Ants on a Log

Celery sticks, washed and dried
creamy peanut butter
raisins or chocolate chips

Spread peanut butter into center groove of celery sticks. Cut into 3-4 inch strips. Line up raisins or chocolate chips on peanut butter. Eat!

Dirt with Worms

No explanation needed! This dessert was an instant favorite with my boys and later with Amy.

12 oz Gummi Worms
1 package Oreo cookies, crushed
1 lg package instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
4 ozs cool whip

Beat milk and pudding together. Fold in cool whip. Add 2/3 cups worms into mixture. Layer pudding mixture on bottom of a prepared pan (or a clean sand bucket is a lot of fun). Top with a layer of crushed oreos. Repeat layers as many times as you can ending with a layer of crushed oreos on top. Decorate top with remaining gummi worms.
You can also layer the pudding and oreos in plastic cups for individual servings.
For Dirt with Worms Pie, fill an oreo pie shell with pudding. Sprinkle top with crushed oreos and decorate with gummi worms.

Aldrich Memorial Nurseryy School Playdough

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 cup water
food coloring

Mix dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add liquid ingredients including food color. Cook over low heat, stirring until it forms a ball. Knead ball a little. Cool before using. This playdough will last you "forever". If it get crumbly, work in a few drops water. If it gets too sticky, knead in a little flour.
Store playdough in tightly covered containers (ziplock bags work well if tightly zipped). Some values of playdough for children include sensory experiences, self-expression, emotional outlet, small muscle development, creativity, imagination, vocabulary development, and socialization.

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

We made this ice cream one year for our Primary Pioneer Day activity. The kids had a great time and most of them had the patience to keep turning/shaking the bag until it was the consistency of soft ice cream.

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
rock salt (not ice melt)
crushed ice cubes
quart size ziplock freezer bag
gallon size ziplock freezer bag

Pour whole milk and cream into large bowl and stir. Sprinkle sugar into mixture. Add salt and vanilla and stir. Pour into quart size ziplock bag leaving at least 2 inches between batter and zipper. Seal bag tightly. Place bag inside gallon size ziplock bag. Add about 1 1/2 cups crushed ice to gallon bag. Add a couple of handfuls of rock salt. Add more ice and salt as needed to fill bag. Zip tightly closed. Give the bag to the kids and have them knead the bag in their hands or toss back and forth for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy the ice cream immediately.
Instead of ziplock bags, you can use a small can inside a larger can as long as both have tight fitting lids. Roll the cans back and forth on the sidewalk or porch.

Homemade Bubbles

What little kids don't love bubbles?! They were always a hit with the nursery kids at church and our kids loved them at home from the time they were old enough to notice bubbles. When Evan was barely a year old, we found a giant bubble maker and I'm not sure who had more fun with it...Evan or Dad and Mom! The great thing about bubbles is kids don't tend to outgrow them. We visited the Exploratorium one day in San Francisco and the kids (then teenagers) could have spent hours just at the bubble exhibit.

1/4 cup Dawn Dish soap
2 cups water
1 tsp glycerin (available at any pharmacy)

Mix all ingredients together. Use a variety of blowers...plastic strawberry baskets, plastic lids with holes cut in the middle, mettle hangers bent and shaped as desired, your own hands.