Summer Smoothies-on-the-Go

Who doesn’t love a good, cool, fruit smoothie?! We love them around here. I amazed my kids last summer by freezing them in a cup, then handing them a spoon and letting them have at it.

They thought I was the BEST. MOM. EVER. Seriously. I’ll take it!

We make smoothies almost every day. My kids favorite job is helping add frozen fruit, ice cubes, or yogurt to the blender. Then they run away when I turn it on (TOO LOUD!) I’ll post some of our favorite combinations below, but when I saw this idea on Heidi’s Recipes … Smoothies-on-the-Go! … I knew it would become a new summer favorite around here.

Photo from Heidi’s Recipes

The GREAT idea?! Just add a lid. Freeze your smoothies in a plastic freezer jar (I had no idea! A freezer-safe cup with a secure lid … see them on Amazon here).

I’ve always frozen ours in a cup, so we’re kind of limited to eating them around the house and in the backyard. We could throw these in our backpack or picnic bag and have smoothies at the beach, on a hike, at the lake, on a bike ride, at the park. Heidi says that after a few hours, they’re soft and ready to eat with a spoon, a straw or sipped straight from the container. What a perfectly cool and healthy snack when you’re on-the-go!

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Our Favorite Smoothie Combos

2 cups vanilla yogurt 1/2 can 100% orange juice concentrate 1 cup frozen banana chunks or strawberries 1 tsp. vanilla extract 6-7 ice cubes 2 cups milk

2 cups vanilla yogurt 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 2 envelopes hot cocoa mix or 2 spoonfuls of dry chocolate pudding mix 2 cups milk 6-7 ice cubes 1 cup frozen banana chunks

Tips

• I always peel and cut our browned bananas into chunks, throw them in a ziploc baggie and then into the freezer. Makes the smoothie thicker and creamier.
• Add a handful of fresh spinach leaves to any smoothie. Yes, it turns it a funny green color (my boys love it) but you can’t even taste the spinach and it’s extra healthy!
• Let the blender run for 30-60 seconds so there aren’t any chunkies and it’s nice and smooth and creamy.

Straw Splatter Painting

Blowing paint through straws. Summertime painting can’t get much more fun!

1. Open 3-4 paint jars. I like these Crayola Washable Paints I found at Target. You can also get them here. We were aiming for 4th of July pictures, so we used red, blue and yellow.
2. Put one straw in each paint jar.
3. Spread newspaper or a large piece of butcher paper over your workspace. We did this outside on the washable plastic kids table and still covered it with paper. Okay, it goes everywhere, but that’s what washable paints are for … right?!
4. Use paint shirts! Or on a nice, warm day my 2-year-old went for the shirtless technique.
5. Dip one end of the straw in the paint (we did go over the “don’t suck in” rule)
6. BLOW!

P.S. Don’t stand directly in front of your kids trying to take a cute picture while they are blowing, you will get paint-splattered

I let these dry, then we cut star shapes out of them to use for 4th of July decorations. I love how they turned out!!

Linking to: Summertime Fun Party

Horseshoes

• Play a game of Horseshoes! … I taught my 6-year-old how to play horseshoes this afternoon and he loved it. I have to admit my 3-year-old didn’t care much for the rules, he just liked throwing the horseshoes and running to grab them. Our rules are simple but I don’t know if they’re even close to the real rules  

 

1. If you ring the horseshoe around the stake (left picture), you get 2 points.
2. If it lands within a horseshoe-width of the stake (right picture) you get 1 point.
3. First person to 11 points wins! Adding up the points was actually great math practice too.

NOTE: I found this horseshoe set in the Dollar Spot at Target ($2.50). The stakes that came with it fell apart after the first use, so we pounded in some metal stakes. Much better.

Watermelon Waffles & a Game

Okay, these taste just as delicious as they look. My kids love helping me in the kitchen and they had a ball helping me sprinkle chocolate chip seeds onto their waffles.

• Watermelon Waffles
  1. Kelli from Random Thoughts of a Supermom is seriously a supermom. What a fun breakfast or snack at any time during the summer or W week.
  2. Click here to get her simple directions (with chocolate chip seeds!) for watermelon waffles.
• Watermelon Slice Dice Game
  1. Let the kids paint a paper plate to resemble a watermelon. Red in the middle and green around the rim. Let dry.
  2. Draw lines and let the kids slice (cut with scissors) their watermelon into 6 big slices.
  3. Glue 1-6 black seeds (black pom-poms, black paper dots from a hole punch or anything else you can think of) on each slice. I’m sure you get the idea … one slice has 1 seed, next slice has 2 seeds, next has 3 seeds … up to 6.
  4. Playing the game … take turns rolling a die. If you roll a three (help count the dots) remove the slice with 3 seeds from your watermelon. You can even pretend to eat it. Keep playing until all of the slices have been eaten!

Books

Summer is a great time to keep reading books with your kids! Between playing outside all day long, friends, vacations, popsicles and picnics, I’ve noticed books are a great way to wind down, take a break and relax. Here are some of the things we do to keep reading all summer long:

• Summer Reading Programs
  1. Sign up at your local library! Check online or ask a librarian how to get started. We have loved these. The kids read books, keep track of them and get a stamp or a sticker or even a free book!
  2. Borders and Barnes & Noble each have great summer reading programs. Click on their link to print out their reading logs, take the finished log to the store and they give the kids a free book. I love it! We have ours up on the fridge ready to go.

• Going on vacation?
  1. We always bring books on CD to listen to in the car. The kids love it. My kids are younger so some of their favorites have been the Disney Tinkerbell stories, tall tales, Magic Tree House, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Charlotte’s Web. Our library has a wall full of books on CD. They keep me awake while we drive too
  2. Keep a bucket of books in the car and switch them out on trips. I found this metal bucket years ago at Target (I’d recommend something pretty sturdy and easy to clean out, they do get icky). I like to stick hardcover books, board books, activity-type books, talking/sound books … and a travel magnadoodle has magnets on the back and sticks right on the front of the bucket.

• Shelves!  Last, if you’re feeling ambitious, make a new home for your books. I made these pallet shelves from ana-white.com. They are seriously so easy to make and free! A few cuts, a few nails and you have new shelves that showcase lots of books your kids can reach.

Add a comfy chair, a couple of pillows and a light and you have a nice, cozy reading spot to wind down and relax with a good summer book.

Strawberries!

Since summer is just around the corner and official preschool at our house ended last week with letter Z, I decided to start posting summer and summer holiday projects and preschool-type activities!

To start, I love this idea from Laura at Come Together Kids …

Red, White, and Blue Strawberries.

How simple. How pretty. And how delicious! Perfect for the kids. Strawberries should be ready for u-pick around June 15th here (I called this morning hoping it would be earlier) and these will definitely be on the menu!

Red, White and Blue Strawberries @ Come Together Kids

We love going to U-PICK farms all through the summer and fall for berries, apples, and pumpkins. I use this site www.pickyourown.org to find great local u-pick farms. And I use it just as much to learn how to freeze and store what we do pick. Start here to select your state.

Backyard Photo Scavenger Hunt

The boys were bored in the backyard, so I made a quick scavenger hunt list and handed my 6-year-old the camera. He and my 3-year-old took turns finding the things on the list and they ran around taking pictures. When they were done they showed me their pictures and we checked their list. They loved it and I love the pictures they took.

                                

You could do a photo scavenger hunt any time of the year. Inside the house on a cold, rainy day, outside at the park or on a walk!