Miffy Fun Activities

April showers bring May and June flowers and warm weather for Miffy to play outdoors. She loves spending time outside in the fresh air, making delicious dishes with ingredients from the garden and creating works of art with objects she finds in nature. Below are three activities Miffy enjoys doing while outside, and she thinks you’d have fun doing, too.

“Rock-ing Good Times” Artwork

 Supplies

1 stone

Paint, either store-bought or homemade. If you’re making paint on your own, you will need 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup pepper. 1/2 cup flour and food coloring.

Bundle of sticks. Sticks should be at least half the length of an adult’s forearm.

4-5 bushy pieces of a plant

2 heavy duty rubber bands

Glue

Instructions:

1. Find one stone the size of a child’s palm.
2. Gather a bundle of sticks or branches. The sticks should be at least half the length of an adult’s forearm. You should have a minimum of ten of these. Separate them into several different groups, with at least three sticks in each bundle.  Place bushy part of plant against the end of one group of sticks so that some of the plan rests on top of the stick.  Wrap 2 rubber bands tightly around this area, making sure to contain the bushy portion in each.
3. Paint rock yellow or orange. Press rock face down on paper and hold for 20 seconds somewhere at the top of the picture.   This will be your sun.
4. Wipe and rinse rock off until base color disappears or paint over base color.
5. Choose which type of insect you’d like feature in the picture. Dip stone in paint again and place rock down for 20 seconds somewhere near the bottom of the picture. Hold for 20 seconds. Remove.  This will be the body of your insect.
6. Decorate insect with items found outside. Small pebbles dipped in paint make nice spots! Grass dipped in paint can be used for legs and glued to picture! Flower petals make great wings!
7. To finish the picture use the homemade paint brush to add other elements. It’s easy to dip the brush in blue for the sky, white for clouds or green for the bushes. For older children, find a variety of different plants and create brushes with each material. That way, the designs will look different with each paintbrush.
8. Stand back, admire and hang up in the house for everyone to see!

 

“Berry Delicious” Salad From The Garden

Written by Cricket Azima & The Creative Kitchen, which teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner.

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup Raspberries, mashed
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup Olive oil
• 3 Tbsp Plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 tsp Salt, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp Pepper, or to taste

Salad:

• 5 oz. Baby spinach leaves, washed
• 2 cups Washed, hulled, and thinly sliced strawberries
• 1 cup Blueberries, washed
• 1 cup Washed and halved grape tomatoes
• 3/4 cup Peeled and shredded carrots
• 1 Yellow pepper, finely diced
• 1 15-oz. can Beets, drained, rinsed and chopped
• 1 15-oz. can White beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 Avocado,pitted,  peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup Feta cheese crumbles
• 1/3 cup Roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
• Salt and pepper, optional and to taste

Directions:

1. To make the dressing: in a small bowl, combine mashed raspberries, honey, vinegar and olive oil. Whisk in yogurt and stir until combined.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine spinach, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, carrots, yellow pepper, beets, white beans, avocado, feta cheese and sunflower seeds.
3. Pour 1/2 of dressing over salad, distributing evenly. Toss until well combined.  If desired, add remaining dressing, a little at a time, to taste.
4. Salt and Pepper to taste.

*Optional: serve with sliced grilled chicken breast.

Miffy “Hippity Hopscotch”

Supplies:

Sidewalk chalk of various colors

1. Pick five different colors of chalk.
2. Draw five small circles equidistant from each other in a circular pattern, so that they form one larger circle. Make sure each circle is a different color.
3. Place the numbers 1-5 in a random order inside each of the circles.
4. Draw a pair of bunny ears in a square that sits in the center of all of the circles.
5. Shout out different colors or numbers in a random pattern and have your child hop your way to the correct circle, using the “Hippity Hop” pad in the middle to get there, if necessary. With 5 different colors and 5 different numbers to choose from, there are countless ways to direct your child.
6. For Miffy cutouts to use in the center of the circle, contact ajaick@goodmanmedia.com.