Year: 2011

Dress For The Weather Chart

As a kid, I always thought it would be great to have some kind of chart for what to wear for different temperatures. My parents always had the rule of no swimming unless it’s at least 80 degrees. But for other days, do I need a jacket? Can I wear shorts? Do I HAVE to wear a coat? Awwww… Mom!!

Here’s a chart to end the fights. It was created for people with autism. But I think it’s great for anyone that’s just not sure.

Make your own with an outdoor thermometer and clip art… or just follow the link below to purchase.

Temperature ranges

Coat Weather: – 40° to 40°

Jacket Weather: 40° to 60°

Shirt & Pants Weather: 60° to 75°

Shorts Weather: 75° and up

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Taffy

This is one part activity, one part party food. Kids will enjoy the pulling, cutting and shaping of the taffy. Guests can save their candies in waxed paper and take them home for their families.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. butter, plus extra for the pan and for coating hands
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Combine sugar, water, vinegar and butter in a heavy, nonreactive pan, and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

Raise heat and cook quickly, about 20 minutes, without stirring, until a teaspoon of the mixture dropped into a glass of cold water forms a hard ball.

Watch the boil carefully so the taffy does not burn. Turn off heat and add the vanilla extract.

Pour the taffy onto a generously buttered platter or cookie sheet with low sides. When it is cool enough to handle (adults do everything up to this part), kids grease their hands with butter, take a lump of taffy, and pull and stretch it until it is light and slightly firm.

The more they stretch, pull and twist the candy, the more air they will blend into it, and the more like beach taffy it will get.

Using scissors, cut the lump of candy into bite-size pieces. When completely cool, wrap each piece in waxed paper.

Makes 45 1-inch candies.

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Treasure Hunt & Noisemaker

You’ll need:

•Small Soda or Water Bottle
•Rice
•Beads, Charms, Glitter, Sequins, Other Small Items
•Small Kitchen Funnel
•Craft Glue

Instructions:
Start out by cleaning the bottle well and removing the label. Make sure the bottle is totally dry before you start this project.

Place the end of the funnel into the bottle and start filling it! Start out with about a cup of rice. You can add more or less if you like. Then, start adding any small items you would like to ‘search’ for in the bottle. It can be beads, charms, small toys, etc. Make sure if young children are helping you that they do not put any of the small items in their mouth. You can also add some sparkle to your bottle by adding glitter or sequins.

Once you have everything you want in your bottle, spread some glue around the threads on the neck and replace the cap tightly. This will prevent the cap from falling off or being removed by small fingers.

In the bottle above, I added several shaped beads. They are shaped like a variety of items such as dogs, boats, hearts, starts, etc. If you add special shapes like this, your noise maker can also be a game. Challenge your child to find specific shapes or colors by rolling the bottle around to reveal hidden treasures.

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