Beyond Peanut Butter and Jelly

Professional nannies contributed recipes and art projects to create the INA Cookbook called "Beyond Peanut Butter and Jelly"
Today I am going to share with you 3 different kinds of recipes to give you an idea of the variety of ideas offered in the INA cookbook.

After you read them I know you will want to enter our give away for December.
This book would make a wonderful gift for anyone who cooks.

Recipes from "Beyond Peanut Butter and Jelly"

The first is : Peking Chicken (As you can see,this would be an easy recipe for a child to help with)
You will need
6-Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1-8oz jar of Apricot Preserves 1-8 oz jar of Russian Salad Dressing
1 Envelope of Onion Soup Mix
Arrange the chicken in a 9X13 baking dish.
Combine the apricot preserves, salad dressing and soup in a bowl and mix well.
Pour over chicken.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.
6 servings

Rice Krispie Drops
1 C. Chocolate Chips
2 T. Peanut Butter
4 C. Rice Krispies
Heat the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a double boiler or saucepan until melted.
Combine the chocolate mixture with the cereal in a large bowl, stirring until the cereal is well coated.
Drop by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet. Chill covered for 30 minutes before serving. Yield:2-3 dozen

Pasta Jewelry
Stringing colored pasta on cord is great way to help a child build their fine motor skills needed for writing.

Here is how to color your own pasta:

3-4 T. Rubbing Alcohol
Food Coloring
Pasta Bowl
Uncooked macaroni in a variety of shapes
Waxed paper
Cord

Combine the alcohol with a small amount of desired food coloring in a bowl and mix until smooth. Add the pasta and mix genty to color.
Spread on waxed paper and let stand until dry.
String on cords to create necklaces and bracelets.


In addition to recipes, sprinkled throughout the book are helpful tips such as this one:
A great storage idea is old suitcases. Keep things such as Legos and drawing supplies in small suitcases. They are quick and easy to grab when you need something for entertainment in the car. Larger suitcases can be used to store dress up clothes, car collections or building blocks.

The final element that is included in this book are words of wisdom from past INA Nannies of the Year such as this one by Harriette Grant:

Recipe for a Successful Nanny Career
1 C. of Open Communication
1 C. of flexibility
1 C. of patience
1 C. of love

Mix well and use generously on a daily basis. Make sure you visit Regarding Nannies to enter the Giveaway for the Beyond Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookbook.

A gift from Creative Nanny

A few years ago I made an Advent Calendar Activity Book for my great niece.
I set it up so that she could do one activity a day but you can really use these files anyway that you choose.The files consist of simple finger plays, songs, games and activities that can be adjusted to fit each age.
For example: On the coloring pages, if you have older children you might in addition to letting them color the pages let them use cotton for Santa's beard and markers or glitter or rhinestones to decorate.

On the games, you might want to print them out on card stock and laminate them so that you can keep a file of holiday games and activities that you can use over and over again.
Simply laminating your game pieces will save a lot of wear and tear on them. I set the matching games up so that the backs can be used for both games. You can also simply print out the pieces without backs or print out the backs and use your own stickers to create a game.

When you do snowman soup, I have included the graphics so that if you would like to make snowman soup for a gift you can do that too.

On the finge rplays I have added simple graphics so that if you want to print out an extra page and cut out the graphics, you can turn it into a counting game too. It adds one more dimension to the fun.

On the make a snowman, it is fun to print this out on a magnetic sheet and then you can play with it on the refrigerator all winter long.

There is really no right or wrong way to do this as long as you enjoy them. These are simply my suggestions of what worked best for me.

I would suggest you download all the pages, print them out and read through them.
You don’t need a lot of extra things to do the activities but you probably want to look through the pages and figure out what you need so you can be sure you have everything in one place.

I took a 3 ring notebook, printed out each page and slipped it inside a photo protector sheet. That way it was easy for me to see what we had and it protected pages from getting torn up. If I needed extra supplies, I just tucked it into the sleeve of the page.

I divided mine up into Songs, Games, Art projects and Finger plays.
You could also divide it up by Themes. Reindeer, Snowman, Gingerbread Man, Santa.

I have also included some Hanukkah pages and some religious themes, so you can choose whether or not you want to download those.
With or without them, you will have enough to keep you busy.
There is nothing like sharing the joy of Christmas with children!

Merry Christmas

The Creative Nanny

The majority of art used in these projects is from http://www.pccrafter.com/
They have wonderful graphics and ideas and I highly encourage you to check them out.
You won't be sorry.

Here are the projects: You should be able to click on the links and go directly to the page where you can print your projects.

Christmas Fun!

Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer
Song and Fingerplay

Reindeer Hokey Pokey
Song and Dance


Color the Gingerbread Man


Color Santa

Read the book: The Night Before Christmas

Color the Snowman

Decorate the Christmas Tree


Make a Snowman



The stockings were hung by the Chimney with Care

Stockings

Make Reindeer Food

Reindeer Ornament with Hand

Santa Match Game

Christmas Match card backs

Christmas Match Game

Snowman Soup

Snowman Soup for someone else


Tic Tac Toe Board

Tic Tac Toe Pieces



Gingerbread Man Fingerplay

Gingerbread Man Song and Dance

Five Little Christmas Trees


Eight Little Reindeer

Five Little Snowmen

If you are a Christian and you celebrate the birth of Christ, here are some simple activities related to the Nativity.

Mary and Joseph Paper Dolls

Color Baby Jesus

Angels we have heard on high

Away in a Manger

Perfect Pumpkin Centerpiece

Looking for a wonderful fall project to do with your charge(s)?

Nanny Gael Ann has shared with us this great idea for a beautiful centerpiece that is fun and easy. It will look beautiful with your Thanksgiving decor and your kids can say "I did it myself" (Thanks Gael Ann!) Below are some finished centerpieces.

Just gather a few simple supplies and make this easy fall centerpiece.
What you need:
One pumpkin (ours was about 30 inches in diameter)
Golf tees approx. 20-25 (fall colored ones are nice but natural colored work well too)
Silk flowers and/or fall decoration(s) attached to a stick (We used a purchased scarecrow already on a stick but you could use any festive decoration attached to a thin wooden skewer. This year we are going to use craft foam sheets to make pilgrim and native American figures for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. The flower stems do not need to be very long so I just bought an inexpensive silk bouquet and used wire cutters to cut the individual flowers and leaves off with only 3-4 inch stems.)
Kid size hammer (a toy wooden one worked just as well as the child size metal one in photo)
Directions:
Step 1: Simply get your charge(s) to hammer the golf tees into the pumpkin in a random pattern all around the top 1/3 to 1/2 of the pumpkin. Even a young charge will have no trouble doing this especially if you poke the golf tee in just a bit to help it stand up for the fun hammering part.
Step 2: Now have your charge(s) remove some of the golf tees and insert a flower stem or decoration into each hole. The remainder of the golf tee are left in.
Step 3: Adjust the height of the golf tees, flowers and other decorations for a pleasing effect.
I hope you give this very fun simple project a try! Ours lasted on the kitchen table for 4 weeks.

Turkey Puppet

Turkey Puppet by Glenda Propst (Regarding Nannies Team)

This is a turkey puppet I made with my now almost 11 year old when she was 4. Back then she went to Pre School 2 days a week but Monday was always craft day for us and even now when we get together we love to be Creative.

This puppet is perfect to take an on airplane or in the car or just about anywhere and we enjoyed using it with lots of Thanksgiving finger plays and songs.

I bought cheap stretch gloves for $1 ( You can find these at most discount stores or Dollar Stores.) I made a simple feather pattern with card stock and then I just cut two sets of feathers out of felt and fringed the edges a little. I made the feathers just a little taller than the fingers on the gloves.
My gloves came with little cardboard inserts and I just covered them with aluminum foil and slid them back inside so that the fingers didn't get glued together. Aluminum foil is easy because it can be smashed but don't forget that it might get hot so use caution if you are using a glue gun around children.
Then we glued the feathers on. You might even be able to find felt that already has the sticky backing on it so all you have to do is stick them on but I used a hot glue gun. I am sure you could also use any kind of fabric glue. I used clothespin clips to hold the feathers in place until they were dry and then we flipped it over and did the same thing on the other side.
Don't forget a beak and a gobbler.
Then we drew on details and I let her use the glitter paint to decorate.

We finished with googly eyes. There is nothing like googly eyes to bring a project to life and put a smile on the face of a child.

Here is a finger play and a song to get you started. A google search for "Turkey Fingerplays" will give you lots more!"

I have a turkey, big and fat.(Make a fist with one hand-thumb Out for turkey's head)
He spreads his tail and walks like that.(Attach "tail" by spreading Out fingers of other hand and join together)
His daily corn he would not miss.(Poke with thumb at floor)
And when he talks, it sounds like this: Gobble Gobble Gobble

Here is my favorite Turkey song that I remember from my childhood:
A turkey sat on a barnyard fence and he sang this sad sad tune.
Thanksgiving day is coming gobble gobble gobble. I'm afraid I will be eaten soon.
Oh gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble gobble gobble. I would like to run away.
Gobble, gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble, I don't like Thanksgiving day!

Thanksgiving Blessings Mix

I do this each year for Thanksgiving. I like to vary who I give them to. Sometimes it’s my friends, sometimes it’s my neighbors and if I do Thanksgiving in my home I give them to my guests. It often seems that Thanksgiving gets skipped because it comes after Halloween and before Hanukkah and Christmas, but I think it’s important to remember why we have Thanksgiving and this is a great reminder. (Plus it taste’s good!)

Children can easily help you with this by measuring and pouring and gently mixing the ingredients and putting them into the bags.


Thanksgiving Blessing Mix
2 cups Bugles brand corn snacks

2 cups small pretzels

1 cup candy corn

1 cup dried fruit bits or raisins

1 cup peanuts or sunflower seeds

1 cup M&Ms-brand chocolate candy

16 Hershey's-brand chocolate kisses

(You can also use Trail mix for the dried fruit, and nuts. Sam’s Club carries a large bag of Mountain Mix that even includes M&Ms which works really well. Try to buy your Candy Corn after Halloween and you might even get your Hershey’s kisses and M&Ms half price the day after Halloween if you plan ahead for this.)

Directions:
In a large bowl, gently mix all ingredients except Hershey's Kisses.

Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup Thanksgiving Blessing Mix in small cellophane treat bags.

I like to use the clear ones with gold stars. Add one Hershey's Kiss to each bag.

Close bag with twist tie or ribbon.

You can go to this site where they have pre printed cards http://christmas.organizedhome.com/printable/gift-tags/thanksgiving-blessing-mix

Or if you email me at Regardingnannies(at)gmail(dot)com I will send you a pdf file of the design I have at the top of the page.

I print mine on Card Stock but you can also print it on regular paper.

Cut the cards apart, punch a hole in the corner, and tie them onto your bag with your ribbon.

Thanksgiving Blessing Mix

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.

Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.

Candy corn: Sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on

just a few kernels of corn a day.

Nuts or seeds: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.

Dried fruits: Harvest gifts of our bountiful land.

M&Ms: Memories of those who came before us to guide us to a blessed future.

Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

You can easily make these a couple weeks ahead of time as long as your bags are sealed.

Pumpkin Songs, Fingerplays and Books

Here are some songs, fingerplays and books about Pumpkins from the crafty and creative Kari Ewest. Kari will be featured here starting in January with her Alphabet Express.

The Five Little Pumpkins is one of my all time favorites.

Five little Pumpkins/ One hand up
Sitting on a gate
The first one said Point to thumb
My, it's getting late."
The second one said, Pointer Finger
There are witches in the air."
The third one said/ Middle Finger
"But we don't care."
The fourth one said, /Ring finger
"We'll run and run and run."
The fifth one said/Pinky
"Isn’t Halloween fun!"
"Whoooo" went the wind
And out went the light pause/………and then big clap
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight! /Roll arms

I'm a Little Pumpkin Sung to: "I'm a Little Teapot"

I'm a little pumpkin Round and stout

Packed full of seeds that you can scoop out

When I get all carved upThen I'll be

The cutest Jack-o-Lantern you ever did see.

Three Little Pumpkins Sung to: "Ten Little Indians"
One little, 2 little, 3 little pumpkins
Rolled down the lane like funny bumpkins
Had their faces carved & thought they were something's
Funny Halloween jack-o-lanterns!

For your convenience, I have included links to the books below on Amazon.com

Check out these great books by Gail Gibbons


Fall Leaves Fall by Zoe Hall


Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden by George Levenson and Shmuel Thaler

Pumpkin Baby by Jane Yolen and Susan Mitchell

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell

Happy Halloween!

Witches Fingers and More!

Today I am going to share with you a few fun projects that I found different places online.
I found this one at http://www.stlentertains.com/
Their magazine is published locally here in St. Louis, MO but you can also order it.
If you go to their website you can also sign up for their newsletter and get a great entertaining idea every week.
"Witches' Fingers" are without a doubt the hottest dessert this Halloween. You can find the recipes in almost any book or magazine. The drawback is that they all require quite a few ingredients, not to mention kneading and mixing. Not ours! We found a fun and simple way to create a similar dessert, but with a twist!
1 package of peanut butter refrigerated cookie dough (nothing with chips or chunks in it)
1/4 cup of peanuts
Chocolate syrup or chocolate icing
Cut the cookie dough just as you would to make round cookies, then cut the cookie circle in half. Form a long cylinder with your fingers or roll the dough between the palm of your hands to form something that looks like a fat snake or worm (great task for kids!). Arrange the cookies on a cookie sheet and if you wish, create indentations where the knuckles are. Bake according to package directions.
The cookies will flatten as they bake, turning out looking as if something ran over them on the road. Once the cookies are ready and have cooled, make the gnarly fingernail by taking half a peanut and adhering it to the tip of the cookie with chocolate syrup or chocolate icing. That's it, you're done

The next quick idea is Baby Boos.

A fun, easy cookie that kids of all ages will love.

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler.

When chocolate is melted, dip Nutter Butter cookies in the chocolate.

Lay them on a cookie sheet and decorate with sprinkles, chocolate chips for eyes or whatever

creative idea you and your kids come up with.

Most houses are busy on Halloween night.

Everyone is rushing to get home, get dinner and get the kids out for Trick or Treat.

If you don't do this for Halloween, be sure to do it one night during the Fall Season so you

can enjoy Dinner in a Pumpkin

This recipe is from a wonderful nanny in Boston named Anne Marie:

Here is a great recipe that you have to make it is so yummy.

I found it in a book called the Abc's of Halloween.

You will need
1 Large Pumpkin
2 stalks of celery (cut up)
2 Large carrots (cut up)
3TBS of Butter
chicken breast cut up into small pieces
1/2 cup scallions
1/3 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can of ABC soup
1 cup hot water
What to do
Hollow out the pumpkin and put aside. Saute chicken with scallions, carrots,
celery in 3 TBS of Butter. Add all the soups and 1 cup of water. add the
sour cream. heat to a boiling point. Place the Pumpkin on a cookie sheet
with foil and add all the mixture into the Pumpkin. Put the hat back on and
bake in the oven at 350 for 90 minutes.
Scrape sides of pumpkin when serving.

So yummy.

Here are some variations:
Lo calorie way (use all reduced fat soups and sour cream.)
Vegetarian way (add cream of mushroom soup and add tofu chicken.)
without the pumpkin
add all the ingredients and cook on the stove until thick. place in the
oven at 350 for 20 minutes.
Enjoy
Anne-Marie

watch for an extra Creative Nanny post from Kari Ewest tomorrow.