Our Five Ring Circus: A Year of Color: White {BAKE / PLAY / CRAFT}

Friday, January 20, 2017

A Year of Color: White {BAKE / PLAY / CRAFT}

Welcome to the first monthly edition of A Year of Color!


A Year of Color Link Party

On the third Friday of each month,  I will be co-hosting a monthly linkup called A Year of Color with Little Dove, Macke Monologues, and Work It Mommy. Each month will focus on one color and you can link up any post that revolves around that particular color.  Fashion, Recipes, Activities for Kids, Crafts...ANYTHING is welcome! The link will be open for a month, so you can link up any time. We hope you will join us!

The color for the month of January is: 


A Year of Color Link Party

I had so many ideas go through my head for this month, but I decided to focus on a winter theme. I'm going to share a cute cupcake recipe, an easy and inexpensive winter craft, and a sensory play activity for kids. It's unusually warm in Pittsburgh this month, so we are finding other ways to enjoy winter!

Polar Bear Cupcakes


My mom is a baker so she is the one who always gets to wow my kids with her cute baked goods. My creations are seriously lacking compared to hers, but I was able to impress my kids with this one! (For now. My mom has plans to make polar bear cupcakes with Lily this weekend. I'm sure hers will put mine to shame!)

Polar Bear Cupcakes

When it comes to baking, I am all about easy. I don't have the time or the energy for complex recipes. This recipe is really simple and each cupcake only takes about 2 minutes to assemble.

Ingredients:

  • 1 box of white cake mix
  • White Frosting
  • White Cupcake Liners
  • Black Writing Gel
  • Brown M&M's
  • Cereal Rings (Fruit Loops, Cheerios)
 Polar Bear Cupcakes

Directions: 

1. Make the cupcakes according to the directions on the box and allow to cool. 

2. Cover the top of each cupcake with white frosting. Don't worry about making it smooth. Texture is good! 

3. Place a cereal ring (I used fruit loops) in the middle of each cupcake to form a nose and two at the top of the cupcake to form ears. 

Polar Bear Cupcakes

4. Carefully cover the cereal rings with white frosting.

5. Place a brown M&M in the middle of the nose.

6. Use the black writing gel to make two tiny dots above the nose for the eyes. 

So easy! 

Polar Bear Cupcakes

These cupcakes turned out really cute and went VERY quickly!

Polar Bear Cupcakes

My girls actually squealed when they spotted these cupcakes, which made this not so accomplished baker very happy!
Polar Bear Cupcakes

 

Two Ingredient Sensory Play Snow 


Sensory Play is very important in our home, and sensory snow is one of the easiest sensory play recipes to make! It can be whipped up in less than a minute. And when you can't experience the real stuff, this is a lot of fun. It's even cold!

2 Ingredient Fake Snow

Ingredients:

  • Baking Soda
  • Shaving Cream

Directions:

  1. Pour a 1 lb box of Baking Soda into a large bowl. (If you're feeling extra adventurous, quadruple the batch and pour it into an under the bed storage container!) 
  2. Squirt shaving cream into the bowl and mix the two ingredients together. Continue adding small amounts of shaving cream until you get the desired consistency. The "snow" should be crumbly but stick together when molded.
Fake Snow

Not only is Sensory Play Snow quick and easy to make, but the ingredients are inexpensive and you can control the amount.  Kids can play with a small batch and mold it into shapes, or they can use shovels and other sand toys in a bigger batch. This is one of my kids favorite sensory play recipes!

Fake Snow Recipe

 

Winter Snowball Banner


This easy craft is perfect for kids ages 5 and up (under supervision), is very inexpensive, and is a great addition to your winter home decor!

Winter Snowball Banner

Items Needed: 

  • Cotton Balls
  • White Thread
  • Needle
Snowball Banner

Directions:


1. Decide where you want to hang the banner and measure the length needed. Add 2 extra feet to allow for draping and tying.

2. Tie one end of the thread to the head of the needle. Tie the other end of the thread into a triple knot.

3. Thread the needle through the middle of a cotton ball, then use your fingers to push it gently to the other end. Tie the end of the string around the cotton ball. This will be the end piece.

Snowball Banner

4. Continue threading the needle through cotton balls and pushing them to the end of the thread until you have the desired amount.

Snowball Banner
Snowball Banner
Snowball Banner

5. Cut the thread and tie it around the cotton ball at the opposite end of where you started. Trim the ends of the thread on both sides.

6. Use your fingers to space out the cotton balls evenly.

Snowball Banner

7. Hang out of reach of toddlers and young children. Trust me on this one. This is a delicate banner and my toddler tornado took the cotton balls off the first one we made in approximately 30 seconds!

This craft is a lot of fun and all the threading helps strengthen those fine motor skills that are so important for so many tasks.

Snowball Banner

The snowball banner is quick, cheap and easy to make and it looks so cute hanging up!

Snowball Banner

It may not be white outside right now, but we had so much fun with these winter-themed activities!


Please join us for A Year of Color next month on February 17th!  February's color of the month will be:

A Year of Color Linkup

Link up your color white themed posts with us all month long! XOXO




30 comments:

  1. The polar bear cupcakes are so cute and make me want one. I can see while Lexie squealed. I need to make snow dough. So much fun.

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    1. My husband said I was crazy for attempting them, but they were so easy to make. Much quicker than I expected! And snow dough is so much fun. It would be perfect for your kids!

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  2. Okay so this was super fun! Those cupcakes are adoooorable. I'll write this down in my planner and I'll for sure be joining the link-up (it's my goal to blog more often)!

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  3. I love all of this! I might just have to make a banner for my fire place!

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  4. Oh my gosh, I want to make a cotton ball banner so bad now! These ideas are all so cute!

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  5. Oh my gosh!! You and I thought SO much alike this month. We made that exact same snow (and "exploded" it with vinegar after we were done playing with it)! We made a craft with cotton balls! And, we made a white treat! Great minds...
    Can't wait to see how pink inspires you next month!

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    1. What's funny is that I almost shared a cotton ball craft, too! I'm definitely going to try the exploding snow. So fun!

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  6. These are so cute, thanks! I am going to make the polar bear cupcakes tonight to bring to the girls I babysit tomorrow! I am not a very artistic baker, so I am so glad you posted an easy recipe :)

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  7. All of your crafts this month is so cute! Love those cupcakes! And you and Desiree both did the snow and cotton ball crafts, great minds think alike.

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    1. I thought it was funny how our ideas matched up. We never even discussed what we were doing!

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  8. Amazing you are so creative, good job!

    Cathy Vargas
    Vintage Inspired Clothing
    http://www.vindiebaby.com/tops/outerwear.html

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  9. Youre speaking my language here- easy and fun!! We love sensory play too. Nothing better than getting to play using multiple senses!

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  10. Oh I love the banner and how easy making snow is -- without the true mess of snow. I'll add this to our idea box for when the cold and snow comes our way... if it ever does.

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    1. I'm guessing the snow and cold is finally back for you, too! ;)

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  11. Oh goodness, so much fun! You and Desiree did an amazing job involving your kiddos! I really love the polar bear cupcakes!

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    1. Thanks, Justine! We're making your hot chocolate this weekend! XOXO

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  12. Oh my gosh, such fun ideas! I love the cotton ball banner - it's so simple and pretty! I love this link-up; so glad I could join in this month!

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  13. I love, love, love the polar bear cupcakes... We will definitely try these out this year. We haven't had snow in quite some time, and yesterday was up to 55 degrees. I asked Lewie if he was still hoping for snow this winter. He said, "It's still winter?" I always love your ideas.

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    1. Thank you, Annette! I laughed at Lewie's response. Too cute!!!

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  14. Those polar bears are adorable! I think I'll make some this week with my girls!

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  15. These are the CUTEST ideas. I am swooning over those cupcakes. I know my girls would LOVE to make them with me.

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    Replies
    1. I bet they would! It's so much fun having girls because they love to help in the kitchen!

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