"Pretzel Buttons" for the Teachers
This delicious idea for a Valentines treat came from Pinterest, it's from a great blog called G*Rated which includes the instructions on how to make them and very nice pictures, check it out!
I am no baker, I rarely stray from the box, so I liked the simplicity of this idea, but also the fact that it was a perfect activity for the kids. They had to line up all the pretzel squares on the oven tray, unwrap each Hershey kiss and place one on top of each pretzel (as you can see from the pictures, some did not make it...). I did the M n M part myself, didn't trust them with that... We then put a handful of the Valentines treats in celophane bags for each of their teachers and adorned them a bit.
"Heart Surprise" Valentines Cards
The concept behind these cards might have been a little over the head of the 4 and 2 year olds receiving them, but they were definitely fun to make (for me). Don't know why I had this idea in my head of making something with those paper spring things we used to make when we were young, but this is what came out of it...The kids helped me stick the Valetines monster greeting on the cards and stamp the envelopes.
Classmates Goody-bags
This is the first year my kids are in preschool, so I didn't know about classmate goody bags until they came back with a bunch of little bags with treats on Halloween and then again at Christmas. In the spirit of keeping up with the rest of the Martha Stewarts in the class, I made sure to send them with something for their classmates on Valentines Day. I figured they would get a lot of chocolate, candy hearts and pencils, so we made glitter playdough in pink and purple and also put in some bubbles that I had found at Michaels. If you've never made playdough before, the texture is great and it keeps forever. It is much cheaper than the one you buy and you can customize it with scents and colors. The recipe I used can be found below these pictures.
DYI Playdough Recipe:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 2 TBS cream of tartar
- 1 TBS oil
- 4 cups water
Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a deep pan. Add the water and the oil, along with any food coloring and scent. Mix.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until the mixture starts to pull away from the pan and forms a ball. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Glitter, more food coloring, etc can be added at this stage too. Knead till its soft and store in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
It was a fun day at school, everyone was happy with their "stash"
