Sweet Silly Sara

Feed Me Fine Motor Activity

I have always encouraged fine motor play in my children. Not only is it important for their development, but there are so many ways to offer an invitation to fine motor play!

A well-meaning friend purchased tennis balls for my senior dogs. Bless her heart, but my pooches are too old to do much fetching. As much as we love the dogs, truth be told, they are hounds and have always been prone to take it easy; to sleep in bed only waking for food, water, and a walk. As I type, both are snoozing on pillows at my feet. No fetch will be played willingly by these dogs!

My kids were delighted. Balls! In the house?! YAY!!

I acted fast. With a moment of my time and some very basic supplies, my kids were distracted from the idea of throwing balls and were enthralled with the idea of feeding the ball.

To make a feed me ball you will need

A tennis ball
A utility knife
2 peel and stick eyes or a black magic marker to draw eyes
A few pom poms or cotton balls

The first step is the trickiest. Use caution while using the utility knife to cut a slit in the tennis ball, this will become the mouth.

Next affix or draw the eyes. We went with what we had on hand and used small stick on eyes. The kids and I agreed that really big eyes would be lots of fun!

After the eyes have been added you can offer the pom poms or cotton balls along with the ball.

Play combined with fine motor skill development is ideal for kids of a variety of ages. Both of my kids have fun feeding things to the ball over the years. From cotton balls to barbie doll shoes. The fine motor aspects remain, but we have added in simple math, counting, and color sorting to the ways we use the feed me ball.

You might also enjoy these 7 Ways to Entertain a 3 Year Old.

Blueberry Turkey Burgers with Blueberry Ketchup

I love blueberries! They are pretty, sweet and a summertime treat. Every summer my family visits a little blueberry patch on the outskirts of town and we pick blueberries then feast on them in every way imaginable.

My friends at the Blueberry Council shared this fun recipe with me, and I didn't hesitate to squeal with delight at the idea of sharing it with you.

Blueberry Turkey Burgers with Blueberry Ketchup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

3/4 cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon minced lemongrass (optional)*

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 poppy seed hamburger buns

Lettuce and sliced red onion, optional

Blueberry Ketchup (recipe follows)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine turkey, blueberries, ginger, lemongrass and black pepper; mix well.

Form mixture into 4 patties.

Brush soy sauce on both sides of burgers.

In an oiled skillet over medium-high heat, grill patties until cooked thoroughly, about 4 minutes each side.

Serve on buns with lettuce, sliced red onion and blueberry ketchup.

* Peel away woody outer layer from the bottom portion of the lemongrass stalk; mince inner flesh.

Quick notes:

Yield: 4 portions

Blueberry Ketchup

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries

1/2 cup minced onion

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pickled ginger (gari) or minced fresh ginger

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine blueberries, onion, vinegar, sugar, ginger and salt.

Bring to a simmer; cook about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Remove to blender or food processor; whirl until smooth.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

How do you like your blueberries? Tell me about your favorite way to eat blueberries in a comment, pretty please ;)

You might want to hop over and check out the recipe for Fresh Blueberry Napoleons as well

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Washer Necklaces

This easy DIY washer necklace is perfect for making with kids to wear and share!

My daughter loves to look at my jewelry box and naturally, she asks to borrow all of the pretty things inside. She is 4, so I am not often likely to hand over anything! One day last week she was especially pouty after I declined her request to wear an old locket from the 1950's with photos of my grandparents in it, so I decided we needed to make some fun things she could wear and keep in her own special jewelry box.

I came up with a few basic supplies and a plan! We were going to start with a simple washer necklace.

I gathered:

Yarn

Scissors

A washer

Mod Podge

A Paintbrush

Washi Tape

We began by covering the washer with washi tape. Carefully tearing off the excess and covering the interior edges.

Next we painted the washer with glow in the dark mod podge. Allow it to dry, flip it over and paint the other side too.

Next we looped a section of black yarn to make a necklace.

This was a perfect start to building a jewelry box collection for my preschooler. We will definitely try this again with other patterns of washi tape!

You might also like this easy paper crown craft for preschoolers.

You won't want to miss these glow in the dark, no electric night lights!

Peanut Butter Waffle Cake

Peanut Butter Waffle Cake is the solution to summertime baking dilemmas. You can have your cake without heating up the house with this incredibly easy recipe.

A few weeks ago my daughter and I made birthday cake waffles because we wanted to try it out. We are funny like that, we get an idea and we almost have an itch to discover what might happen as a result! We had so much fun making cake waffles that we had to do it again!

This cake begins with a white cake mix and becomes a layered, moist cake that no one can resist! Best of all, you can make this cake in just about 15 minutes from start to finish!

We knew we couldn't go wrong with peanut butter. It is the one thing our family can agree on usually! We are crazy for peanut butter chicken and of course, peanut butter pie, so peanut butter waffle cake was the natural choice for a unique dessert!

Ingredients:

1 white cake mix

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

3 whole eggs

1 cup of water

Directions:

Combine the ingredients and mix well.

Heat your waffle iron and pour the cake batter in, preparing as you would a waffle.

Allow the cake waffles to cool, as they are, mix up the peanut butter frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

4 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter

1 to 2 tablespoons of milk or heavy cream

Directions:

Add powdered sugar, peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of milk to a mixing bowl and blend with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add another tablespoon of milk if needed.

After the cake waffles are cool, begin layering the waffles and the frosting. Generously top the last waffle with remaining frosting and serve.

You might also enjoy these recipes :
Overnight Oat Recipe
Peanut Butter and Jelly Pound Cake

3 D Ladybug Craft

3d Paper Ladybugs come together with the most basic of supplies to create a craft so cute your heart might flutter a bit.

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This 3 D Paper Lady Bug Craft is perfect for kids of all ages. It is so easy, that even the little ones can help make these! With red and black paper and some glue you too can create these. The cute googly eyes are optional. If you have them, of course, use them. If not, create eyes with paint, paper, buttons, or something else.

The supplies couldn't be more basic. Glue, 2 circles of red paper, in any size you like, and black paper, and a background are all that is required really. I used a hole punch to make circles easily and I had 2 pink googly eyes, so I used them!

Cut your circles together so they are the same size.

Then fold them in half.