Homemade Red Playdough for Valentine's Day

Homemade Red Playdough

Valentine's Day is this week and what a beautiful, simple and inexpensive way to celebrate with the children (and grown ups) in your life. This is our own favorite recipe that we have used for over 15 years. We hope you enjoy it. 

Supplies Needed:

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

4 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar (can get at grocery store)

2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

1 Cup Salt

Few Drops of Red or Pink Food Coloring

2 Cups Boiling Water

Put all ingredients into large bowl except for boiling water.  Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir it up with a large spoon.  Sprinkle your surface with flour and lift warm dough out of your bowl and knead until texture is right.  Play dough can be stored in an air tight container.

Martinmas Baking and a FREE E-Book Giveaway!!

Many people may not be familiar with the festival of Martinmas which is on November 11th.  In Waldorf families and schools, it is a celebrated festival filled with lanterns, songs, games and baking. And if you do not already know, Little Acorn Learning has just released a HUGE new e-book filled with ideas, tutorials and recipes on how to celebrate this festival along with Thanksgiving.

In Germany, the tradition of celebrating St. Martin's Day is a big deal and this yummy sweet bread, Weckmann, is a common treat to make.  The dough is usually shaped into little men with white pipes.  My girls and I did our best to make them true to form but could not think of a way to make the pipes. I'd love to hear what other people use to make them.  I was thinking maybe white chocolate chips?

The shape of our Weckmann reminded Brianna of Gingerbread Men and she went running around the house to find all of the books we have about them.  That led us into an afternoon of reading.  

While writing a new book can be very overwhelming at times, it really brings my family closer together.  I wish I could say we do a lot of baking together year round but the truth is that I often get too busy and other things get in the way.  When I have to test out recipes for my books, it helps us to stay grounded and do the things we love.  This was also the case when I provided childcare in my home.  It kept me focused and I was able to be a more hands-on parent.

In other exciting news, in order to save on our astronomical electric bill each month, we have installed a new woodstove.  We also had some stonework done on the wall behind it and I love it so much.  Today is the first day I have really been able to use the woodstove and the house is so warm and toasty even though it is a freezing autumn day outside.  PLUS my heat is OFF!

I'm curious how other families celebrate Martinmas around the world.  Leave a comment below on this post on how you hope to share this festival with your children and family.  I will pick a random winner by tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. EST to get a FREE copy of our Martinmas and Thanksgiving Festival E-Book!  

Best of luck!  

Changing with the Season

My favorite season is approaching and the weather in Connecticut has shifted to cool temperatures this past week and I love it.  The girls are back to school and I am working hard to create some sort of a rhythm in my work and home life.  I always find that this time of year is a time of preparation and organization.

I have made a commitment to get my home more organized and work on my writing career full time.  So for the past week, I've been sorting through files and books, creating an office space and allocating a certain amount of time each day to work.  It's difficult working from home as it demands a lot of discipline and I get easily distracted.

With autumn on it's way, I find a new love for the work I do with Little Acorn Learning.  I love photographing and writing about how children and families can celebrate the beautiful seasons together.  Living in New England is such a gift as we get four distinct seasons to enjoy.

In addition to the cool temperatures this week, my pumpkins have been ripening in the garden.  This is always really exciting and we are hoping to get one just a bit bigger for our carving pumpkin.  There are two or three more on the vines that I'm hoping get pretty big before Halloween.  We will see how they do.

Our garden has done pretty well this summer.  Considering that the girls and I traveled a lot, it was good.  I still hope to do better next year and get more yield.  But it's fun and I think it is really important to teach the girls where their food comes from.  When you grow it yourself, you don't waste because you realize how much time and effort went into it. 

As autumn approaches, I thought I would share some of our favorite children's books this time of year.  In both the 5 day and Enrichment guides at Little Acorn Learning, we offer tons of book recommendations for each and every week of the month.  Here are just a few that we love:

Telling stories and sharing poems of the season is a simple way to encourage literacy skills in the home for all ages.  I still read to my 10 year old!  

Here are a few sweet poems you can share in the upcoming weeks as taken from our September Enrichment Guide:

~~~~~

Squirrel, Squirrel running around,

Bury your nut away in the ground.

Bury it deep, bury it round.

Bury it nicely into the ground.  

~~~~~

Little leaves fall gently down
Red and yellow, orange and brown (flutter hands as leaves falling)
Whirling Whirling around and around (turn around)
Quietly without a sound (put finger to lips)
Falling softly to the ground (begin to fall slowly)
Down and down and down and down (lie on floor)

~~~~~

The Rice Fields

Warmed by the sun,

Wet with the rain,

Ripe grows the rice,

Life-giving grain.

Week follows week;

Now comes the day,

Gather the rice,

Store it away.

Lastly, we have a really fun Facebook Photo Contest going on for the month of September on the Little Acorn Learning Facebook Page... 

Our theme this month is *Children in the Kitchen* and our winners will get a FREE ebook of their choice for each photo that wins!  

Photo by Dawn Umemoto

If you have photos of your little ones helping you in the kitchen, here's how to enter:

- Send no more than 3 photos per family or school correlating to our theme to info@littleacornlearning.com

- Include your name and written permission for Little Acorn Learning to use your photo in future publications and/or marketing initiatives.  

- Once your photo is posted on our Facebook Page, ask family and friend to LIKE it by sharing the link.

- The photos with the most LIKES win a FREE ebook of their choice from Little Acorn Learning - we will end our contest on September 19th, 2014