A yummy meal that's perfect for little hands!
What You Need:
- Cooking spray
- 24 Won ton wrappers
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup pasta sauce
- 1/3 pound cooked ground beef (optional)
- Muffin pan (12 muffin cups), sprayed with cooking spray
For topping:
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
What To Do:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Have your child place a won ton wrapper in each muffin cup.
- Divide the cheeses, ground beef, and pasta sauce in half, placing one half on the side to use later.
- Layer the Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, ground beef, and pasta sauce on top of each won ton wrapper.
- Have your child place another won ton wrapper into each muffin cup, on top of the lasagna mixture, counting each one aloud.
- With the other half of the ingredients, repeat the steps of layering onto each won ton wrapper: cheeses, ground beef, and pasta sauce.
- Add the remaining Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese to create a topping for each cup.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and pop out with a knife.
Adapted from: allrecipes.com
Make delicious pretzels in the shapes of different letters.
What You Need:
• 1-1/3 cups white or wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• Coarse salt or Hawaiian salt for sprinkling (optional)
• Mixing bowl and spoon
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Pastry or basting brush
• Waxed paper (optional)
• Mustard (optional)
What To Do:
1. Show your child how to use the different measuring tools.
2. As you measure each ingredient with him, talk about quantities, measurements, and following instructions, step by step.
3. First, dissolve the yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl.
4. Add the honey and table salt.
5. Add the flour and mix well, forming the dough into a ball.
6. Place dough onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes.
7. Break off small pieces of dough and place them on waxed paper. Help your child to roll the dough into strips and shape them into the letters in his name.
8. Place the letters on a cookie sheet and let them rise for 40-60 minutes.
9. About 10 minutes before you’re ready to bake the pretzels, preheat oven to 425 degrees. (Keep your child safely away from the oven.)
10. Brush the pretzels with beaten egg and sprinkle them with coarse salt, if desired.
11. Bake pretzels for 10 minutes.
12. Remove pretzels from the oven and let them cool. Be sure that all hot items are out of your child’s reach.
13. Point to and sound out the letters to your child’s name together.
14. Try to form other words using the letters of his name or identify other words that start with each of the letters.
15. Enjoy eating your pretzels and talk about how they taste. (Dip the pretzels in mustard to experience a different taste.)
! Safety Alert: Make it clear to your child that only grown-ups may use an oven. Let him know that he should not touch the oven because he may get burned.
Introduce a song to make clean up time fun.
What You Need:
None
What To Do:
- Introduce a song to make clean up time fun. Sing this song to the tune of “Twinkle,Twinkle, Little Star”
Clean up, clean up little star,
Stop and clean up where you are,
Time to put the toys away,
We’ll get them out another day, (or later today)
Clean up, clean up, little star,
Stop and clean up where you are.!
Your child will love to fill items into a box and then dump or pour them out. Play this fun game with her.
What You Need:
• A plastic bowl or box that is small enough for your child to pick up.
• Safe items like plastic film containers or thread spools that she can grasp
What To Do:
1. Show your child how to fill the bowl or box with the safe items.
2. Then, show her how to turn the bowl or box over to dump out the items.
3. Encourage her to copy you. Give her positive encouragement as she does so.
4. Count the items as she puts them in. If you speak more than one language, count in different languages. For example, “uno, dos, tres” (Spanish).
5. Talk about what she is doing and what happens when she turns the bowl or box over.
Safety Alert: Items that are small enough to fit through a toilet paper tube can cause choking if swallowed. Check the size of items for safety before you let your child play with them.
