Edible Bird’s Nests

To finish up the bird theme i am doing with Brianna, we made edible bird’s nests today:

These were soo simple and you only need a few ingredients-

• rice noodles
• chocolate frosting
• candy eggs (or jelly beans)

First i heavily sprayed a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Then i melted the chocolate frosting in the microwave for about 40 seconds, stirred it and poured it in a bowl with the noodles and we stirred-

I then scooped some of the mixture into the muffin tins and the kids pressed it down into the tin.

Put it in the freezer for awhile (we went out for a few hours and they were molded together when we got home).

They came out of the pan easily with just a spoon since i had used the cooking spray. Add a couple candy eggs on top and enjoy!

Linking up to-

Brianna’s Birthday Par-TEA!

Wow, i can’t believe im already posting another birthday party post! How does a year go by so fast?! This year i decided Brianna would love a tea party birthday with her little friends, since she’s into everything sweet and girly :)

I’ll start with pictures from the party and then add the details at the bottom of the post.

Here is the invitation i made-

(front) 

(inside)

The first thing the guests did as they arrived was decorate cardboard butterfly wings!

They then were able to choose a feathered boa to wear and some dress-up shoes.

I had a little play tea party set up on a blanket for the girls and their dolls.

After playing and decorating for about an hour we had lunch!

For the little girls i made peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut with a flower cookie cutter.

The mommies had chicken salad and tuna salad sandwiches cut diagonally.

There was also banana bread, cookies and fruit kabobs. And of course tea! Well iced tea, raspberry lemonade and apple juice ;)

After our lunch/tea Brianna opened gifts. Here is what she got-

Then it was time for singing Happy Birthday and cupcakes!

While they ate their cupcakes i read them this story:

Oh and during the entire party i had this cd playing as background music: (i found it at my local library)

For favors the girls each took home:

• the tea cup and plate they used
• their decorated wings
• a boa
• lollipops (one big, one small)-

 

Ok so for those of you who want to know the details of where i found what, here it is-

Ill start with the table set-up. I bought fabric from Joann’s for both the wall and the ‘tablecloth’. I just taped the one fabric to the wall. Then i folded some paper doilies onto string and taped them closed and hung them up:

For the table set up-

• The long silver serving trays were both from the Dollar Store!

 

• The tiered silver tray was $2 at Goodwill-

 

• The pink, squared paper plates were on clearance at Target for $1.50-
• The doilies (for the wall and under the plates) were bought off of Amazon-
• The tea cups and plates were all on clearance at Marshall’s-

The cupcake holder was from Joann’s, but i taped some lace ribbon around it-

The doilies for around the cupcakes were Wilton ones from Joann’s. It was about $3 for a pack of 30. I cut out the middle and pulled it up from the bottom. And i added little pink gems also from Joann’s-

I found this teapot at Goodwill for $3 and added some real carnations to it.

I added lots of jelly beans to this metal pail that i’ve had for years and stuck in a bunch of lollipops! The big swirly lollipops were 2 for $1 at Family Dollar and the little flower lollipops were $1 each at Michael’s-

The butterfly wings were $3 for a pack of 6 at Michael’s-

The things used to decorate the wings were all from Joann’s and Michael’s-

I already had the Fancy Nancy Phone and book but the feathered boas were $1 each at Family Dollar-

The porcelain Tinkerbell tea set and the plastic Princess one were both previous gifts of Brianna’s-

That’s about it! All the girls had such a nice time :)

Tot School: Baking/Cooking

 

Brianna helped me make english muffin pizzas,

and chocolate cookies.

She also made painted toast, with milk and food coloring.

We did a muffin tasting where i made a basic boxed muffin mix and Brianna added 3 different ingredients to the different muffin cups: blueberries, chopped pecans and bananas.

Then she had a taste of each muffin to see which she liked best. She said blueberry and banana were her favorite :)

She put the pizza making steps in the correct order. (she needed alot of help with this)

She played with the ‘baking’ sensory bin.

She made golf ball paintings in different pans.

She made play-doh cakes, complete with candles and rounds of “Happy Birthday”.

She laced the Very Hungry caterpillar cards.

and made a baker out of a toilet paper roll.

She counted buttons into a muffin tin.

She also played with her Melissa and Doug cupcake decorating set.

Both kids loved this yeast experiment!

To 1 cup of very warm water we added 2 TB of sugar and a package of yeast. Bri mixed it until it dissolved.

I then poured the mixture into an empty bottle and put the balloon over the top. and we waited…

until…

the balloon started to blow up! And then it got bigger!

Why? The yeast feeds off the sugar and makes carbon dioxide. And the gas has no where to go other than going up into the balloon. We talked about how yeast does the same thing when making bread, which gives it its soft fluffiness. The kids thought this was so cool.

Not Theme Related:

She loves this Aquadoodle wall runner!

I started having her use liquid glue with her Kumon pasting book, instead of glue stick.

She played Memory with our Curious George cards.

That’s it! Our next theme is going to be Birds :)

Go here to see more Tot School posts!

*I am using the Joyful Learning curriculum.