We Like Making Our Own Stuff

Children love to forage and collect "treasures."  Send them outside with a basket, in search of all kinds of nature's trinkets: pine cones twigs seed pods leaves stems flowers rocks feathers shells moss The list goes on... Once the children have collected a pretty good haul of Mother Nature's gems, you can use them to make a nature collage: The collage can be a free-flowing, abstract piece, or might make more realistic images, such as this old man, made with milkweed pods, twigs, and corn husks: Outdoor Materials Collage 1.  Collect small items from outside, such as pine cones, small sticks, pebbles, or seed pods. 2.  Use a sturdy material as your canvas, such as cardboard or tag board.  It can be small, like a post card, or large, like a poster. 3.  Older children may be able to use a hot glue gun (or an adult could do the gluing), otherwise, just use regular white school glue.  Be sure that your outdoor pieces...

I check labels carefully before I purchase any food product, and I am not thrilled by what I see on most chocolate syrup or chocolate milk labels: Hershey's Chocolate Syrup Label Nature's Touch Chocolate Milk Label Once in a while, the kids like to have some chocolate milk, or some syrup drizzled on their ice cream or yogurt.  I have been avoiding purchasing any chocolate syrup, however, since most of them contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and other questionable ingredients. That is why I prefer to make chocolate milk at home, rather than using the ready-made stuff.  By mixing my own with syrup, I can control how much sugar the kids are getting, plus it allows me to use good quality milk from pastured cows. Kids love chocolate milk, so why not make it healthier? I found a recipe for chocolate syrup in an old cookbook that is corn syrup free, and found that it turned out wonderfully.  The recipe calls for only five ingredient...