, please send it to kristi@entrustedministries.com. You may see it on our website!
Creative Family Fun - Entries written by Kristi Jezek
TueTuesdayJulJuly19th2011
Playdoh Lollipops
I recently came across this "playdoh" recipe that is not only okay but delicious for kids to eat! My children enjoyed the process...
of mixing the dough,
customizing the colors,
rolling it out,
and shaping it into lollipops...
almost as much as they enjoyed eating the finished cookies.
As you can see in the picture, they made all different sizes for various people in our family including some extra small ones for their favorite stuffed animals and dolls.
It was a fun and tasty summertime activity!
Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
assorted colors of paste food coloring
24 lollipop sticks (we used wooden skewers since it's what we had on hand)
Directions
- In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
- In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Working with half of each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and for each cookie place 1 pink, 1 green, 1 blue and 1 orange ball together to make 1 large ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (like a snake), starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie. Place cookies 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Carefully insert lollipop sticks into bottoms of cookies.
- Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.
(recipe is courtesy of www.allrecipes.com)
SatSaturdayOctOctober2nd2010
Capture It!
My parents did a great job of preserving memories for my brother and me in photographs. Fun pictures by our front steps and beside the occasional grassy Alabama snowman chronicle our growth. They also memorialize my green bell bottoms and toothless grin in the late 70s and the height of my bangs in the 80s. It's so much fun to go back through these slides and photo albums with my own children when we visit Dad and Mom.
One of the things we all enjoy the most is listening to interviews my Dad occasionally recorded with my brother and me when we were children. These snippets of audio capture the funny way I said elphanant, I mean, elephant and clearly show the way I viewed and thought about life in those earlier years.
Now it's our turn to preserve this gift for our own children. Sometimes we capture their words in a more natural, low profile way while lying in bed with them at night discreetly recording their responses with the concealed microphone of a cell phone or mp3 player. And other times, we've been more obvious about the interview by bringing out our digital camera or webcam and allowing them an opportunity to be the star performer.
Want to try this with your own kids? Click HERE for some questions to help you get started. Select the ones you like and add in your own to customize the interview for the ages and personalities of your children. Who knows you might even learn some things you never knew about them!
FriFridayJunJune18th2010
The Idea Jar
“Mom.... I bored!…”
Have you heard it yet this summer?... I have.
One day while my children were happily playing, I used the time to brainstorm a list of things I thought they’d enjoy doing. Later, I wrote these ideas on colorful strips of paper, folded them, and placed them in a glass jar which has become known in our family as the “Idea Jar.”
There are two rules to the Idea Jar. Rule 1 -- if you complain, “I’m bored,” then Mom gets to assign you a job. But if you have searched for your own ideas first and still found the fun beginning to lag, then you can draw a card from the Idea Jar. Just remember Rule 2 -- you HAVE to do whatever your card says.
Some of our cards are purely fun.
1. Create a “car wash” for bikes.
2. Design an obstacle course. Try using a stop watch to see who can finish in the shortest time.
3. Use a box or jar to create a home for bugs. Now find at least 3 bugs to live in it.
One color is specifically designed for rainy-day fun.
1. Ask Mom for blue painter’s tape to make an indoor hopscotch board.
2. Go for a swim in the bathtub. Don’t forget your goggles!
3. Do two puzzles. Want to do more? Try creating a gallery.
Some offer an academic twist.
1. Read for 15 minutes – try finding an interesting, new reading place.
2. Write a story – ask Mom or Dad for an idea.
3. Write a note or make a card. Now mail it.
And others mostly benefit Mom!
1. Get to work – ask Mom or Dad for a job.
2. Turn up your music and clean your room.
3. Spend 15 minutes of quiet time in your room.
These ideas were designed for my young daughters, but with a little thought, the selection could be tailored to fit the ages and interests of any child. Perhaps if you create your own jar, you’ll find like I have that once kids get started on one of the ideas, they typically go beyond the instructions to add their own creative flair. Then before they realize it, 15 minutes of fun has turned into an hour or more of play time!
Applying Biblical Truth to Everyday Life
© Entrusted Ministries