Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Despicable Me Minion for Lunch for Kids

July 23, 2013 By Deirdre

Yes, I made a Despicable Me minion lunch! The minions from Despicable Me were introduced into my house a few weeks ago when I offered to watch my neighbors boys so she and her husband could go to a family graduation. The older boy placed the movie into a Mickey Mouse DVD case and brought (smuggled) it over for them to watch before bedtime. I am not big on PG movies. JDaniel hasn’t seen many, but I didn’t protest when I found out it wasn’t Micky inside the case.

It turns out the older son has memorized the movie due to watching it so often. He repeated every line word by word until I promised to turn it off if we couldn’t hear the characters say the words. JDaniel didn’t care about that he loved that he was getting to watch a PG and he loved the minions.

jdaniel4smom_space_activities_rocket_man_snack

Last week I made JDaniel a really cute rocket lunch with an astronaut and everything for our study on Space Boy He thought is was cute, but wanted to know if the next meal could have a minion in it. I wasn’t sure I could make one. I had seen a really cute Twinkie minion on Pinterest, but I wasn’t sure how to make one that would be for lunch.

Making The

Despicable Me Minion

Lunch

I thought and I thought! Finally I decided to make a cheese body with tortilla overalls for the Despicable Me Minion. The overalls needed to have blueberries all over them to make them blue. We had blue frosting that JDaniel loves to sneak, but I couldn’t bring myself to put it on bread and count it as a sandwich. A layer of grape jam was placed on the bread to help the blueberries stay in place. Small pieces of olives were used to make the minions monocle and a small tortilla piece became his mouth.

JDaniel loves Banana Bob. (One of the Despicable Me minions) He got him in a Happy Meal last week so, I put bananas into the bento box with a pick with eyeballs. I put an outline around the eyes to try to make it look like goggles, but it really didn’t work.

The last section has cheese crackers in it. I don’t know if there is anyone in the Despicable Me movies that likes cheese crackers. I do know that my son does so, into the lunch they went.

JDaniel was over the moon with joy! He loved his special lunch and it disappeared in seconds. I was thrilled that it came out okay and that he recognized it.

Do you think the minions from Despicable Me would like them?

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Read.Explore.Learn – Space Boy Learning Activities

July 19, 2013 By Deirdre

Space Boy by Leo Landry (2007-09-24) by Leo Landry inspired the space learning activities we did this week. Space Boy is the story of Nicholas who needs a little time away for the noise and commotion of family life for just a little while before he goes to bed. His home is filled with his sister’s crying, a barking dog, and the radio blaring. ( I believe his parents turned it up to drowned out the sound to the baby crying and the dog barking.) Oh! His neighborhood is noisy too.

He decides that he need to get faraway from it all so, he packs a healthy snack and puts on his spacesuit. Then he gets into his rocket and heads to the moon. (Apparently he has made space trips before.)

The moon is quiet and the perfect place to have a bedtime snack. It is also a wonderful place for a quiet moonwalk. There is something meaning on the moon. Nicholas quickly realizes that he miss his family and wishes his family could shared trip to the moon with him.

Nicholas rockets back to Earth and checks on each member of his family just before going to bed.

I think parents and children may both feel as Nicholas does at the end of the day. Taking a off for a walk on the moon is something everyone may enjoy from time to time. If only we all had a getaway rocket waiting for those days in our backyard.

What did we do to explore this book?

Sight Word Rockets on the Moon

Read.Explore.Learn - Space Boy Learning Activities

We used rockets on sticks and an old beverage holder to work on sight words. JDaniel was asked to read me the the word on each rocket. When he had read a word, he was able to land it into one of the slots on I had cut into the beverage holder.

One of the fun things about working with rockets on sticks is that you can have them zoom through the air and you can make rocket noises as it travels to it landing slot on one of the moon hills.

Space Science Experiment

I found a science experiment in a library book that I thought we could easily put together. The materials were ones we already had and it took just a little while to put it together. There were just a few challenges. Putting the holes in the top of the bottle cap with washer on top and the base of the soda bottle were a little tough.

Joining the two rubber bands together to feed through the holes as easy. After a few slips of the bands out of holes, we quickly secured each of the rubber bands with straws. Each of us took responsibility for one of the rubber band loop.

Adding the beans was super easy for us. We tried adding them by handfuls, but later moved to adding a bean or two at a time.
Once we secured the rocket and astronaut to the straw, we thought that the experiment would go smoothly. We turned the rubber bands as tightly as we could and then let the large straw with the pictures on it go and nothing happened. Literally nothing.

JDaniel suggested we turn the bottle upside down and try the experiment. It worked! The astronaunt and rocket flew around and around. I am sure why it worked better, but I am glad it did.

Rocket Snack

JDaniel has been asking for snack food creations lately. I decided to make him a rocket sandwich with a trail of blueberry flames.

When I finished it, it looked liked it was missing something. I cut out little pieces of a flour tortilla and a small grape slice to make an astronaut for the rocket. Some tiny sprinkles were used to give him eyes and a mouth. My husband thought it was clever. My son just like the way it tasted. I think we would enjoy another Space Boy snack.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

10 Ice Cream Themed Books for Kids

July 18, 2013 By Deirdre

It is National Ice Cream Month this month. I thought a round up of 10 ice cream books for kids would be a wonderful way to celebrate. Maybe grabbing one of these ice cream books and reading it while eating some would be fun. You might even take one on a field trip to an ice cream parlor.

Ice Cream Books for Kids

Wemberly’s Ice-Cream Staris a fantastic tales about wanting to share. Wemberly receives a star and feels her stuffed rabbit should have some too. I think lots of children would feel this way about sharing with their special friends.

Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise shares how George tries to catch an ice cream truck when he decides in he needs a cool treat. With George you always end up with an adventure.

The Ice Cream King while trying to decide what treat to get while visit an ice cream parlor with his mom a boy starts to daydream. He dreams he is in a land of ice cream and he is its king. What a wonderful land that would be to visit on a hot summer day!

Ice Cream: The Full Scoop explains the origins of many ice cream and many frozen dessert related products. I learned a lot about ice cream’s history while reading this book. My son loved getting to see how it is made step by step.

The Sundae Scoop (MathStart 2) aids readers in finding out how many ice cream sundaes they can make using featured ingredients. Math concepts worked on with them makes learning really sweet.

I Scream! Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordlesis a wordless book. What fun it is to picture walk through this book and make up your own story or just interpret the story that is already there in pictures. They story could end up different every time.

Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) is about the hard decision that one has to make when you have something and you think you should share it. If you wait to long, the thing you want to share might melt. Thankfully this book has a happy ending.

Ice Cream Soup (Penguin Young Readers, Level 1)I think we have all had recipes that just didn’t go as we planned them.

Babe Ruth and the Ice Cream Mess (Ready-to-Read Childhood of Famous Americans) shares how after putting baseball through someone’s window he buys him ice cream to make up for it. The Childhood of Famous Americans series was new to me. I think children will really like seeing what famous people were like when they were little.

Spike and Cubby’s Ice Cream Island Adventure takes two dogs on a journey. They say they know how to navigate a boat, but when a storm come up they find the can’t. Ending up on Ice Cream Island is not a bad end to their unpleasant voyage.

You will find more collections of books by theme on my Book Collection board on Pinterest.

Do you have an ice cream book for kids that you love?

{Outdoor Fun} Into the Puddles We Go

July 16, 2013 By Deirdre

I joked with JDaniel when we started this trail in Conestee Park that it looked like we would be walking the plank. He laughed and commented that we weren’t pirates and that there weren’t any alligators. Thank goodness there weren’t alligators.

As you can see in the picture above there was water covering some of the trails. We had had several days of rain and apparently it didn’t have any place to go. It wasn’t more than a few inches deep so I thought that we would be fine if we continue hiking. (If this were a movie instead of a blog post, you would hear some ominous music being played.)

After walking a short ways, we came to an overlook. There were all sorts of plants and may have been some animals. The water was super muddy so we couldn’t look below the surface. It is hard to see the sign, but it shows how the water has moved over time from a wide river with a few side waterways to a narrow river with fewer still waterways. Truly it looks like there is less water there than there has been in the years past on the sign. It didn’t look that way to us when we picked up the trail to finish our hike. In fact, it looked like water was taking over every piece of land that it could.

We noticed that after a there was a lot of water lapping at the planks on the trail. (The planks should have been a dead giveaway that this trail gets wet often. ) I am not huge in walking through puddles I tend to walk around them, but as a boy mom, I thought I should do a boy mom thing and join my son in the watery walk.If you look carefully you will see that the planks are actually under the water just before they make a turn. Yes, the planks are submerged. I told JDaniel we could continue walking if he stayed on the planks. I wasn’t sure how deep the water was on the sides of the planks. JDaniel offered to find out for me, but I discouraged him.

It turned out we didn’t need to step off of the planks. The planks just became more and more covered by water. Seriously inches of water. My shoes started to squeak and water started squirting out of the spaces between my shoelaces.“This is so much fun!” JDaniel declared. I am so thankful that he was walking in front of me and didn’t see my body language as he made that statement. I was trying to have fun and not complain. This was fun in a way!

I would love to say that the rest of the path was dry, but it was a lot of what we had already walked through. We walked into, over and around puddles on the rest of the trail. JDaniel was in dirt covered, sneaker squishing heaven.

It has continued to rain here for the last eight days or so. JDaniel has been asking to go back to see what the trail looks like now. I have suggested that we wait to see what the trail looks like after a few days of Carolina heat beating down on it. Until then he will have an amazing tale of outdoor fun!

I will always remember that into the puddles I went. I think my shoes will too.

Netflix Provides Rainy Day Fun

July 15, 2013 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Netflix.

You have heard me talk on and on about how much rain we have had here lately. Having Netflix as an option for your children on rainy days is wonderful! After you have danced in the rain and played together all over the house, it is wonderful to sit back and watch a movie or show together. It can be a relaxing way to have rainy day fun.

Netflix offers a television series as well as movies for children. Their Netflix.com/Families features several new categories including Family Movie Night, Are We There Yet and TV for Curious Kids. I loved scrolling through to find shows JDaniel would love to watch. There lists of movies and TV shows for all kinds of special summer moments and days of rainy day fun.

JDaniel noticed right away that they had movies he had seen before and enjoyed like the Lorax. He also saw that Curious George (the television show) was available too. A documentary called African Wild looked interesting to him too. We had fun checking out all the different options on their curated lists.

We had a trouble this summer finding G-rated movies at the library to check out or go to see at the movie theater. Netflix gives parents that are looking for G- rated shows for their children access to the entertainment you will feel comfortable with them seeing.

I love the pop-up boxes that come up with you click on something you would like to watch that share the program’s rating and a little information about the show. That information along with how others have rated it helps me to be an informed parent.I am not suggesting that you shouldn’t dance in the rain, play games, read books and pretend play. Each of those is important for children. When you have done all of those things and you are looking for something to sit down and watch together, Netflix offers you shows you will enjoy watching.

You don’t have to just watch them at home. Netflix would be great to have assessed to as you sit in waiting rooms or visiting relatives this summer on a tablet or smartphone. Cooling off after being at the pool on a scorching day or having a family movie night after a busy day is also great times to enjoy a Netflix entertainment option on your computer.

Netflix.com/Families is a new destination designed to meet your family’s summertime entertainment needs. On Netflix.com/Families, parents can find lists of movies and TV shows for all kinds of special summer moments and rainy day fun days.

Visit www.Netflix.com/Families for more information on the best ways to stream as well as videos from families using Netflix.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Netflix.

Grilled Salad with Pompeian Oils

July 15, 2013 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pompeian Olive Oil.

July is National Grilling Month. Pompeian Olive Oil is partnering with Hungry Girl to create easy-to-follow, healthy grilling recipes that are inspired by the Mediterranean diet We have loved the taste of foods we have prepared on the grill for a long time. We tend to grill various meats and sometimes vegetables. Though we have never tried to grill a salad before we decide to try Hungry Grilled Romaine Salad. It was one of three recipes I was given to try by Hungry Girl for the Pompeian recipe library. The recipes for Jalapeno Shrimp Skewers and Spicy Mustard Chicken Kabobs looked wonderful but too spicy for my guys. The grilled salad was just right.Yes, we made the grilled salad for whole family. JDaniel had one too. The salad pictured above is the one we served to him. It had big chunks of tomatoes and very few chunks of red onions. It is dressed with Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Pompeian Balsamic Vinegar. I cook with both of those often so, he is very used to them.

I cook with Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil almost nightly. It adds great flavor to meats I am preparing as well as to vegetables. We have cut butter and margarine out of our diet at my husband suggestion. Olive oil has been a wonderful replacement. We love its taste and its a healthier choice.

We ended up grilling this delicious salad on one of the only clear evenings last week along with some chicken tenders. My guys both agreed that we should have this again. There was just something extra special about the grilled flavor in the salad and the Pompeian Olive and Balsamic Vinegar dressing. We all had clean plates at the end of the meal. Everyone loved the grilled salad.

Pompeian Olive Oil, a leader in olive oils and vinegar, is here to help you celebrate July for National Grilling Month! Pompeian products give you a taste of the Mediterranean without leaving your backyard.

By using Pompeian Grapeseed Oil and OlivExtra Mediterranean Blend products you can make grilling healthier and more flavorful in a Mediterranean way. For more information about Pompeian Olive Oil, please visit http://pompeian.com/.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pompeian Olive Oil.

17 Rainy Day Books for Kids

July 13, 2013 By Deirdre

Whether you are working on a weather unit, exploring rain books in April or just looking for a fun book to read on a rainy day, you will find at least one you will love in this collection of 17 rainy day books for kids.

Rainy Day Books for Kids

Dinosaur Thunderis the story of a little boy who is afraid of thunder during a rainstorm. Each member of his family shares with him a story about what could be making that horrible noise. After several explanations from his older family members, his brother shares with him something he can relate too. He tells him the noise comes from dinosaurs. “I love dinosaurs!” the boy responds. He is still scared, but knowing they are dinosaurs helps him be less scared.

Rain! by Linda Ashman (2013-03-05)is a wonderful story about how a little girl and an old man feel about rain. One of the grumbles and gripes. The other rejoices and enjoys it. When one runs into the other, they both learn to love rain.

Come On, Rain! is so well written. The text flows throughout the book painting a beautiful picture of people sweltering in the heat waiting for rain. When the rain arrives, there is much dancing and frolicking that happens. Moms and their daughter rejoice in the rain. The pictures in this book are gorgeous..

Rain Schoolexplains that in the country of Chad there are heavy rains that wash away some of the mud and thatched roof schools. Each year the children join their teachers in building a new school. The children learn to work together while they build the school and learn together once the school is built.

Rain by Robert Kalan uses amazing pictures by Donald Crew and wonderful words to show you the effects of rain. It explores colors and words is such a wonderful way. This is a fun book to picture walk through.

Splish! Splash!: A Book About Rain (Amazing Science: Weather)uses simple text and wonderful illustrations to explain the science behind rain. Non-fiction lovers will enjoy learning about rain.

Down Comes the Rain follows the ups and down of rain as it travels through the water cycle. Where does rain go after it falls from the sky? How does it get into the sky?

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Rise and Shine)some people and animals long for rain to fall. I love the rhythm of this book it just flows. This is a wonderful book about yearning for rain.

Are You Ready to Play Outside? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (An Elephant and Piggie Book, 7)shares that there are some the love rain and others that don’t. Sometimes those that don’t just need someone fun to enjoy it with. You can’t just watch people enjoy rain. Seeing them love it makes you want to join in.

The Rain Came Down and changed everyone moods. Will their moods change when the sun comes out?

The Big Storm: A Very Soggy Counting Book features animals running to get out of a storm when they see clouds gathering. After a night of huddling in a shelter, they hear rumbling and grumbling. Is it another storm or is it something else?

The Aunts Go Marching is about a little girl who marches through the rain followed by a large group of aunts. I love the song about ants marching two by two. This book with aunt marching is just as fun. You will love the pictures in this book

Rain (Rise and Shine) is a beautifully illustrated book about how a group of African animals uses their senses to know the rain is coming. This would fit well in a unit about the senses or about the rain.

Red Rubber Boot Day is the tale of a young boy and what he does when it rains. He starts off the day finding inside things to do like building a fort and moves outside to splash and play in red rubber boots. My son had red rubber boots when he was 3 and 4 that he lived in. This book reminds me of him.

The Puddle explains that while children love rain puddles there are animals that love the rain too. What fun it is to see who comes by to enjoy the puddle.

Raindrop, Plop! counts the joyous things that children find in the rain. What fun it is to count in the rain! This books has wonderful illustrations. The cover just makes you want to jump into reading it.

Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll is a science focused book that shares what makes all of the elements of a storm from rain to thunder to lightning. I used to use this in my weather unit when I taught second grade.

You will find more collections of books for kids on a wide variety of themes on my Collections of Book by Theme page on Pinterest. You will find a number right here on JDaniel4’s Mom too. There are Awesome Books for Kids about Fables, Spotlight on Remarkable Mystery Books for Kids and Jokes for Kids Books That Will Make Them Laugh.

Do you have a rainy day book that you love that isn’t on this list? Tell me about it via a comment below.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

A Rainy Day: Science Experiments

July 12, 2013 By Deirdre

A rainy day is perfect for science experiments and reading books about rain. We recently read several rainy day books and several rainy day. (We have had over ten days of rain.) You will find some of the other books with a rain theme that we read shared on the Who Likes the Rain? (Exploring the Elements)

We like rain at my house. JDaniel loves to jump in puddles and dance in the rain. I love to dance right along with him. We have had more than share lately as I mentioned. With all that rain came tons of questions about rain.

Rainy Day Questions like:

What do raindrops look like before they land on me?
Where do puddles come from?
Why do plants need rain?
How do snails get their shells?
Why does the air smell different after the rain?

These questions and several more are answered in this wonderful flap book for early readers. I learned a lot from reading this book with JDaniel and he understands a lot more about rain. We are going to have to look for other books in this series. The text is easy to understand and the questions are ones that my son loved knowing the answers to.

Science Experiments We Did to Explore This Book

Art-Related Science Experiment

A Rainy Day: Science Experiments -Who Likes Rain?

JDaniel and I decorated a construction paper umbrella with several different kinds of drawing tools. Chalk, magic markers, crayons, and a bingo marker were each used to decorate an umbrella.

The umbrellas were set in a broiler pan and then placed outside on a bench on our deck to wait for the rain. At first, there was only a small shower. I headed out to take pictures of our results and then left them outside to dry.

Then it rained again. This time it was a downpour. The artwork drastically changed after the downpour. The designs on all the umbrellas smeared and in some cases ran off. I need to disclose that I didn’t leave them out in the downpour for long after only a couple of minutes I scrambled outside to bring them in.

It was interesting to see what effect each type of rain had on the artwork.

Baking Ingredient Science Experiment

This experiment was done during a rainy day using the two storms on that day as the art-related science experiment. Several different baking ingredients from our pantry were placed into a silicone muffin tin.

We placed them on the same bench on the deck as the art project to save us from running all over the deck.

After the short shower, most of the ingredients looked a little damp and the colored sugar had started to run. The heavy rain caused a physical change to most of the ingredients. The Italian seasoning got puffed up a bit. The salt had absorbed the water. The cinnamon changed colors. The flour had craters in it from the raindrops. The sugar had gotten a little syrupy. The salt was a little puffier and didn’t display much water. The color sugar had a puddle of green in its cup.

JDaniel tasted them each and said the sugar tasted sweeter as did the colored sugar. The salt was still salty. He wasn’t willing to try the Italian season or the flour.

This experiment was wonderful for talking about physical and chemical changes that can happen to materials and ingredients when they come in contact with water.

While we were ready for some days of sunshine, some science experiments on a rainy day were fun.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

20 Learning Benefits of 20 Questions

July 10, 2013 By Deirdre

Last summer while on a very long car drive with my sister in Georgia to see my sister in New York, our kids got antsy. They didn’t want to look at books. They didn’t want to play on their iPads or watch movies on them. My sister was driving and I knew our sons would soon be driving her crazy. “Why don’t we play 20 questions?” I announced. I didn’t realize at the time that there would be over 20 learning benefits to playing 20 questions.The boys hadn’t played 20 questions before so, I quickly went over the rules.The rules we used are the following:

One person picks an animal (You can have the item selected be anything, but we narrowed it down to animals.)
They have to stick to that animal and not change it even if the others get close to the answer.
You have to ask only questions that can be answered “yes” or “no”.
You can only answer “yes” or “no”.
You can give hints if everyone is asking questions that will lead them away from the right answer if you are feeling gracious.

Today we still play 20 Questions!

For some reason JDaniel recently remembered playing 20 Questions and he now wants to play it all the time. We don’t even need to be in the car to play it. He wants to play it during dinner, after reading books, and pulling weeds in the yard.

He had gotten really good at asking questions when I am the one who had selected animal. The questions show that he has learned a lot of asking questions and tons about other learning concepts.

Here are the 20 learning benefits to 20 Questions that I have come up with:

Communication Skills

Clearly ask specific questions

Examples:

Does it have nose? is okay, but doesn’t help you figure out the animal.
Does it have a long tunnel like nose? is way more specific.

Ask questions that narrow and define
Example:

Is it found only in Australia?

Ask for clarification to answers
Example:

If you think it is a bee, but aren’t sure, you could ask it makes honey.

Form questions that can be answered yes and no –This is really hard for some children. They want details. Keeping the answers to “yes” or “no” questions can be challenging.

Science

Awareness of time periods in history (prehistoric, Biblical, etc…)<
Examples:

Was it alive with the dinosaurs?
Is it alive today?

Knowledge of Science grouping like animal groups could be mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile, or bird.
Example:

Is it in the mammal family?

Knowledge of body coverings
Examples:

Does it have scales?
Does it shed its covering?

Knowledge of ways animals move<
Examples:

Does it travel only on land?
Could it fly if it wanted to?

Knowledge of what animals eat
Examples:

Is it a herbivore?
Does it eat meat?

Knowledge of senses (sounds, unique features to see, textures to touch)
Examples:

Can it scare other animals away with its noise?
Does it carry its home?

Geography

Knowledge of the names of the continents and oceans
Example:

Does it live in North America?

Knowledge of the different type of terrains in the world

Example:

Could it survive in the desert?
Does it live surrounded by trees?

Knowledge of climates and temperatures around the world
Example:

Can it handle freezing temperatures?
Does it live in the rain forest?

Math

Sense of number (feet, eyes, etc…)
Example:

Does it have two feet?
Does it have many eyes?

Knowledge of length actual and estimated
Example:

Is it as tall as a lamp post?

Knowledge of weight actual and estimated
Example:

Does it weigh less than my shoe?
Does it weigh as much a my car?

Knowledge of shape (oval, square, circle, etc..)
Example:

Does it have an oval head?
Does it have triangular ears?

Basic Concepts

Awareness of color

Example:

Is it mostly brown?
Is it black and white?

Language

Vocabulary Development-Using and understanding words like omnivore, prehistoric, and triangular add to children’s vocabulary.
Synonyms– The person could ask “Is it large?” The person who know the answer could respond “Yes, it is humungous?”

Kids Meals – Summer Sunshine Bento

July 8, 2013 By Deirdre

We have had glimpses of summer sunshine here in South Carolina. Most morning have been warm and sunny. The afternoons have been filled with summer storms that dump buckets of rain and then pass on. Sometimes there are more than one of these storms that pass through in a day. While JDaniel loves to get outside and play in the rain, it is the sunshine he longs to see. I decided to give a bento lunch to my kid with a summer sunshine theme.

The bento box is filled with fresh spinach leaves with bright yellow flower shaped silicone cups. The contrast of the yellow cups on the green leaves radiated summertime to me. JDaniel loved that the cups contained foods that he loves along with fresh spinach. He really enjoys fresh spinach.

What do the cups hold?

The main compartment has buttery round crackers and American cheese cut into rounds. I left it up to JDaniel to decide if these would be used to make cheese cracker sandwiches with spinach or be eaten on their own.

The upper compartments contain red grapes. They have been super sweet this summer. Biting into them has been liking biting into sunshine. The compartment on the right is filled with Vidalia onion salad dressing. JDaniel ended up dipping his crackers, some spinach a couple of his grapes into it.

We are crossing our fingers and sending prayers for a few completely dry days in a row. Oh! We are hoping that they not only come, but they come without scorching temperatures. It can get really hot here in the summer. Until then I think I will be making more kids meals and bento lunches that display summer sunshine. My kid sure does enjoy them.

What kids meals to your children ask for? How do you serve them?