fun – Family STEAM Lab

Look for the….

Anyone else love a themed dinner? No, just me?! Well, I love doing fun themes for Lulu and P. Especially during a pandemic it’s fun to have something to look forward too. We are definitely a Disney house (my husband deals with it unless it’s Star Wars…then he’s all in) so we went with, “The Jungle Book” for a fun Disney theme.

We started our night listening to the soundtrack while making lion masks. Remember in a previous post when I said, “be kind to yourself”? This was one of those times. The masks were really cute but in my head the girls would be marching around during the movie with their masks on. They didn’t dry til the bedtime. Maybe do this earlier in the day or use markers!

Supplies, I used a set for each girl…no fighting!

While the girls were painting with the help of my reluctant hubby, I got to work on the food. Ahhhh glorious food! Here’s our menu:

Tropical Fruit Salad-I used mangoes, kiwi, banana and a squeeze of lime.

Baloo Blue Drinks- Blue Curaçao Syrup, V8 Smoothie (the one that mimics a pina colada) and a cherry. I blended the blue curaçao syrup with ice first then repeated the same process with the V8 smoothie. Pour the V8 in very slowly over the blue mixture and you’ll do just fine!

Snakes in the Grass Sandwiches- I used Hawaiian rolls, cheese, ham, and chicken. You can make these however your family likes really. Peanut butter and jelly, BLTs, grilled cheese…the possibilities are endless. I used pickles for the grass. Lulu loves pickles. I used a jarred red pepper slice for the tongue and olives for the eyes.

Tiger Tots- I mean, pretty obvious here but they are tater tots with ketchup. I know…I know….genius. HA!

Monkey Bread- I’ll post a recipe for my monkey bread in a separate post in the near future. It’s easier than you could ever dream.

The girls without fail get so excited for these planned family nights especially P. Lulu gets excited that I just lay out all the food. Girl likes to eat and I love her for it! The drinks were their favorite part and each of the girls sucked them down! I can’t imagine why. They both really liked the movie especially the music.

Am I a little extra about planning activities? Definitely! Is it worth it to me? Absolutely! It doesn’t need to be a big to-do. Do whatever fits best for your family but do give yourselves something to look forward to as a family! The memories will be something you will cherish for years to come. Enjoy!

The never ending cycle of finding an activity for a baby and a child…

When my first born was around 6 months old I remember our pediatrician telling us to do, “an activity” every day with her in a Tony Soprano type voice. God, I seriously love our girls’ pediatrician office. I mean they are awesome. Ok, back on track, what the heck do they mean by an activity?! I was still learning the ropes and now I felt the need to come up with all these “activities”. Like it wasn’t enough that I read to my baby and she watched me do dishes?! I think that moment truly started my need to plan for my child(ren).

The wheels began to turn and I would come up with great sensory activities that were so easy like putting Pom poms in a jar. I mean, it really is that easy!

The problem that has turned up this time around is now I have a 1 year old and a 6 year old. That’s like, wayyyyy different. Again, my type A personality began obsessing over these grand ideas when I realized that the 6 year old really likes the same stuff….getting messy and having fun.

So, how do you, the parent not cry during these activities while you children destroy everything you work so hard on every day to keep sort of clean?! 1) Don’t freak out if it doesn’t go as planned. 2) Be nice to yourself. 3) Be ok with children making a mess. To help with this I like to have a vinyl table cloth that I put down on the floor. It’s great for things like painting, water play, or moon sand. I also like to have some kind of container or tray to put the activity in.

For this sensory adventure, I used two plastic bins, warm water in the large container, cold ice water with ice cubes in the small container. I used food coloring to make two colors that when stacked would make a third (yellow + red = orange). The last part is just common kitchen items like spoons, measuring cups, and any other fun objects you think your kids would enjoy.

The girls had an awesome time. It took up a good 30 minutes of play. It started off very nice but I will say it turned in to a water park so I am very glad I had something down. Towels are a great idea too! Eventually, my older one wanted to add some of her favorite dolls which was just fine with me since it helped keep the activity going.

One last piece of advice…play with your kids too. Enjoy!

Tag: fun

Disney Dinner- The Jungle Book

You’re Hot Then You’re Cold