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Lunch Idea- Fall Bento Lunch
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growing & learning with him
By Deirdre
By Deirdre
I don’t think I mentioned that I have started working with the Kiwi Crate to contribute to their Recipes for Fun database. Here are some of the activities I have contributed to them:
A fall harvest-themed bento with a harvest moon and fruitful tree. I walk you through how to create this meal on the Recipes for the Fun site.
Roll and Cover Corn Mat
Corn and Pumpkin Weaving
Driving on a Corn Stalk
By Deirdre
The top left section of his Bento box contains grape tomatoes. I am not sure that there are apple tomatoes so I went with a tomato that would fit in the box and was red. I thought they would look pretty in the box. I took an apple shaped piece of apple and placed it in with the tomatoes to make that section officially contain an apple product. When you are creating a themed lunch for a four year old, they like it to be offical.
By Deirdre
Just a few feet away from us was a family building sandcastles with many buckets. I went over and asked them if we could borrow one for a few minutes. Thankfully they said that we could. It made filling the tide pool up much easier.
The water was very shallow that morning so I had to take the bucket out a distance to fill it.
When the sand and shells had been added, JDaniel announced that the tide pool needed a creature in it. Guess what creature it needed? Apparently this tide pool is the home of a human being in a bug repellent hat and a green wrist band.
If you like this tide pool activity, here are some more water activities for kids.
Ice Cream Game with Ice and Shaving Cream
How to Create an Exciting Water Discovery Table
15 Awesome Preschool Activities with Water
By Deirdre
He was so excited when I finally set out his suitcase and he could throw in his bathing suit and sun shirt. As you can tell from the picture above, we packed a few more things including his bug repellent hat. We didn’t have water shoes for JDaniel so, we picked some up at the store at the beach.
Our first day of the beach was sunny and warm. We had to apply sunblock multiple times on Monday. All that was on the agenda was collecting shells, digging in the sand and playing in the water. We spent most of the day on the beach. Lunch in our room was really our only foray into the hotel. I really don’t like sand in our food.
After a perfect day, we had a not so great day. We knew storms were coming, but had no idea that the lifeguard would post signs for no swimming and that we would get to see palmetto trees sway wildly in the wind.
JDaniel wanted to see what it was like on the beach after breakfast. He literally had to hold the hood of his windbreaker on to keep it in place.
Tuesday turned out to be a great day to be in the water park area and to visit the aquarium. The morning was spent in the waterpark area until thunder and a loud crack sent all the parents scrambling for their children and the exit into the hotel. The sides of the water park area are open to the elements and the crack we heard was really loud.
The aquarium was fully enclosed and rain free. We wove around each of the exhibit areas a few times to fully talk in all that was there. JDaniel loved watching the sharks swim over our heads as we walked through a tunnel that was part of an exhibit.
JDaniel really doesn’t care if a shell is whole or not. He really loves the different colors and textures they have. He would run ahead and shout, “This is a glorious one!” When I raced to see what it looked like it would be a few ridges of a broken orange shell with rough edges.
What a joy it was to getaway from our everyday life and just be together as a family! JDaniel is already asking to count down the days until we go back next year.
This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.
By Deirdre
I bought JDaniel a fuzzy gray sweatsuit and a gray turtleneck as the base of his costume. When he tried it on, the pants looked a little short. I will have to exchange them at Walmart for the next size up. I also found a really cute mask on Amazon that has a squeaker in the nose.
The base of the costume isn’t homemade, but the rest of the costume will be. I need to make JDaniel a tail, some mice hands, and a trick or treat bag.
By Deirdre
JDaniel took charge of the basket they gave us for gathering apples on the way down the hill toward the Jonathan Gold. An apple guide in the store had said that the trees in that section would be just the right size for JDaniel to pick apples from all by himself.
They were right. JDaniel was able to gather a basket full of apples without even having to stand on his tiptoes. The Jonathan Gold trees were loaded down with beautiful apples.
Then we headed over to check out the goats who didn’t seem to hold JDaniel’s attention and the bamboo forest which did.
JDaniel wanted to know if there were pandas in the forest. I told him that there are not enough pandas in the from there to be some everywhere there is bamboo in the world.
The best part of the bamboo forest was this little bridge. It looked like we were entering a foreign land while crossing it.
If you have an outdoor post with an apple or apple orchards theme you would like to link up, please take a moment and add the badge below to it.
By Deirdre
I guess I have been making muffin tin and bento lunches for too long. Food creations just pop into my mind as I walk down grocery aisles.
The apple tree of pasta meal came together so well. All I needed to add to the box of pasta was a few tube sized noodles, a little Parmesan cheese and butter. JDaniel loves buttered cheese noodles. This pasta meal quickly disappeared. I will need to think of more pasta meals. My son really loves them.
If you happen to run into while I am shopping and I am staring at a package of something, I may be reading the ingredients or I may be imagining how it could be displayed in a food creation. It really could be either, but it probably is how it could fit into a meal.
If you like this pasta meal, you will find more food creations on my Food Creations board on Pinterest.
By Deirdre
A simple piece of string connected to a gyroscope and a croc that is one size too big for JDaniel are the next part of the energy process. In the demonstration I was given the gyroscope wasn’t moving. I was told it is filled with potential energy. Why kinetic wasn’t used I still don’t understand? It would have been fun to see the gyroscope moving.
Yes, JDaniel seems to understand what potential and kinetic energy is. He says he learned it from Ruff Ruffman on the show Fetch! on PBS.
Little pieces of paper taken out of the Bad Kitty alphabet game I made last week were spread all over the floor. I am not sure they are part of the alternative energy. They may just have been part of the creative process of spreading treasures all over the floor.
By Deirdre
JDaniel has loved the game Spot it! since he was given a sample pack of cards during our hunt for Where’s is Waldo’s in local businesses in July. The wonderful people at a game store named Boardwalk gave the pack to him.
We have taken the cards to restaurants and on the road to Nana’s house. Spot it ! reminds JDaniel of I Spy books as well as Where is Waldo?
The Spot it! Basic English version requires that the players match pictures and their corresponding words. JDaniel is not reading many words yet so, this game has been a challenge. I think it would be wonderful for early readers or people learning to speak English to play.
The Spot it! Number and Shapes version of the game was right up JDaniel’s alley. He knows all of the shapes and numbers in this game. To win this game we have to match the right colored shape or number to one on the stack in the center.