A Stroll At The Kingwood Center

As a family, we love to visit The Kingwood Center in Mansfield several times a year. My husband and I love the flowers and plants. The kids love the statues and we all love the exercise! It is easy to spend an hour strolling the paths with the kids.

The Kingwood was one of the first places Adam and I visited when we moved to Mansfield, pre-kids. Over the years we moved, but we make a point to visit The Kingwood several times a year with the kids, not only for the experience but also to revisit our roots in a way.

The Kingwood Center is a 47 acre estate that is open to the public. The grounds are compromised of gardens that are breathtaking. Kingwood Center Gardens develops and displays exemplary gardens on the former estate of Charles Kelley King for the pleasure and education of its constituents.  While admission is free there is a parking charge. It is minimal and helps to support the operation of this amazing place in Ohio.

If you visit, plan to stop by the greenhouses. It is easy to get swept away in the fun of the outdoor experience, but the greenhouse offers many gems including a fantastic banana tree. We seem to make a purchase of a plant on each visit.

This is a great place to snap some awesome photos of your family. The flowers are awesome in the spring and summer, in the fall the leaves add a lot to the experience.

Be sure to bring quarters to buy a few handfuls of food for the ducks! If you pay attention you may see the peacocks. They were nesting on eggs on our last month so we really hope to make it back this summer to see babies!

Do you have a favorite public garden? I would love to hear about it!

Donut Balls

Sometimes you want something incredible for dessert, but who has time to whip up something from scratch and then bake something?! I mean it is summer. Why heat up the house when you can create these sweet, easy and pretty little treats in no time at all.

These were a huge hit with my family. My husband could not believe I made these with store bought ingredients. I will definitely be making these again- in different flavor combinations for sure!

Donut Balls

Ingredients

1 box of donut holes (about 30) I used glazed original
1 tub of Cool Whip, thawed SAVE the CONTAINER! YOU will use it again!

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of milk

1 box of instant pudding mix I used French Vanilla 

Instructions

Mix the milk and the pudding mix, it will be kind of like a blob of pudding. 
Add the Cool Whip and blend well. I used a low setting on a hand mixer and mixed for a minute or so. 
Return the pudding mixture to the Cool Whip container and place it in the freezer for 10-20 minutes.
Make a thin slice on one side of the donut hole.
Then slice in half. 
The slice that is cut on both sides becomes the bottom, separate the 'tops' and 'bottoms'. 
Repeat until all donut holes are ready.
Remove the mixture from the freezer, place a dollop on the 'bottom' section of the donut hole, gently pressing the 'top' section on the pudding mixture.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

These are pretty , easy and delicious!
Next time I will try chocolate pudding and donuts!

You might also enjoy this easy Berry Vanilla Parfait Recipe!

If you are craving all things donut now, grab this free D is for Donut Coloring Page.

Hand Print Fish Puppets

One of my favorite things about being a mom is to watch the pleasure my kids get from simple items. Last spring my husband cut out a photo of Colonel Sanders and glued it to a craft stick. He casually laid the Colonel on the table for the kids to discover at breakfast. They went wild over this! 

Last night after the kids were tucked into bed, inspiration hit me and I got busy crafting up something fun for them.  I hoped that the idea would inspire them to want to get crafty with me after seeing how fun these little puppets could be!

These are so easy to make. This is maybe a 3 minute project that will bring hours of entertainment. While entertainment is important, there are subtle and vital things happening when your kids engage in imaginative play. 

Benefits of Pretend Play

Pretend play allows the expression of both positive and negative feelings, and the modulation of affect, the ability to integrate emotion with cognition (Jent, Niec, & Baker, 2011; Seja, & Russ, 1999; Slade and Wolf, 1999).  Pretend play, fosters language development, thinking skills, and helps to develop emotional and social skills in children ages 2 thru 7. The creativity unleashed thru dramatic play has long-term benefits too. From problem-solving thru imaginary situations to the ability to express feelings.

Isn't it incredible to think that so many things can come from playing with a handmade puppet!?  Well, let's get to it and make one so the play time can begin!

Supplies needed

handprint cut out on colorful paper

small paper triangle

small paper heart

white school glue

a googly eye

craft stick

Directions

To begin, trace a hand and cut it out on colorful paper. 

I applied a little glue to affix the eye.

I also cut out a small triangle from another colorful paper and an oddly shaped heart for lips.

I applied a small amount of glue in the middle of the handprint for the small triangle.

I applied a small dot of glue for the heart paper for lips.

Next, add a little glue on the top of the craft stick and affixed it to the back of the handprint, in the middle of the handprint.

Allow the glue to dry and you have a fun fish puppet.

What Did the Kids Think?

The craft was well received with Harper, who took both of the fish puppets that I made and dashed off to play with them before her brother could see them. I chalked that up as a success.

Once Roo got a peek at the fish puppets he said, "Mom can you trace my hand?" That was all it took and the construction paper came out for handprint tracing.  After lunch today we are going to make a few of these together for an afternoon of crafting and puppet play!

Puppet play is a lot of fun for kids, but there is something almost magical about creating a puppet of your own design and bringing it to life via imaginative play. This project required the most simple of supplies and it can be completed in a matter of moments. There is no reason not to give it a shot with your kids! The benefits of simple projects like this that create an invitation to play are abundant, the mess from such a project is minimal and you likely already have these items on hand, or you could improvise with any paper or cardboard, tape and a straw if not!

Mushroom Hunting with Sweet Silly Sara

I have an interest that you might not know about; I am especially fond of mushrooms! Photographing wild mushrooms is one of my hobbies that I rarely talk about. It is one of those things that I do for the sheer pleasure it brings me to find a mushroom growing somewhere and to capture it, as it is at that moment in time. I have toyed with the idea of turning my collection of photos into a book, but in the meantime, I am going to share a few with you.  I hope you enjoy this glimpse into my life and one of my interests.

I spotted this beauty on a walk in the woods with my son.

This specimen was discovered growing in a yard on a walk downtown. 

Jackpot!! Look at all of these babies!

These ones were  discovered on a walk in my neighborhood.

Not the best photo, but for some reason I am drawn to it.

On a fall walk one morning, I took a side street I had never walked. I walked upon hundreds of these beauties. I loved the way the mushrooms resembled buttercups. This was a fantastic reward for exploring!

A few days later I returned for more photos, I found the mushrooms were in a state of decay, but they were still an impressive sight. 

I ran across these guys in a random field.

I do not, at this time, attempt to identify the mushrooms. I simply enjoy their beauty and appreciate the mystery of the fungus. 

My interest in mushrooms began about 12 years ago. My then boyfriend, now husband and I took a walk around a lake after an especially rainy couple of days. We saw a large mushroom with lovely purple hues to it. I snapped my first mushroom photo at that moment and have been intrigued by them since. 

I often joke with people that according to my photo collection all I ever do is eat, visit parks with my kids and take photos of mushrooms. There are that many mushroom pics on my phone!

Thanks for stopping by for a glimpse into my life!

Lemonade Craft for Preschoolers

This craft is perfect for a play time pause on a hot summer day. Your preschooler will have a lot of fun creating a craft to go with a glass of lemonade!

Summer is here! The kids are enjoying the chance to play at every park known to man, soak up the sun and splash in the pool! My husband and I are trying to savor these sweet and relaxed moments while they last. We know all too well that the hustle and bustle will begin soon enough as the kids head off to school and he resumes his post as the local school librarian.

Last week I squeezed lemons for our first fresh pitcher of lemonade of the summer. My kids were quite impressed with this. I love the magic of the early years! My toddler daughter thought it was "magic!" My kindergartner thought I was kidding when I told him the lemons would turn into his favorite drink.

After the fruit was squeezed and the lemonade was chilling in the fridge, I decided now was the perfect time to pull out a craft to go with a cold drink. I quickly gathered supplies and had this ready to assemble in under 5 minutes.

Supplies needed:
2 pieces of construction paper in the shape of a glass
1/2 a sheet of white copy paper, cut into cubes
2 strips of paper cut to look like a straw
One cupcake liner, yellow, cut in half
A glue stick

When I called the kids for their snack and lemonade, I had laid out the supplies needed at their place of seating. I asked them to take a long look at their lemonade glasses and notice how the drink looked in the glass.

Next I asked the kids to glue ice cubes on their glasses.
They both thought 3 ice cubes were the ideal amount.
Then I had the kids glue on the half cupcake liner for their lemon.
Novel. Lemons are food, so this had both of my mini foodies intrigued.
Finally, I instructed them to include their straw shaped paper.

This was such an easy craft for the kids. It kept them entertained for long enough to cool off for a moment before rushing back out to play and it gave them a chance to try freshly squeezed lemonade in a calm and relaxed setting. With growing a growing boy, it seems like he gulps and dashes without ever really tasting anything... {wink}. The kids also concentrated on what their beverage looked like so they could create their craft for thinking skills in early learners.

It was cute to see the kids interpretation of what a glass of lemonade looks like too.

You might also enjoy this Paper Cookie Craft.