Here is a fun idea to do with your children, ages 2-102. Though I assume none of you probably have children that are 102 years old.   First, it is a project that all of them will do happily.  Second, it will keep every last one of them busy for a good while.  Third, it is a snack.  What’s not to love about it?

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup half & half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size ziploc bag
1 gallon-size ziploc bag
Ice cubes

Step One: Put the first three ingredients into the pint sized ziploc bag. Seal well. Check and make sure that is is sealed well. Check again.

Step Two: Put the pint sized ziploc bag inside of the gallon sized ziploc bag.

Step Three: Fill the gallon sized ziploc bag with ice and rock salt. (This is why you really want to make sure the smaller ziploc bag is completely sealed. Salt leaking into your ice cream…ewwwwww.)

Step Four: Shake your bags.

After about 5-10 minutes the half & half will thicken and you will have ice cream!

Take the small bag of ice cream out of the larger bag — you may want to wipe the bag off to get rid of the salt residue, especially for younger children who are not as neat. Then, grab a spoon and eat it right out of the bag.

Enjoy!

You can also add other ingredients to your bag such as chocolate syrup, sprinkles, mini-chocolate chips, crushed oreos… well, you get the idea.

We are lucky enough to have moved into a neighborhood filled with children who share my children’s  love for paying outside.   Every day when school ends the street fills with kids riding bikes, scooters, playing kickball, football, basketball… you name it, they are playing it.

One game the boys often play is something called “Wall Ball” and is definitely not a game I played as a kid.  I am not even sure of the exact rules.  As an observer it seems to be all about throwing the ball at your friends as hard as  you possibly can while they stand next to a wall, or usually the side of a  building.  My sons assure me that there are actual rules and a clear object to the game, but whatever that is escapes me.  And probably also them since they cannot seem to articulate the rules to me either!

Sometimes I wonder if all of the games kids play now are filled with licensed characters.  I get so tired hearing about the latest Pokemon, Bakugan, or whatever new  thing whose primary purpose seems to be separating me from my money.   It always makes me smile when I see the kids playing games that I played as a child, jump rope, hopscotch, kick ball, hide and go seek.  It gives me hope that some things never change. 

I found this website which lists outdoor games and how to play them, many of  which I remember playing.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Capture the Flag

Four Square

Hopscotch

Marbles

Red Light/ Green Light

Chinese Jump Rope (I used to love playing this!  I forgot all about it until I saw this link)

Can’t remember all of those jump rope rhymes you used to sing?  Here is an exhaustive list of jump rope rhymes.

Now go on outside and pass some of these traditional games on to your children.  Please? 

No that  title is not an oxymoron.  It is possible  to have snacks that are both appealing to children and healthy.  I know that it is sometimes tempting to just give in to all the junky snack requests, but the other day when my 4 yr old was whining about wanting a second package of fruit snacks and said, “But they are FRUIT!!” I realized that I needed to step in and do something.  Because just because they are called fruit snacks, doesn’t mean that they are made out of fruit.

I usually have a platter of cut up fruit out for my children to enjoy in the afternoon.  Either a bowl of grapes, cubed watermelon (less messy than having triangle slices), cubed cantaloupe.  String cheese or cubed cheese with crackers is  always available also.  But sometimes I find that boredom has set in and I need to shake things up a bit.

Trail Mix

Have you ever bought those huge bags of trail mix only to have your children eat all the M&Ms out of the bag and leave the majority of the mix which is actually healthy behind?  Try making your own from things your children do like.  Do any kids really like almonds?  I know mine don’t and almost every prepackaged trail mix we have bought has been heavy on the almonds. 

I mix together:

Craisins
Dried apricots, that I snip into smaller pieces
Dried apples, also snipped into smaller pieces
Peanuts or cashews, my kids like both of these
Sunflower seeds

Dip

Don’t all kids like to dip their food into some kind of sauce?  Slice up some fruit like apples, strawberries, bananas and serve with a ramekin of vanilla yogurt.  If you give the kids little toothpicks to skewer the fruit it makes the snack THAT much more enjoyable.

Smoothies

Blend together vanilla yogurt, fruit and ice into a completely healthy, nutritious and fun snack.  Serve in a tall glass with a straw for maximum enjoyment.

Ants on a Log

My children are  insisting that I include this  perennial kid snack of celery, peanut butter, and raisins.  Even though most of them do not actually like celery.  They just like the idea of this snack.

Mini muffins

I like to make bulk batches of mini muffins and then freeze them.  Sometimes if I don’t have time to do all of the baking, I will just freeze the batter in ziploc bags.  We all know that the difficult part is mixing together the ingredients, not the actual baking part.