Fun, Colorful and Festive Ice Cubes!

Summer has  officially arrived!   And, with that comes the dog days of summer!   

"Dress- Up" your favorite summer drink with flavored, colorful ice cubes! 

Below are a few recipes that my kids loved (the whole family actually)

 that can perk up your day, cool off a hot, weary body;

and, add a splash of fun and pep to a sizzling afternoon of high temperatures. 

When the kids were little a neighbor gave us the Fruit Sparkle Ice Cubes

recipe below that makes any day a party.

We "dressed" up our summer meals with these festive, colorful ice cubes.

You can use one color or a variety of colors.  Use whatever matches the occasion or mood.

Research & Experimentation:

Kids LOVE to mix colors and experiment with what color will result in the melted liquid.  For example,  red and blue ice cubes not only produce an interesting flavor combination, but when they produce a purple drink when melted!  Now how cool is that? 

Ice cubes made in specialty ice cube trays produce fun shapes. 

Hearts were our favorite!    

Fruit Sparkle Ice Cubes

Mix one small package (small envelope) of powdered drink mix

with 2/3 cup of sugar and 4 cups of water.

Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze. Any flavor can be used.  

If several flavors are made you can put one of each flavor in a glass,

making it more festive.

Examples: red and green at Christmas, red for Valentine’s Day,

green for  St. Patrick’s Day, red and blue for Patriotic days,

pastel colors for Spring and Easter, orange for Halloween, etc. 

Serve with a lemon-lime  or ginger ale carbonated drink,

poured over the top of the cubes."

*  For a healthier, refreshing summer drink add fresh fruit to the above recipe or to plain water to make your drinks.  You can also experiment with your favorite juices. 

Example: Place one raspberry, blueberry, strawberry or a mint leaf, etc.  in each ice cube tray section filled with water before you freeze.  

*  Another very fun, and healthy, summer drink is to serve low fat vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt) with orange juice! 

*  Or,  throw in your favorite fruit, vanilla yogurt, some fruit juice or milk and ice cubes into a blender.  This makes a delicious, refreshing smoothie drink!

Have fun!  Experiment with the possibilities and stay cool!

 

This Blog Post is inspired from the book:

Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes:

Over 500 Quick, Easy Activities for Adults and Children to Share

by Becky B. Baxa

If you would like more fun ideas to share with your children

(that do not require batteries or electronics )

you can purchase this 180 page book,

full of color photos, for $21.95

from Amazon.com

Water Mist Fun

I love going to zoos and parks that have mist coming up out of the sidewalk.  It is so much fun to watch the children playing in the mist as the sun creates rainbows through the water droplets around their smiling, giggling faces!  Or, even better to go to an amusement park and walk through a mist tunnel on a hot summer day.

You can recreate this pleasure at home using an empty spray bottle!

Decorate your empty spray bottles with permanent markers, identifying the owner and letting each person's personality emerge.  Then on a hot day, fill them up with water, go outside  and have fun spraying each other. It is almost as fun as squirt guns, only you have to get closer to the person you are spraying.  This makes it more adventurous and the squealing gets louder!  :-)
  
Try spraying the sidewalk or the side of the house.  The sun will evaporate the water quickly. 

Stand in the sun so as to make a shadow on the sidewalk.  Have someone mist in the outline of your shadow.  Step away and your shadow remains.  Estimate how long it will take to disappear.

Spray the plants and make their leaves shine.  On a hot, dry day you will almost hear them sigh in relief.

What else can you think of to do?

This Blog Post is inspired from the book:

Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes:

Over 500 Quick, Easy Activities for Adults and Children to Share

by Becky B. Baxa

If you would like more fun ideas to share with your children

(that do not require batteries or electronics )

you can purchase this 180 page book,

full of color photos,

for $21.95

from Amazon.com or Etsy.com

Or

from the gift shop at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO,

Silver Dollar City -General Store in Branson, MO .

This book can also be checked out of the following libraries:

Scenic Regional Library - Union and Pacific, MO

First Christian Church - Washington, MO

Hawaii State Library - Honolulu, HI

Story City Public Library - Story City, IA

Ellsworth Public Library - Ellsworth, ME

Water Balloons!

The sun is blazing, it is hot outside. 

The kids are bored and it is too hot to think about doing anything! 

Now is the PERFECT time to pull out a bag of balloons,

 put on your swim suits

and have a family water fight! 

Recently, I volunteered for Vacation Bible School. The first couple of days during game time, I dutifully stood guarding the sidelines. Then on Wednesday the temperatures were in the hot 90's and the station leader pulled out water balloons and squirt guns. Well, all inhibition fell off at the sight of this refreshing activity. From that point on, this time of the day was a highlight. As the kids and I played we had so much fun (and there was a 50 year age difference between my students and myself!) Relationships were strengthened through this time of playing. So, throw inhibition to the wind, and PLAY with your kids. You won't regret it!


http://www.fineartamerica.com


P.S.  Two weeks passed and I ran into one of the little boys from my class.  In the past he had always been shy and reluctantly, but respectfully, answered any question I asked.  But on this encounter he was eager to tell me all about the movie he was going to see and he invited me to see it too.  It was a wonderful conversation.  I am positive this change was due to our play time with water guns during VBS.  Playing with your kids opens all types of doors to communication!

This Blog Post is inspired from the book:

Miraculous, Magical Moments in Minutes:

Over 500 Quick, Easy Activities for Adults and Children to Share

by Becky B. Baxa

If you would like more fun ideas to share with your children

(that do not require batteries or electronics )

you can purchase this 180 page book,

full of color photos,

for $21.95

from Amazon.com or Etsy.com

Or

from the gift shop at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO,

Silver Dollar City- General Store in Branson, MO .

This book can also be checked out of the following libraries:

Scenic Regional Library - Union and Pacific, MO

First Christian Church - Washington, MO

Hawaii State Library - Honolulu, HI

Story City Public Library - Story City, IA
Ellsworth Public Library - Ellsworth, ME