St. Patrick's Day Alphabet

For fruit option you will need:                  For vegetable option you will need:
a can of fruit cocktail or                               celery, blueberries
5 blueberries                                                 orange, yellow and red sweet peppers
pineapple, grapes, peaches or oranges         popcorn
strawberries, or cherries
popcorn

Directions:
An adult should do the chopping/slicing
1. make the cloud with popcorn
2. add each row of fruit or vegetables
3. Eat with your fingers or use a dip of your choice

This is a good activity to work on colors.  It's also good for getting your children to sample new foods because they are tiny portions.  Fresh fruit is a better option but I was stuck indoors during a snow storm and used what I could find in the cupboard.  Any book will go with this snack and there should be a wide variety to choose from at stores you frequent.

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Millions of Snowflakes

You will need:
paper and scissors to make the paper snowflake
tortilla, scissors and shredded cheese to make the edible snowflake

Directions for paper snowflake:
1. fold the paper 3 or 4 times
2. mark it with a crayon or marker where you want to make cuts
3. cut or "snip" the paper following the lines
4. after saying: "Hocus, pocus, abracadabra" unfold the paper to reveal the snowflake
5. decorate by coloring or dotting with glue and then glitter

Directions for edible snowflake:
1. fold the tortilla and mark it with a washable marker or butter knife
2. cut the tortilla with scissors
3. open after saying: "Hocus, pocus, abracadabra"
4. sprinkle on shredded cheese or cinnamon and sugar and microwave for 15 seconds
5. eat!

Tortillas are easy to cut with scissors, especially for beginners!  The paper snowflakes can be made from coffee filters which are also easy to cut.  It can be a good time to talk about shapes.  Curved lines are much harder to cut than straight ones, so if your child is a beginner, start with straight lines. There was never much snow where I grew up, so paper and edible snowflakes were my way of compensating for that.  I hope there is snow where you live so you can read the book and then play in the snow or catch real snowflakes on your tongue.