sparkle|Sparkles and Sprinkles

Good measure…

by sparkle | Feb 20, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

We made some measuring cup and spoon printables we were planning to post sometime, and the Gospel reading this Sunday made us think this would be a great week to give them to you!

Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

Luke 6:38

Click on the image to get our free measuring cup equivalents practice pages.

Click on the image to get our free Scripture writing practice pages for both cursive and printing practice.

We did some hands-on measuring equivalents this week too by pouring lentils from one measuring cup to another. It is a relatively low mess way to talk about how two quarters make a half, and two halves make a whole, etc. Our girls really enjoyed it and quickly brought out play kitchen cups and bowls to keep on playing with the lentils. And our sweet toddler made sure that a good measure was poured into our laps… and even onto the floor!

Hope this week you have time to reflect on God’s abundant gifts in your life!

Special Time Planner Craft

by sparkle | Feb 19, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

In our family, we love to do special one-on-one times where one child gets to spend time just with Mommy or just with Daddy.

When we first heard about special time, we were advised that we should put it on the calendar. This way not only the time itself would be a happy one, but also joy could be added to our children’s days in being able to look forward to the special times.

In the classic book, The Little Prince, as the fox and the little prince are becoming friends, the fox explains to the little prince that it makes him happy to know when the little prince will be able to come back to spend time with him: “…if you come at four in the afternoon, I’ll begin to be happy by three. The closer it gets to four, the happier I’ll feel.”

Since looking forward to special time adds to the joy in our lives, we have some ideas for you to plan special times.

Our printable monthly or yearly planner (subscribe for the pdf link) also includes some images to help you to brainstorm special time ideas. Of course you can draw your own pictures or just write words as well.

If the idea of “planning” stresses you out (like it does for me!), we also have a more free flowing special time “planner” with a printable and craft version. For the free flowing flower petal and wooded path “planners,” you just brainstorm ideas that you would like to do, but don’t necessarily add a date, time or order to them. The next time there is room in your schedule for special time, it will be easy to pick something to do from your planner.

To make your own special time planner craft, simply cut out something with a simple design (we made a flower for one and wooded path scene for another) and write the special things you are looking forward to on the cutout shapes. You can write “Mommy and me” or “Daddy and me” and the child’s name somewhere on the planner too. (These planners could also be used for children to plan special times with grandparents or aunts and uncles.) Then glue on the cutout shapes and put your planner craft in a place where it can remind you and your child of your upcoming special times. Making this craft can be a great special time in itself.

Please subscribe to get a link for these free pdf printables:

We would love to share our free printables with you to help you plan your special times! Please fill out the subscribe form to immediately receive a link for the free pdf downloads of all of our printable special time planners.

Note: when you print the flower petal page or the wooded path page, please select the “landscape” orientation.

Snowflake Crayon Resist Watercolor

by sparkle | Feb 13, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Last week I looked at the weather and saw there was snow in the forecast for the weekend, so I decided to get some non-washable crayons. Why? I was thinking it would be fun to make watercolor resist snow scenes this weekend, and we don’t keep the non-washable crayons needed for this project in our house. Years ago, a very wise friend of ours said that she only allows washable markers and crayons in her house. We thought this was a great idea, and we have done the same… it has probably saved us from a lot of impossible cleaning jobs over the years.

As our 3 year old is a budding mural artist and furniture decorator, I hid the crayons when I got them. When the snow was falling today, I thought it would be a perfect time to do this project… but I had forgotten where I hid the crayons. Fortunately, I eventually found the crayons, and we had a wonderful time drawing snowflakes and painting together.

With art projects, it’s great to have inspiration. Today, we were able to be inspired by looking at the falling snow. Another way we love to find inspiration is through looking at illustrations in children’s picture books.

We’ve been guided in letting books inspire us through Five in a Row (a lovely picture book-based curriculum for preschool and early elementary) and the Read Aloud Revival (they invite wonderful published authors to give really inspiring online classes to kids, and they also have amazing book lists). Whether you are a homeschooling family or not, I highly recommend Read Aloud Revival for their book ideas!

Here are a few of our favorite books with great snow illustrations:

Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker

Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas

Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day

Books by Lita Judge: Red Sled and Hoot and Peep: a song for snow

We hope during the next snow fall where you live, or the next time you are dreaming of snow, you can have fun making crayon resist watercolor snowflake scenes too! Let’s get started…

Gather your supplies:

Water color paper

Crayons (the non-washable kind)

Watercolors

Paint brushes (wide brushes are probably best for this project)

Cup of water (a cup that is not tippy is best)

Paper towels (to clean up spills and dry the paint brushes if needed)

Let’s create!

Draw snowflakes (and other pictures) with your crayons - be sure to press hard

When you are done with your crayon drawings, brush with watercolors and watch the snowflakes appear.

You can use the snow you see outside or a picture book to inspire your painting.

Sometimes little ones like to create a painting together with an adult or older sibling.

Happy Snow Day!

Note: The book links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Creamy Strawberry Energy Smoothie

by sparkle | Feb 12, 2022 | Breakfast Recipes, Snack and Dessert Recipes

We are writing this in February, when it might be too cold where you live to enjoy a smoothie, but we find we sometimes like to have smoothies even on cold days. They are super fast to make for a healthy breakfast, and they can be a great snack to give you the energy you need to make it through a busy afternoon.

Our cream strawberry energy smoothie is packed with vitamins and protein... and it's pink... so enjoy on Valentine's Day or any day of the year. We give guidelines for measurements in the recipe, but once you have made this a few times, you don't really need to measure, you can just add approximate quantities of ingredients to your liking. We often make our smoothies quite thick (not much almond milk) and eat them like ice cream in a bowl, but you could add more almond milk to be able to drink them from a cup or sip with a straw.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page for some fun strawberry-themed activities too!

Let's make a smoothie!

Gather your ingredients:

Frozen strawberries
Almond milk
Natural peanut butter
Plain Greek yogurt

Optional:

Chia seeds
Protein powder

Gather your kitchen supplies:

Blender or food processor
1/2 cup measurer
1 Tbsp
Large spoon
Cups or bowls to serve
Spoons or straws

Time to measure and blend!

Step 1

Pour 4 cups of frozen strawberries into the blender.

Step 2

Measure 1/2 cup of peanut butter.

Step 3

Use a spoon to help to pour the peanut butter into the blender.

Step 4

Measure 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt

Step 5

Spoon the Greek yogurt into the blender.

Step 6

Pour in the almond milk. Fill to the 1 cup line for a smoothie you can eat with a spoon, or up to the 1.5 or 2 cup line for a smoothie you can sip with a straw.

Step 7

Put the cover on tightly!

Step 8

Press "pulse" or "blend" on your blender. Turn off the blender when well blended.

Step 9

Pour the smoothie into cups or bowls. This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Optional

Add a Tablespoon or 2 of chia seeds per cup and stir. If everyone likes chia seeds, you could also add them to the smoothie before blending it.

Optional

Add a half a scoop of protein powder per cup and stir. If everyone likes protein powder, you could also add it to the smoothie before blending it.

Step 10

Enjoy!

Click on the image to download our elementary strawberry math fun pages.

Be sure to print it in the "landscape" orientation.

Click on the image to download our homemade strawberry smoothie coloring page.

Our 10 year old loves to make coloring pages for her siblings, and now she makes them to share with you too! Thank you for coming to sparklesandsprinkles.blog today!

Chocolate Pomegranate Hearts

by sparkle | Feb 6, 2022 | Snack and Dessert Recipes

A number of years ago when our second daughter was about 5 years old, she and her best friend would often give each other sweet little gifts, from drawings to hand sewn dolls. One day her friend gave her a beautiful pomegranate. As pomegranates were not something we usually had on hand, we were not sure of the best way to use it. As it was near Valentine’s Day, we eventually came up with the idea of making chocolate hearts and sprinkling them with pomegranate seeds. They were delicious and really fun to make!

POMEGRANATE FUN FACTS

Pomegranates grow on trees that are found in many parts of the world. The word pomegranate comes from medieval Latin pōmum “apple” and grānātum “seeded.” Pomegranates seeds are high in fiber and packed full of vitamins, like vitamin C. You can find out more in this Wikipedia article.

So the big question is, how do you get the seeds out of a pomegranate? This is definitely the part of the recipe that will require the help of an adult. Rather than explain it to our ourselves, we recommend you use this (or another) tutorial on how to open a pomegranate.

Let’s Make Chocolate Pomegranate Hearts!

Gather your ingredients:

Dark chocolate bar*
Pomegranate seeds

*We used 85% here, but if you want to make this refined sugar free, you can start with unsweetened baking chocolate and add a sweetener of your choice.

Gather your kitchen supplies:

a flat tray or baking sheet lined with parchment paper
2 bowls (the one for the chocolate needs to be microwave safe)
2 spoons
Also (not pictured) a knife and a cutting board to cut the pomegranate.

Time to melt and decorate!