Easter Blessings!

Happy Easter!

Are you thinking about all the Easter stuff this month? Here at TAF we are here to help you get ready for Easter! We will have a great toddler recipe and craft in celebration of this day. Our "Mom of Green" will be here to share her monthly Green Tip. This and so much more! So grab a plate of those Peanut Butter Eggs....(I love those things) and settle in for this issue of
The Toddler Times!

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April 2010: Issue #0013

Our Special "Happy Happy Easter" e-zine will feature:

• Are you coloring Easter eggs this year? We have some really FUN egg decorating tips for your Family.




• Toddlers Are Fun's "Mom of Green" Tina Keller will be here to share our monthly "Green Tip.




• We will have Two great Toddler Easter Crafts that the entire family will have so much FUN making... Bunny Basket Bag Craft and Easter "Chickie" Hands
• Easter just wouldn't be Easter without CHOCOLATE... ;0) Yum! Our recipe is going to be FUN!:)




• Our Earth Day Toddler Contest is Announced!

Amazing Easter Egg Coloring Tips

You can always do Easter egg decorating several times before Easter. I recommend that you only do one dozen at a time. (this way you know they will get eaten). My toddler loves eating hard boiled eggs. However if you do 4 or 5 dozens at one time, you are going to waste quite a few eggs. Some eggs are for decoration only and cannot be eaten. So having said that lets get started:)

Getting Started:

You must Prepare the eggs before decorating:

• You have to hard-boil the eggs first. Place your eggs in a large saucepan. Add cold water, and make sure they are completely covered with water. Turn the stove on medium-high heat. Simmer eggs for 9- 10 minutes.
• **Special Tip** Place 2 TBS. of vinegar in the water prior to boiling. Your eggs will not crack when you use this secret ingredient. It really works!!! After the eggs are done boiling run cold water in the pan with eggs and allow them to sit and completely cool before decorating.

Are you ready? Now that our eggs are boiled and cooled. Let's get ready for our Easter egg decorating......... These toddlers activities for Easter are FUN!

The Store bought kits and natural dye methods

• The kits... I personally love these and so does my kids. Now on the market you can purchase so many different types. They have Disney kits with the stickers and play sets. Not to mention, it's easier for me and will be easy for you. The kits have toddlers activities with them and just are Fantastic! Get some paper bowls or cups and put the tabs in with water and vinegar and there you go!! It frees up more time for the elaborate decorating!! The choice is yours.

**Special Tip** When dying your eggs use paper bowls or cups....Easy Clean UP. Moms we are all about that aren't we?**

• Make your own food color dye with food coloring.The recipe for this is actually on the back box of food coloring. If you are not sure than you can combine 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of food coloring with 2 tsp of vinegar. Add water to about the half way point.
• Gently place the eggs into the cups. The longer they are left in the dye, the darker the color shade. Experiment with different colors.
• When you remove the egg from the dye, pat dry with a paper towel and place in the empty egg carton.

** Special tip** Use the empty egg carton as the holder where the eggs can dry after you complete your Easter egg decorating.**

Decorations with the Dye

• Tye Dyed Eggs. Try wrapping your egg with different sizes of rubber bands and dipping in the first color of dye.
• Allow egg to dry and remove rubber bands to dip in another color. Gives eggs a neat effect!

** Special Tip** Color on the eggs with a crayon BEFORE placing in the dye. * Dots, lines or anything you wish to create. The wax will resist the dye and your child's artwork will show through. What would any toddlers activities be without crayons.

Natural Easter Egg Dye

1. Use the color chart BELOW to create all natural tones. Try using this natural method.
2. Combine the dye source with 1/2 Tablespoon of vinegar with some cold water in a saucepan. Add raw eggs (make sure there's enough water to cover the eggs) and bring to boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. The longer you simmer, the darker the color will be. Simmer at least 8 minutes so that the eggs can cook thoroughly.

Natural Color Chart:

• Brown - the outer layers of onions, tea or coffee
• Yellow - Turmeric or Saffron
• Red - Cranberries
• Purple - Beets, Purple Onion Skins
• Green - Spinach
• Blue - Blueberries

** Decorating Tips **

• Painted Eggs *

  This is self explanatory. However You CANNOT EAT eggs that have been painted!!!. They are really fun to make. You can use acrylic pants and craft paints. Make sure the kids have on their messy clothes for this one. These eggs would be perfect for a centerpiece on a table since you cannot eat them. Check out my Easter craft ideas for toddlers to make great place mats to match your painted egg centerpiece.

• Craft Supplies

  Use stickers, glitter and glue to make all kinds of creations with your egg. The ideas are endless. Let the kids decide how they want to decorate their eggs. Egg decorating makes fun toddlers activities. This is where "The Craft Bag" comes in handy.

• Make People Eggs *

  Use yarn, ribbon and fabric scraps to make people. Use markers for the face. Draw a tie on the egg for Dad. You can make shoes or anything out of construction paper and use craft glue to glue the items on the egg. You can make different animals. Bunnies if you wish. Use the googly eyes and make some really neat people eggs.. The ideas are endless. Toddlers really have fun with these. You can really make some cute eggs.

• Use Washable markers to decorate * I allow my kids to color on a few eggs. They really enjoy this. When everything else fails crayons and markers are a sure hit with any toddlers activities.

When you have a family craft bag you can really make any toddlers activities fun, especially Easter egg decorating. Who said that it just has to be traditional dye methods? Decorate means to decorate. Have fun with it and come up with some ideas of your own. I hope that you and your family have fun.

Have a Blessed Easter!!!

Easter Crafts

* Bunny Basket Bag Craft

Items You'll need:

• Brown Paper Lunch Bags
• Child Safe Scissors
• Pink Construction Paper
• Pink Pom-Poms (optional)
• Glue Sticks or School Glue
• Washable Markers
• Plastic Googly Eyes (optional)
• Easter Grass
• Whatever other items you wish to place in your basket when it is completed.

What You'll Do:

1. Keep the lunch bag folded.Draw two upside down V's for the ears and cut around the V's.
2. This should leave you with the bottom of the bag and ears still intact when you open the bag. Cut out pink ears, from the construction paper and glue them onto the ear portions of your bag.
3. Create your bunny face with markers, paper, pom-poms and/or plastic googly eyes.
4. Open up your bunny bag and fill with Easter grass.Staple the tops of the ears together, and fill with your special treats.
5. You can also fill with your bag with newly decorated eggs. Check out my egg decorating page for great tips on coloring Easter eggs. Easter crafts for toddlers are so much FUN to make.

Easter Chick Hands

What You”ll Need:

• Yellow and orange construction paper
• A Pencil
• Child Safe Scissors
• Glue Sticks
• Small Googly Eyes
• Paper Fasteners
• Your Child’s Hands

What To Do:

1. Trace your child's hands on the yellow paper; these will be the little chick’s wings.
2. Cut an oval or egg shape out of the yellow paper. The size should be about 1/3 larger than your child's hands to be in scale with the wings.
3. Fasten the wings onto the oval body with the paper fasteners.
4. Use the orange paper to make the beak and legs. The beak should be shaped as a diamond, bend it in the middle and only glue the bottom half to the oval portion of the chick.
5. Glue on the eyes.
6. For the feet, make long thin legs with 3 pointy toes. Glue the legs to the back side of the chick.

Our Toddler Recipe is..
"Chocolate Lollipops" :)

If you have lollipop molds, by all means use them, but we like to make these freehand. Kids can help with this fun recipe, and it's a great holiday gift.

Hands-On Time: 20 minutes Ready In: 40 minutes Yield: 14-25 lollipops

Ingredients

• 11- or 12-ounce bag of milk or dark chocolate chips
• Sprinkles
• Nonpareils

Directions

1. Cover 2 or 3 baking sheets with foil and arrange 6-inch lollipop sticks on them, a couple of inches apart.
2. Pour the chocolate chips into a ziplock bag, zip the bag nearly closed, leaving about 1 inch open, and microwave until chips are melted, checking the bag every 30 seconds or so. (Or melt the chips in a bowl for a minute, stir, then microwave for another 10 to 15 seconds and scrape into the bag.
3. Let chocolate cool for 30 seconds, then snip a quarter inch off of one corner of the bag and let your child squeeze a nice, thick circle of chocolate atop each stick (we do the outline first and then fill it in), rotating the sticks as you go to secure the chocolate to them. Decorate with colorful sprinkles while the lollipops are still melty, then chill until firm, 15 to 20 minutes.

Our Monthly "Green" Tip

Green Tip:

A few tips to Green up your Easter!

The Easter Basket-

• Reuse an Easter basket from a previous year instead of spending extra money buying a new one. You could also go to your local thrift store and pick up a second hand one. Every holiday you can finds tons of wonderful decorations at there!
• Also, if you are feeling super crafty you can always make your own Easter Basket out of recycled or reused items sitting around your house.

Easter Grass-

• Find an alternative to the plastic, petroleum based Easter grass for your child's basket. There aren't too many other uses for the plastic grass after Easter, so it'll be better not to even buy it! Instead of plastic grass you can used paper from the paper shredder! Shred up your old magazine pages or the comics for some extra color. If you don't have a shredder you could ask a friend that has one at work. You can even recycle the shredded paper when you are finished.
• Another idea is to line the basket with some soft goodies like socks, a soft book, or stuffed toy. Be creative!

Easter Eggs

• Reuse those old plastic eggs from previous years, most of us have a ton. If you need more, once again, go to the thrift store.
• Instead of dying your Easter eggs with chemical dye kits from the grocery store, get out the crayons & non-toxic markers and let your little ones go at it. It's healthier & greener and still lots of fun!

Our Earth Day Contest!!

Return to see our May 2010 "Spring Cleaning" issue!

Our "Spring Cleaning" e-zine will feature:

• The ultimate Spring wardrobe for your toddler boy! You do not want to miss this one!
• Toddlers Are Fun's"Mom of Green" Tina Keller will be here to share our monthly "Green Tip."
• We Welcome Spring with an amazing Spring Craft and recipe!
• Our "Spring Cleaning" contest will be announced

Take Care and I ask for Blessings to be poured over you and your family! Remember to love each other, see you next month....

Blessings, Ingrid ;)