The Sneaky Mom News

The Sneaky Mom News
Spreading bits and pieces of Good News held together with Heartstrings! OCTOBER 2015
by Kas Winters
Welcome to the premier
edition of The Sneaky
Mom News! It’s been a
few years since I’ve
done a regular publication with family ideas
and it is time to do it
again! Concern for kids
who are testing is my
motivation this time, but
i will include information
for all family members
along with kids’ stuff.
For those who are familiar with my prior newsletter called, The Troubadour, you will find the
same types of family
ideas designed to be
fun, uplifting and also
encouraging for children.
With 60% of students
who are taking high
stakes tests failing, I
think it is urgent that
we, as parents or grandparents, make sure our
kids feel confident and
keep them from labeling
themselves as failures–
no matter what testing
grades might be. We can
do that by providing
them with opportunities
to excel in a variety of
areas that interest them.
This can increase their
confidence. It works!
Kas
Fall Ideas and Activities for Families
JACK-O-LANTERN CARVING FUN!
For many families, carving pumpkins is one of the highlights of
this holiday. We always made it a family gathering and included
snacks and plenty of laughter. One of our favorite tools for
carving was an electric drill and we made sure children were
well supervised in it’s use. (The Sneaky Mom part was that they
felt good about learning something and developing a useful
skill when they thought they were just having fun.) We used
various cutting tools from kitchen knives to melon ball scoops
and X-acto knives too. One of our techniques included scraping
off some of the orange pumpkin rind so the white part underneath would show. It made great “white” teeth for some of the
jack-o-lantern smiles. Putting pumpkins inside of one another
was a frequent set-up. In the one shown
above the big one looks mean and the
little guy inside looks scared. Of course,
some families don’t do scary at all and
one of the very non-frightening carving
designs we used was that of cutting
heart-shaped holes in pumpkins and
letting our LOVE LIGHT shine for everyone to see!
LOOK INSIDE FOR:
.Family Activities
.Fall & Halloween Decor
.Autumn Recipes
.Crafts/Ideas for Kids
.October Celebrations
.Halloween Fun
.October Holidays
.Ideas: Women/Moms
.Ideas: Men/Dads
.Grandparents/Seniors
.Web Links for more!
Use an Oktoberfest
to learn about
German Customs
Prepare German foods. It
might be as simple as
frankfurters, sauerkraut
and potato salad or as
complex as sauerbraten, a
thick German soup or a bit
of frosted gingerbread.
Find some German music
on line and share it with
kids. Whether it’s an “Oom
pa-pa band” or Romberg’s
Student Prince, it will be
memorable.
Read folktales like Hansel
and Gretel, Rumplestiltskin,
Snow White and Rose Red,
or another of Grimm’s Fairy
tales, with a child, for a
memorable time spent
together.
Instead of doing a dinner,
you just might enjoy
gingerbread cookies while
looking online for photos
of fancy cuckoo clocks!
AUTUMN FAMILY FOOD FUN
GUMMY WORM
BEVERAGES
Draping a couple of “gummy worms”
over the edge of glasses filled with ice
and juice, soda, or iced tea can make
After telling our kids not to play with
their food all year long, this is one time some kids giggle!
we can encourage some silliness. The
funny face above is a “muffin pizza”
made by a child. Toast an English
muffin, spoon some tomato sauce on
the top of it and add a nice layer of
grated mozzarella cheese and use toppings such as pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, bell peppers and others to
make faces on your dinner. Our kids
and grandkids all loved the creativity
and it tasted even better because they As crazy as these look, they are simply
made it by themselves. (Of course, an devilled eggs with pieces of sliced
adult needs to handle the hot part for black olives placed in the center of
young children.) The Sneaky Mom part each one to create a plate filled with
is that kids are learning to cook while
scary eyeballs. Add a bit a paprika for
having fun playing with their food.
a bloodshot eye effect.
SILLY FOOD FUN
DEVILLED EYEBALLS
MAKE YOUR OWN
GRAVEYARD CAKE
There are so many decorating options
for making one of these! Bake a cake
or buy a plain one and decorate it.
Frost the top and sides. Then add
cookies or crackers to make headstones and let your imagination have a
good time with any other details. You
can add a few
Halloween
candies, as
well as other
decorations
that might
include a tree
made of black
licorice or a
ghost made
with gauze!
MAKE A SOUL CAKE for ALL SOULS DAY.
Remember those who have passed away.
“But the souls of the just are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them.
Wisdom 3:1
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C. Butter
2 C. Sugar
2 Eggs, well beaten
2 1/2 C. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 C. Applesauce
1/2 C. Currants
1/2 C. Raisins
During the Middle Ages, soul cake and wine were left outside the door as food for the
souls of those who had departed and were thought to roam the earth on this evening.
(They were probably eaten by the poor.) Eventually this developed into the custom of
going door to door and begging for pieces of soul cake. When given sweets, people
would promise to pray for members of families who had died. This evolved into “trick or
treat.” You might gather as a family to pray for those you know who have passed on.
Oven: 350°
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in applesauce. Add dry ingredients
gradually. Stir well. Pour into a greased 9” square pan. Bake 45-50 minutes. Cool on a rack
and cut the cake into slices. Whipped cream tastes good on top, although it is not a traditional topping. Kids can help with baking!
AUTUMN FAMILY ACTIVITIES
Visit a PUMPKIN PATCH or a FARM and Make Happy Memories!
Make a bonfire.
Roast marshmallows.
Enjoy watching leaves turn to
autumn colors.
Attend a Football Game.
Root for your favorite team.
GET INVOLVED!
MAKE A
DIFFERENCE!
World Food Day is a day of action against
hunger. On October 16, people around
the world come together to declare their
commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime.
Because when it comes to hunger, the only
acceptable number in the world is zero.
www.worldfooddayusa.org/what-is-wfd
Celebrate Animals
on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
OCTOBER 4th
CRITTER
LOVE
It is a tradition to have a blessing of the animals on the feast of St. Francis of
Assisi because of his great love for all "critters". Treat your pet to a walk or
special dinner. Go to the zoo. Spend time playing with a pet. Go bird watching
with a pair of binoculars and a book to help you identify the birds that you
see. Make a bird feeder. Place it outdoors and fill it with seeds.
Enjoy Making Holiday Crafts and Decorations!
Fall decorating and crafts can be fun for the whole family. There are
many simple projects for children of various ages and others for creative
women, including moms, seniors and grandmothers. (Of course, any of
the guys are welcome to craft if they choose.)
Pinecone Owl
Make a Scarecrow
Create a scarecrow for
an outdoor decoration,
Materials for Pinecone Owl: Pineor as a greeter near the
cone, jiggle eyes, feathers, pipe clean- front door to hold goodies for Trick-orer, piece of yellow construction paper Treaters. You can also make one just
or felt, white glue, scissors, gloves
for a fall decoration. For the greeter,
Use the gloves to hold the pokey pine- use real clothes and stuff them with
cone. Glue on jiggle eyes and feather newspaper then use safety pins to hold
everything together. Sit it in a chair
tufts that look like ears. Cut a small
triangle with scissors from yellow con- with boots and gloves. Heads were
made with paper bags and or by stuffstruction paper or felt and glue it in
ing the top part of panty hose with
place for a beak. Take a pipe cleaner
and bend it to form two feet. Glue the cotton batting. Either way, a face was
painted on it and a hat was perched on
feet in place. That's all there is to it.
Make a whole family of owls and glue top. We often place a pumpkin bucket
in his lap and fill it with treats for our
them to a small branch to make a
Halloween guests.
decoration.
Paint a Pumpkin
Painting pumpkins is fun for all ages!
Acrylic paints work best. Protect a
table with a few layers of newspaper
and/or a disposable plastic tablecloth.
Supply paints, brushes, cups of water
for washing colors out and some paper
towels for clean-up. Then PLAY!
More IDEAS for FALL & HALLOWEEN Fun,
Crafts, Decorations, Food, Activities, and Celebrations!
Fall Fun for Families
by Kas Winters
Discover more than 84 ideas
for Fall Fun for Families! In
this Fall Fun book you will find
19 different ideas for things to
do just with fall leaves! There
are ideas for storytelling as the
nights get dark earlier. Find
directions for lots of crafts
here, including easy-to-follow
directions to make them.
$12.00 USD
http://wwww.everythingfamily.net/fallbooks
Family Friendly
Halloween Fun
by Kas Winters,
More than 500 ideas to play,
learn and celebrate together!
Decorations, games, party
ideas, costumes and fall fun
are included. Ideas are fun
for family interaction and
good times. There are no
macabre activities included.
$20.00 USD
HOMEMADE
COSTUME IDEAS
HOMEMADE
HALLOWEEN MASKS
SUNGLASS MASKS
Begin with a pair of glasses or
sunglasses and add some craft
materials to create a mask. It
can be simple or elaborate,
depending on supplies on-hand
and the character desired.
CONSTRUCTION PAPER MASKS
Cut and paste pieces of construction paper together. Fold
them, curl strips, bend them and use markers too.
We had more fun making costumes than we did when
we purchased the ones from stores. Most were creative
collaborations between parents and kids and our memories of those times spent together are precious ones. The
materials we used ranged from pieces of fabric, towels,
scarves and pajamas to things made using cardboard
and tin foil.
The time spent together being creative and trying to
come up with costumes from the stuff we had around
the house was terrific! One year, dad made a robot outfit
using a plastic trash can and a paint bucket. It even had
flashing lights and dryer-hose arms! Great stuff!
FABRIC, TRIMS, & FELT MASKS
Felt is easy to cut and glue pieces together. If you sew and
have scraps of fabric, lace and trims, use those.
GREASEPAINT
Draw facial features
with greasepaint, make
-up, or non-toxic acrylic
paints that wash off
easily.
OCTOBER HOLIDAYS
October 1: World Vegetarian Day
October 2: World Smile Day
October 3: Techies’ Day
October 4: St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day
October 5: Do Something Nice Day
and World Teachers Day
October 6: Mad Hatter Day
October 9: Curious Events Day
and Fire Prevention Day
October 11: It’s My Party Day
and Take a Teddy Bear to Work Day
October 12: Old Farmer’s Day
October 14: National Dessert Day
and Emergency Nurse Day
October 16: Dictionary Day and Bosses Day
October 19: Elevate Your Life Day
October 21: Count Your Buttons Day
October 22: National Nuts Day
(for the nuts that grow on trees!)
October 24: Make a Difference Day
October 25: World Pasta Day
October 27: Tell a Story Day and Navy Day
October 28: Plush Animal Lovers’ Day
October 29: Hermit Day
October 30: Mischief Night
October 31: Halloween and Carve a Pumpkin Day
All Hallows Eve
Set of 10 FULL SIZE patterns for carving JackO-Lanterns. Includes instructions and more
than 40 photographs with additional ideas.
$3.00 USD for downloadable PDF file
A Teacher’s Guide:
AUTUMN
ACTIVITIES
by Kas Winters
This book is similar to
Fall Fun for Families
but activities are
geared toward
groups of children in
classrooms, Scout
troops and similar
situations.
$12.00 USD
http://wwww.everythingfamily.net/fallbooks
The Sneaky Mom News
is published by Kas Winters,
the Mother of Family Ideas,
the Sneaky Mom on wordofmomradio.com
and the National Family Activities Expert
for Pregnancy.org
Kas’ Website: www.everythingfamily.net
Phone: 602-789-9240
e-mail: kas@everythingfamily.net