Sidney The Silly Who Eats Only 6

It’s true! Peanut Brittle Day is almost upon us! If you’re looking for a fun and tasty way to commemorate the 26th, get cracking (those peanut shells) with the kids in your life and try your hand at the following recipe. Just remember to use extra caution when working with very hot items when children are nearby, and be sure to check if anyone has any allergies to the ingredients before tackling this nutty project!

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shelled peanuts
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS:
1. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In an 8 cup (2 quart) glass microwavable bowl, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and salt and microwave uncovered on high for 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the peanuts and microwave uncovered on high for 3 to 5 minutes until mixture is a light golden brown colour.
4. Add the butter and vanilla and stir in well, then microwave uncovered on high for 1 to 2 more minutes – the peanuts will be lightly browned.
5. Add the baking soda and quickly stir it into the mix until it appears light and foamy.
6. Pour onto the prepared baking sheet and tap lightly against a countertop to achieve the desired thickness.
7. Let cool and break the peanut brittle into pieces.
8. Enjoy!

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On January 23rd take a few moments to celebrate National Handwriting Day. Get the children in your care to spend some time practicing their handwriting – a skill that is often overlooked in this age of computers!

Go a step further in sparking the enjoyment of literacy in all its forms by supplying a selection of books written in different languages. Whether the kids understand exactly what is in front of them or not, they will be able to copy out passages from the pages and, hopefully, gain a greater appreciation for the written word!

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Kid Inventors’ Day is coming up next week on the 17th and with it is the chance to help children really make a mark on the world!  One of the biggest issues in this day and age is the growing concern for many environmental matters, so why not make that the focus for an inventors’ challenge?

Hand out paper and pencils to the children and start a discussion about some of the problems the earth is facing right now.  Chat about pollution, global warming, and threats to biodiversity and see what solutions they might already know about which will help those particular causes.

Then challenge the kids to write up a plan or sketch out a blueprint for an invention that could offer a new way to help solve one of the issues you have covered.  Do they want to put a new spin on wind turbines?  Are they looking towards increasing people’s awareness through a different means of communication or technology?  Or do they have a brilliant idea for creating a machine that will sort and recycle garbage?

Whether their concepts are realistic or not, an activity like this will keep them mindful of their personal responsibility to the planet and will ensure that their creative juices continue to flow!  And who knows?  Perhaps one of the plans that are created will turn out to be the basic blueprint for a great advancement in future environmental care!

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Next week, from the 8th to the 14th, is the ideal time to reconnect with friends and family by making the most of Universal Letter Writing Week. Take a few moments to jot down your thoughts or write about what is new in your life. If you really want to get into the project you can even create a whole summary of your experiences in 2010 – sort of like a late holiday letter – and send it out to everyone you know!

Children are bound to find this an interesting activity since they love to express themselves. What better way to show the people they care about what is new and exciting in their lives than to tell them in their own words? And, of course, if the child is too young to write their own letter, they can either dictate to someone older or draw a picture to send instead.

As an added bonus to this fun venture, why not offer them the chance to compose a note using a very different means? World Braille Day is on January 4th and can really enrich such a project by adding an element of intrigue. Not too many sighted people know how to read or write Braille, so the chance to learn and use this interesting skill will likely be very welcomed by kids in particular! They can either set up a piece of cardboard below some paper and work backwards and upside down by pressing firmly with a stylus or pen to create the raised dots, or they can simply copy out the symbols to form words so that they get the feel of the writing without… well… getting the feel of the writing!

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As the entire planet rings in the new year, why not take the opportunity to spread the word about Global Family Day and see if you can introduce one more reason to celebrate to the children in your life? Global Family Day, on January 1st, is one of the most uplifting holidays, with the simple goal of treating everyone in a peaceful manner. It is a fine way to welcome 2011, and any kids who are given the chance to recognize it will undoubtedly appreciate what such a day could mean if everyone joined in!

So, break out the bells and drums and noisemakers and offer them to the younger generation! Tell them to create a musical number that will add to the celebration – and join in with them, of course, as they raise their sound of joyous peace! Get them really thinking, too, by asking them how they plan on spreading that fun feeling to all different types of people throughout the year.

And for those who are looking for a quieter way to mark the occasion, encourage them to begin volunteering at a senior’s centre or to become involved with a food bank. With the rush of the holidays finishing many people return to their routines, but there is still a very real need to care for others regardless of the time of year. January 1st might just be the perfect time to realize how large the global family really is!

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We are almost ready to say farewell to 2010 and to welcome in the new year! There are, of course, numerous holidays with which to mark the first few days and weeks of 2011. Take a peak at some of the highlights to come as we move into January:

January: International Creativity Month
January 1-7: Celebration Of Life Week
January 3: Drinking Straw Day
January 4: World Braille Day
January 8-14: Universal Letter Writing Week
January 13: Rubber Duckie Day
January 16: Religious Freedom Day
January 17: Kid Inventors’ Day
January 23: National Handwriting Day
January 26: National Peanut Brittle Day
January 29: Seeing Eye Dog Day
January 31: Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

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The end of the year is almost here and with it inevitably comes the realization that there are many things that are still left to do before the last few days of 2010 pass by! Take the opportunity this December 29th and really buckle down on Tick Tock Day to see what items you can check off your ‘to do’ list.

Don’t just limit the holiday to yourself either. Ask kids what goals they had in mind, if any, for the year and bring Tick Tock Day to their attention as a last minute challenge for 2010. It’s amazing how much a person can accomplish with a tight deadline!

So clean up your bedroom, send a note to each of your loved ones telling them what they mean to you, create an outline for the book you want to write, create a really good peanut butter cookie recipe, or plant an indoor herb garden! Whatever you had hoped to get done this year can still probably happen if you get cracking. Just remember the saying that while time flies, you are the pilot!

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If you are searching for the perfect thing to give the children in your life, try teaching them to be a bit gentler with the earth! Festive Recycling Day – a largely unknown little celebration following a widely recognized one – is coming up on December 26th, and it highlights the importance of taking the time this season to remember that even if we are on holidays, we still need to take care of the planet.

So teach those around you to be accountable with the extra paper and ribbon and packaging that is abundant at this time of year. Remind kids to try to reuse items before disposing of them and to always separate articles for recycling. Being responsible goes a long way towards achieving true peace on earth!

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Welcoming winter
With seasonal poetry
That warms the spirit.

December 21st serves double duty next week when it offers up two fabulous celebrations! Both National Haiku Poetry Day and the winter solstice take place on that day and they are simple to combine into one fun event!

Have kids write haikus about the first day of winter and perhaps you will be setting them on the path to a lifelong appreciation for the beautiful poetic form. Connecting writing to what is going on around them is a great way to encourage literacy in young children, and the challenge of tackling a new skill – such as haiku – will keep them invested while they are learning something different.

You can even add some excitement into the activity by running a competition to see whose poem is the funniest or the most beautiful or, if they are older, the most technically accurate haiku. For younger children, having them create a picture of a scene depicting the onset of winter and the longest night / shortest day of the year will spark the imaginations of those who may be having a harder time with the writing.

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In just one short week, on December 17th, the opportunity to celebrate Underdog Day will be upon us! Give the kids in your care the challenge of re-reading one of their favorite stories to discover an underdog. Get them really thinking by asking them to find a character whom does not end up saving the day and have them retell the tale so that they actually do become the hero. Then ask them if they have ever accomplished something important even though other people doubted that they could. How did that make them feel and why did they try anyhow?

Underdog Day is a fun little holiday with big implications. Get the children in your life thinking about what they might achieve!

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