Ham and Broccoli Swirls - Kid Style

I love cooking with the kids when I can find recipes with tasks that are safe and manageable for them. Sometimes recipes call for too much mixing over the stove or lots of chopping with sharp knives. And we all know how that can turn out when youngsters are involved. I prefer to keep all their digits and allow them to remain free of 3rd degree burns so I limit their activity to prep work they can do at the kitchen table.

I found an old cookbook the other day with some fun appetizer recipes that gave the kids the chance to do more than just one step so I let my son choose one to try. He chose the Ham and Broccoli Swirl. You can find the recipe here.

The recipe as-is is do-able, but the slicing step was difficult to accomplish. They had no trouble rolling out the pastry sheet and spreading the cream cheese, and adding the toppings was fun and manageable. And rolling it into the "jelly roll" was only moderately challenging. The hard part was slicing these guys. I'm an average cook and while I am pretty agile with a knife, slicing that bad boy into 32 pieces just wasn't going to happen. When you press down with the knife the whole thing smushes and the contents completely fall out of the swirl. The pictures in the book look nice, but ours just weren't destined to turn out that way. Our second biggest challenge was that little sister wouldn't stop eating the partially frozen broccoli.

Instead, we sliced thicker pieces (we got 9 out of it) and ate it as an accompaniment to baked potato soup in lieu of bread. Dip them in the soup and they are pretty fantastic. Also, my kids didn't like the taste of the cream cheese so much so we've made a few alterations to the recipe:

Roll the pastry sheet as described then sprinkle with shredded cheddar or swiss. Add the broccoli and ham. Roll as directed. Slice into 10 pieces and place evenly spaced on baking sheet, or leave whole and bake until browned and cheese is melted, let cool, then slice into 10 pieces.

Enjoy!

Toothpick Sea Urchins

We were reading The Magic School Bus On The Ocean Floor and noticed a cute sea urchin in the illustrations on one of the pages. The kids in Ms. Frizzle's class all had their ocean floor projects displayed and Gregory made sea urchins out of clay and toothpicks. What a great idea!

After we finished reading, I got out the Play-Doh and a stash of toothpicks and the kids went sea urchin silly. It's amazing how much fun kids can have rolling balls of dough and sticking them with toothpicks. Before I knew it, the was an urchin army on my kitchen table.

Shortly after they finished making their sea urchins they ended up watching the Octonauts and the Urchin Invasion, so they got a fun mini-lesson. Great combo if you're looking for some at-home afternoon fun.

Sick Day Science - Volcanoes!

My son wasn't feeling well so he stayed home from school. An outing was out of the question but we made the most of our day and studied volcanoes. He was given a Smithsonian Giant Volcano Kit for his birthday a few days ago, so we decided to build it and add other informative activities to round out the learning experience.

I kicked things off by letting the kids watch the Magic School Bus Blows Its Top on Netflix. We've also read the book, but didn't have it on hand today. When the show was over, we learned some volcano vocabulary from a worksheet I printed off of education.com. I love this site for educational materials and the coloring worksheet allowed me to describe the parts of the volcano and some of the things associated with it while providing a visual reference for the kids.

 

Finally we rolled up our sleeves and built the volcano. The entire process is easy, but you will have to take two breaks - one while the plaster strips dry and one while the paint dries.Wrapping the string around the base and cone was definitely an adult job (or more coordinated older child), but most of the other steps were kid-friendly. We dipped the strips and plastered the volcano and waited patiently for it to dry.

 

 While we were waiting, I remembered the new book we have, Where On Earth? It has amazing maps and two of the pages talked about volcanoes - one talking about the relationship between mountains and volcanoes, and the other showing all the active and inactive volcanoes on the planet. We read about some of the major eruptions and learned about the Ring Of Fire.

 

Next, the kids painted the volcano. Green and brown paint and a small sponge is provided with the kit, but younger kids like mine haven't mastered the art of applying sparingly. The paint pots emptied quickly so I gave them some of our own green and brown paint and provided paint brushes and extra sponges.

 

 

When the paint was dry, we were ready to watch the eruption. My husband suggested the bathtub and that worked out nicely. The instructions give you the measurements of baking powder and vinegar, but our eruption was over pretty quickly. I think it would have put on a better show had I poured the vinegar in more slowly. We added some baking soda and vinegar to see if there was a different or better reaction but it was pretty similar to the first eruption.

Even though the eruption was small, it was a great day learning about volcanoes, how they are formed, and what happens when they erupt. Also, the volcano dried nicely so we'll be able to experiment again and see if we can create a larger eruption.You can find similar kits at NSI International. For more information about volcanoes visit http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/.

Solar System Fact Sheet and Activities

My son loves learning about everything. One of his favorite subjects is Space and our Solar System. Since we are planning on transitioning to homeschooling this fall, I've started playing with making my own fact sheets and mini-workbooks for him to use.

After reading the fact sheet, he can move on to answering the questions in the activity book, filling out the creative writing prompt, and doing the mini-activity. If your little one loves space, feel free to download the fact sheet and workbook below.

Happy learning!

 



Fact Sheet



 



Workbook



 

 

A Weekend Hike at Oak Canyon Nature Center

We decided to spend our Sunday morning exploring the great outdoors (one of my favorite things to do). Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim is the perfect spot for hiking with the kids. We visited quite a while ago, but with two little ones and a double jogger to push, our options were limited to the Main Road, which offers a wide packed dirt trail to follow alongside the meandering stream heading uphill, so you still get a bit of a workout and a super enjoyable experience.

This time, we were free to travel several of the other trails the area has to offer as both of our little ones are now sure-footed and eager to explore. We didn't hold back. We walked the Tranquility Trail up to the scenic outlook, caught the Main Road to Bluebird Lane, hitched back on the Bluebird Loop, connected to the Quail Trail and Roadrunner Ridge, passed through the Heritage Trail to see the Butterfly Garden, and hooked up with the Stream Trail to visit the Oldest Oak Tree. We also stopped by the Caves Formed By Erosion and the small Old Time Mining Display.

Most of the trails are shady and pleasant, as you stroll through oak woodlands and enjoy the peaceful trickle of the nearby stream. Bluebird Lane has some shade, but Roadrunner Ridge runs along the top of the canyon and gets full sun. Also, Roadrunner Ridge has steep drop-offs alongside the trail so keep your kids close and hold hands if they're little.

The nice thing about this hike was my son's involvement. Generally, he's not much of a hiker, unless he has something to keep him interested. He loves maps, and the trail guide available at the Nature Center has an image of the trails with a legend and identifiable landmarks. He loved navigating the trails, leading us from one landmark to the next, and helping determine which way to go at the trail intersections. I need to get this boy a compass.

In the end, we were able to hike two and a half miles of trails with a 5-year old and a 2-year old. I had to carry my little girl for a bit, but she's such a trooper and loves to run, so she had plenty of opportunities for that here.

The Interpretive Center is a great place to stop in before and after your hike. There's a small library with children's books, several terrariums with Western Toads, snakes, and bearded dragons, and a few things to explore like animal pelts, horns, and a small box with a mini dinosaur skeleton to excavate. Don't miss the viewing window along the far wall - it looks out at an area that has a small stream, bird feeders, and squirrel feeders. We saw tons of squirrels and birds stopping for water and a bite to eat, and there are binoculars available for getting a closer look.

And if you're an information-nut like me, the area near the front desk has lots of reference books to look at.

If you haven't been, I definitely recommend a trip to Oak Canyon Nature Center. If you have been, you should probably go again. This place rocks.

Oh, restrooms - the brick building near the parking lot is fine, but if you go when the Interpretive Center is open there are a few there, too and they are a bit more comfortable.

For information call 714-998-8380

Hands-On at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Last weekend we headed to 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro for Day At the Docks. We took the kids on board some of the local fishing boats to see what it's like, and since their Dad spends a lot of time on fishing boats, they were excited to see where he spends his time when he's away from home. Their favorite parts: the free hot dogs and candy, and the bunks on the overnight charter boats.

Once we finished up with the boat tours, we had lunch and made our way to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. This was our second visit, but it's been quite a while since our first. This is hands down one of my favorite aquariums, in fact, I enjoy my visits here even more than The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Here's why: The walls are covered with facts and information about the ocean and the animals that inhabit the waters just outside our door. There's a giant poster with a drawing of a kelp plant, and at the root of the kelp plant, they've glued the approximate amount of all the tiny organisms and animals that live down in the sand, under water, thriving in the roots of kelp. And case after case offers something new to explore - seashells, fossils, sand dollars. One of my favorite displays is the preserved footballfish. This guy is odd and eerie, but amazing. He is the largest of his kind and only the 10th to be caught, according to records.

Footballfish Photo Courtesy of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

The touch tank here is full of sea anemones and urchins and abalone and starfish and lots of other fun fish. But keep your hands out of the water on the backside - there are sharks in there! Once we were done at the touch tank, we met a group in the courtyard to hatch grunion. They distributed baby food jars of sand, seawater, and grunion eggs. We shook the jars as directed and sure enough right before our eyes, the tiny clear eggs popped into tadpole-like fish.

Throughout the aquarium you'll visit exhibits that focus on different areas of the ocean from kelp forests to sandy beaches to the open ocean. In the aquatic nursery you'll meet a baby octopus and tiny seahorses. The Exploration Center is a hands-on interactive area for kids to play with puzzles, costumes, coloring activities and more. Keep an eye out for the scavenger hunt list on the wall. And don't skip the library. They have a huge selection of books about all things aquatic and the children's section has coloring pages and tons of fun books to read.



Aquatic Nursery

 

 

Admission to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is free but they do ask for donations. When you visit, please kindly contribute to keep this amazing aquarium open.

Make a day of your visit and head out to the surrounding area for a nature walk. Pick up the Walk Cabrillo guide located throughout the aquarium and follow the map to explore the Coastal Native Plant Garden, cliffs full of fossils, the salt marsh at Salinas de San Pedro, and tidepools at Point Fermin State Marine Park. Don't forget the sunblock!

For information on educational youth programs visit the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium website at http://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/education.asp.

Experimental Home School Day

My son loves school. And his sister, who's almost 3, already wants to go to school like her big brother. But even though they are so fond of it, I'm leaning more and more towards the decision to home school.

We've been talking about it together as a family and we recently had the opportunity to take a day to experiment with the idea.We decided to go on a field trip. Our destination was Laguna Hills Community Center to check out the fossils and learn about the animals that have inhabited the area over the years and the changes that have occurred over time. The kids loved this spot and the Community Center provides informational material and an activity packet for the kids to add to the educational experience of the visit. To learn more about the Community Center and our visit, check out my previous post, Got Fossils?

We realized that we were close to Laguna Niguel Regional Park, so when we were done with our visit at the Community Center we headed there to play and explore. Our first stop was the playground near the main entrance, but the highlight here was exploring the stream that runs through the park. We sent leaves and sticks downstream and watched as the current pushed them along, then we wandered both upstream and down exploring the habitat and encountered lots of animals that live there. Tadpoles, fish, turtles, crayfish, geese, many other birds, and butterflies were some of the animal friends we met along the way.

 

After a snack and a few more minutes of playground time we headed to the lake. We walked along the trail that surrounds the lake and watched the ducks and squirrels. On our way back we found a small amphitheatre and we all took turns putting on a performance. I danced, the kids sang, and my husband did animal impressions.

Can you see the crayfish?

 When we finally made it home, we were to tired to do any writing activities, but over the course of our field trip we fit in physical education, science, history, and visual and performing arts. Not bad for our first try.

I'd love to know what kind of field trips other homeschooling families are going on. Please leave a comment with your favorite location for field trips so we can see the great locations you're all exploring.

Laguna Niguel Regional Park is located at 28241 La Paz Road, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677