Math Munchies: Fruit Loop Number Line

We love edible math around here...I mean, who doesn't, right? So I gave my just-turned-3-year-old a bowl of fruity-O's and some plastic lacing cord, the length of a necklace, and invited her to make a necklace. After finding lots of reasons to eat them before stringing them (this one's broken, I'll have to eat it; these two are stuck together - I'll have to eat them) she got to it and strung about 25 cereals. I tied a knot at the open end and showed her how to slide the loops down to the end as she counted. She let me do about two of them and then told me to "Stop, Mommy! It's my turn!"

It was fun to make, fun to use, and fun to eat. When she tired of counting (she counted the whole strand 4 or 5 times by herself) I tied it around her neck and she set to work nibbling her necklace!

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Happy November! I'm sharing my super-secret recipe for Pumpkin Pie Playdough to celebrate (okay, it's probably not that secret, but it was new to me and has gotten rave reviews everywhere I share it).

Start with this basic playdough recipe, but add a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger or use several teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Put orange food coloring in the water before stirring it into your dry ingredients.

Mmmmmmmmm! Everytime the kids play with playdough, the house smells like pumpkin pie!

Folk Tale Fun for Halloween

Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, Woodcutter, and Grandmother

The kids loved that we dressed up with them. They were fascinated by the way my powdered hair and drawn-on wrinkle lines made me look really old!

We had everything we needed for our costumes except the red cape and hood. I used the leftover gray fur from KID 1's Max costume (Where the Wild Things Are) to make ears and stapled them to his hat.

The cape and hood reverse to a green, scaly dragon...why just make a boring red cape and hood, right? ;)

Hope you had a fun Halloween (or Fall Fest) with your kiddos!