Bunnies are the simple (and cute) mascot for Spring, and they inspire these fun fruit bags. They’re made from paper bags and will instantly liven up lunch time fruits and veggies. Place a basket out at brunch and your guests will be instantly drawn to the tied ears, colorful nose and sweet peak of fruit inside.
To make the bunny paper bags you’ll need; paper bags (look for fun paper bag designs at your local craft store), a roll of colorful tape, ribbon to tie off the ears, and fruit to place inside.
To make the bunny fruit bags, cut the edges off your paper bag so that you are left with two open sides. The bag should be cut to be a little narrower than your fruit. Cut the open end of the bag into the shape of rabbit ears, the ears should meet around a third of the way down the bag.
Sit the apple inside the paper bag and gather at the top, being careful not to tear the paper. Fix the gathered bag in place with some paper ribbon, knot the ribbon twice and fan out the ends into a bow. Cut a small triangle of pink washi tape and add it to the front to make a cute bunny nose.
Use different patterns and colours to create a fruity Easter display — you could also use any type of round fruit or vegetable to fill these paper bunny bags. They look sweet in a bowl as a grab and go snack, and would make a lovely easter surprise inside a lunch box.
Students will express ideas about Mexico using metal tooling techniques and the elements of art and principles of design.
By Margaret Morales [Margaret is an Artist/Teacher from McAdory Elementary School in Alabama, who has been teaching art in public schools for 25 years.]
WHAT YOU NEED:
36 gauge aluminum-tooling foil (It comes in 12″ X 10′ rolls, which equals 90, 4″ X 4″ pieces.) or use disposable pie pans. Note: This type of foil can be cut on a paper cutter and also a letter cutter!)
Tape
Wooden clay tools or the ends of wooden paintbrushes
4″ X 4″ Paper for rough draft
Pencils
Permanent markers
Wire
Beads
A soft, giving work surface (Ex. Several layers of paper or a computer mouse pad)=
WHAT YOU DO:
Beginning of lesson:
Say, “Today we will learn about a Mexican folk art called metal tooling.” Show a sample. Show students some examples of metal tooling if you have any, or look on the Internet: http://www.directfrommexico.com.
Have students locate Mexico on a map. Ask them, “What are some types of metal?” Examples would be gold, silver, copper, and aluminum.
Ask, “Why are some metals more expensive than others?” Discuss natural resources and why we should recycle because there is a limited supply of it on our planet.
Demonstrate in front of small groups how to emboss using the tool on a giving surface.
Safety Issue: Caution the students to be careful handling the metal because it is sharp and could cut them. Tape may be placed around the edges to make it safer to handle.
Discuss some potential images such as chili peppers, maracas, birds, sunshines, lizards, and sombreros… Give the students a small piece of paper and a pencil to do their rough draft.
Some things to remember for success are:
The design needs to be bold and simple thinking about the elements of art and principles of design.
Trace the foil on your rough draft paper so you can practice on the same size paper.
Make sure a stack of paper or a magazine is under your foil when tooling.
Either trace the design by putting it on top of the foil or draw it free hand with your wooden tool.
Emboss by rubbing larger areas to make it pushed out on the other side.
Turn it over and emboss using the other side, also.
Color the metal by using permanent markers.
Finish by putting these together as a group project with beads and wire. They can also be finished individually as a small wall hanging.
Dice games always seem to be a hit with kiddos, no matter their age. Add in some play dough and flowers, and this spring math game for kids is sure to a crowd pleaser.
A colorful math game for kids to welcome spring
Materials
Terra cotta pots
Play dough
Fake flowers
Dice
How to Play
1. Give each player a terra cotta pot and some play dough to act as a base for the flowers.
2. Hand out flowers to each player, ensuring that everyone has the same amount. We started with 12 each.
3. Player one rolls his die, then adds the appropriate number of flowers to his flower pot.
4. Player two does the same, rolling her die and adding flowers to her ceramic pot.
5. Play continues until one person has “planted” all of her flowers.
6. Challenge each other to another game, or just have fun creating with the play dough and flowers!
Other Ways to Play
There are so many ways to change up how this game is set up and played! Here are just a few ideas:
Have each player use two dice instead of one. This would allow the kiddos to work on their addition skills.
Incorporate a scented oil (lavender or rose) to the play dough for a different sensory experience.
Knead seeds into the dough for a different texture.
Play with real flowers instead of fake.
Create number cards to use instead of dice. This would let the kids work on their numeral recognition and one-to-one correspondence skills in a different way.
Learning with a flower math game for kids
This is a very simple game, but so much learning can take place with “simple” activities! Here are a few game and math skills touched on:
Pattern recognition
Counting
Turn taking
One-to-one correspondence
Fine motor skills
Sportsmanship
Do you have another math game for kids to recommend? Any favorites that you play at home or at school?
Your search for an easy vegetarian lasagna stops right here! This particular recipe, which features spinach lasagna with a healthy dose of broccoli, three cheeses, basil, and your favorite red sauce (store-bought or homemade marinara sauce work perfectly!) will make you forget all about meat. We opted for frozen veggies because they are already cooked, but you can load this lasagna with other vegetables, too. Sauté peppers and mushrooms, and then stir into your tomato sauce for an extra boost of nutrients. We also picked Pecorino Romano instead of your classic Parmesan for a sharper flavor (no bland vegetarian recipes, thank you very much!). P.S. If you’re looking for the best meat lasagna, try our favorite lasagna with meat sauce.
YIELDS: 4 TOTAL TIME: 0 hours 50 mins
Ingredients:
1 10-oz package frozen leaf spinach, thawed
1 10-oz package frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 16-oz container part-skim ricotta
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
6 oz. part-skim mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/2 cups), divided
1/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided
1 1/2 c. marinara sauce
6 no-boil lasagna noodles
This ingredient shopping module is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content on their web site.
Directions:
Heat oven to 425°F. Squeeze spinach of excess moisture and pat broccoli as dry as possible. Chop both and place in large bowl. Add ricotta, garlic, basil, 1 cup mozzarella, and ¼ cup pecorino and mix to combine.
Spread ½ cup marinara on bottom of 8-inch square baking dish. Top with 2 noodles. Spread one-third (about ⅓ cup) of remaining sauce over top. Dollop with one-third (about 1 cup) of ricotta mixture. Repeat. Place remaining 2 noodles on top; spread with remaining sauce and dollop with remaining ricotta mixture.
Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and 2 Tbsp pecorino, cover tightly with an oiled piece of foil (to prevent sticking) and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake until noodles are tender and top is golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
I have always loved Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s because my middle name is literally Valentine (Yes, Laura Valentine Gummerman. It’s on my driver’s license, I swear!), but I think it’s also because of all the sweets and shades of pink that float around this time of year. I’m a total sucker for it. I’ve had a lot of fun doing decorations for intimate Valentine’s Day dinners in years past, and this year I thought it would be fun to make some hanging decor to hang over our pink breakfast nook table. I love to use the inexpensive faux flowers from dollar stores to make a block of texture, and I thought they would be the perfect choice for a large floating heart above the table.
Supplies:
-faux flowers (I used about 12 bunches total. Pick the big ones—they’ll fill the heart faster!)
-hot glue gun
-sheets of styrofoam
-serrated bread knife/electric turkey carver/jig saw to cut the styrofoam
–cup hooks
-clear fishing line
-command hooks
-balsa wood
-glitter paper
First you’ll want to trace your heart onto your styrofoam. If you don’t feel confident to do this freehand, you can always sketch it out on a large piece of craft paper first and then trace it onto the styrofoam. You can see that in order to fit the size of heart I wanted, I had to cut off a corner of one piece and glue it onto the bottom to fit the tail of the heart. Use your hot glue gun to attach the pieces of styrofoam together to make one solid shape.
Next, use a serrated bread knife, electric turkey carver, or a jig saw to cut out your shape from the styrofoam. If you go the bread knife route, you may want to wait to glue the pieces together until after you cut them since it’s a little rougher on the material. The jig saw cut through the styrofoam like a hot knife through butter, which is another reason I keep telling you guys you should get one!!!!
When your heart is cut out, pull or cut your flowers off of the stems and use the hot glue to attach the flowers directly onto the heart. Notice how your faux flower is assembled though—sometimes they will fall apart if you cut them off the stem in the wrong area. Since I got three colors of pink for a gradient effect, I filled the lightest flowers in on the top third first, then filled in the bottom third with the darkest, and then completed the middle section last.
You can also cover the sides with flowers if you want to, but you’ll want to buy smaller varieties in the same color so they don’t stick way over the sides and make your shape definition a little mushy.
I made an arrow and arrow tail out of balsa wood, and then cut pieces of glitter paper the same size and hot glued them all together.
To hang the heart, I glued a cup hook into the top of each of the heart “humps” and stuck 2 command hooks onto the ceiling where I wanted the heart to hang (about the same distance apart that the cup hooks are). Then I tied the heart to the hooks with fishing wire for an “invisible” look.
Once the heart was hanging, I stuck each half of the arrow in opposite ends of the heart, and my work was done!
I LOVE how this turned out! It’s such a big statement piece, and since they are faux flowers, you can leave it up as long as you like or even save it for next year. This would also be really cute as a photo booth backdrop for a Valentine’s Day party. Hope you find an occasion to make this pretty project! I totally won’t blame you if the 14th comes and goes and you just “forget” to take this one down…
A great combination of flavors. Serve with some mashed garlic red potatoes and sweetened green beans for a fabulous special occasion meal. Don’t forget to serve a bottle of Cabernet or Zinfandel.
Ingredients
Original recipe yields 4 servings
Directions
Nutrition Facts
Per Serving:
590 calories; protein 35.3g; carbohydrates 13.4g; fat 43.4g; cholesterol 124.5mg; sodium 689.4mg. Full Nutrition
