You're The Icing On My Cupcake!

   This past Tuesday evening we had a program at our library that was filled with sweet stories, activities and fun! Here are the stories we read;

 Little Mouse and the Big Cupcake

by Thomas Taylor

When Little Mouse finds a delicious cupcake, all his friends ask if they can have a taste. And Little Mouse, being a very kind mouse, says yes to each one of them. But will there be any left for Little Mouse once all his friends have taken a bite?

 Who Made This Cake?

 by Chihir Nakagawa

 Imagine a birthday cake like no other. What if the people you order your next birthday cake from are tiny, and what if they build cakes the way we build buildings? Tractor-trailers and giant cranes, catwalks, and helicopters. Hundreds of workers. Never have you seen such a construction site!

Piggies in the Kitchen

by Michelle Meadows

When Mama leaves for the day, her piggies have big plans. Sneaking into the kitchen to bake some treats, they make quite a mess—but it’s all for a very special surprise party!

We also had fun playing the following games;

Marshmallow Swap 

What you will need:

• straws
• marshmallows
• plates
• cups

  Place the same amount of marshmallows on each child's plate.  When you say go, they have to move the marshmallows from the plate to the cup by sucking them to the straw and dropping them into the cup. While many of my group found this difficult they enjoyed trying and all made a great effort to complete the task. Perhaps mini marshmallows would work better and prove to make the game easier.

Don't Break My Heart

What you will need: 

• clothes pins
• tissue paper hearts

     Give each child a clothes pin and have them sit in a circle. I clipped my clothes pin onto the tissue paper heart and then passed it to the child on my right.  The idea is to pass the heart around the whole group using only the clothes pin, no hands,  without breaking it. To make the game more difficult, the leader could call out different commands such as, "Stop! Go left!" "Stop! Go right!" "Pass across!" "Pass behind!" This is a fun and very easy game.

Craft:
 Sock Cakes

Ingredients:

• one pair of fuzzy socks (I got mine at the Dollar Store!)
• Tootsie Pops
• Cupcake liners
• cellophane
• ribbon

    Give each child a pair of socks, a tootsie pop and a cupcake liner.  Start by having the children roll up their pair of socks. Instruct them to begin rolling at the toe and be sure to keep the bottom flat (so that the cupcake stands upright).  Once they are finished rolling, use a rubber band to secure the rolled socks. Place the sock cake into a paper cupcake liner and insert Tootsie Pop in the center. Voila! You are done! You can dress up your sock cake by wrapping it in cellophane and adding ribbon. A treat to warm your feet! The perfect gift - a calorie free cupcake!