For this recipe you’ll need:

• Vanilla and chocolate cupcakes
• Chocolate and vanilla frosting
• Vanilla wafer cookies
• Assorted candies for ears and bows
• Food coloring
• A pint sized glass
• A knife
• A spoon
• Spatula
• Scissors
• Gallon and sandwich sized bag

Eep the Mouse cupcake:

Add one teaspoon of blue food coloring to store-bought vanilla frosting and whisk, or add to homemade butter cream frosting.

Make a piping bag. Put one corner of a gallon sized plastic bag down in the bottom of your cup and fold the bag open over the edges. Scoop in your blue frosting until the bag is full. Lift your bag out, squeeze out the air and zip the bag shut.

Squeeze the frosting down to the bottom corner of the bag, and then snip off the end.

Starting from the edge of the cupcake, frost gently in a spiral motion until you reach the cupcake’s center.

To make the face, prepare two piping bags: one with black frosting, and one with white.

Using black frosting, draw little eyebrows, eyes, a nose and a mouth on your vanilla wafer cookie. Use white frosting to add a little sparkle to his eye.

Place your cookie in the center of your cupcake.

To make the ears, cut a chocolate circle in half and place them.

Trace over the chocolate with blue frosting, and finish with two blue candies.

Mother Goose Club’s Teddy Bear cupcake:

Use a chocolate cupcake.

Make a piping bag with chocolate frosting, frost starting at the edge and work your way to the center.

Place the cookie face and chocolate circle ears. Trace over the ears with chocolate frosting.

For Teddy’s special bow, add two blue candy-covered chocolates.

Baa Baa Sheep cupcake:

Use a vanilla cupcake. Add eight drops of red, and two drops of blue to vanilla frosting to get the right color. Make a piping bag.

Make a series of dots with pink frosting around the edge of the cupcake.

Using your spoon, smear each dot towards the center of the cupcake.

Make a second circle of dots, just like the first in the center.

Add the cookie face and two purple chocolate-covered candies for ears.

View on YouTube!

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
It’s an emergency!
Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
My cat’s stuck in that tree!

Red lights, blue lights
Go up and down.
Lights on the fire truck
Go around and around.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Honk honk honk!
Move out of the way!
Honk honk honk!
We’ve got to save the day!

There’s a fire in town
So we’ve got to move fast.
The fire truck is coming through.
Let that fire engine pass.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
It’s an emergency!
Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
My cat’s stuck in that tree!

Red lights, blue lights
Go up and down.
Lights on the fire truck
Go around and around.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Honk honk honk!
Move out of the way!
Honk honk honk!
We’ve got to save the day!

There’s a fire in town
So we’ve got to move fast.
The fire truck is coming through.
Let that fire engine pass.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
It’s an emergency!
Eee-ooh, eee-ooh!
My cat’s stuck in that tree!

Red lights, blue lights
Go up and down.
Lights on the fire truck
Go around and around.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

Fire engine, fire engine,
Red as a beet.
Fire engine, fire engine,
Racing down the street.

View on YouTube!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
You’re always green and lovely.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
You’re always green and lovely.
So faithful green throughout the year,
In summer and when winter’s here.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
You’re always green and lovely.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Majestic are your branches.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Majestic are your branches.
The beautiful tree, so tall and strong,
You fill my heart with joy and song.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Majestic are your branches.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Your lights, they shine so brightly.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Your lights, they shine so brightly.
You glow and twinkle like a star,
A wondrous sight from near or far.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Your lights, they shine so brightly.

View on YouTube!

There are eight planets, eight planets
In our solar system.
There are eight planets, eight planets.
Can you name all of them?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn too.
Don’t forget Uranus and Neptune.
They’re part of the crew.

Mercury is the smallest one,
The closest planet to the sun.
Shiny Venus is number two,
By far the hottest planet too.
Earth is home to you and me
And living things like whales and trees.
Mars is fourth in line, you know.
It’s dry and red with volcanoes.

There are eight planets, eight planets
In our solar system.
There are eight planets, eight planets.
Can you name all of them?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn too.
Don’t forget Uranus and Neptune.
They’re part of the crew.

Jupiter has the largest mass,
A planet made of layers of gas.
Saturn is famous for many things,
Its moons, its size, its pretty rings.
Uranus means the god of heaven.
Count its moons, all twenty-seven.
Neptune’s eighth and way out there,
Farthest from the sun we share.

There are eight planets, eight planets
In our solar system.
There are eight planets, eight planets.
Can you name all of them?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn too.
Don’t forget Uranus and Neptune.
They’re part of the crew.

There are eight planets, eight planets
In our solar system.
There are eight planets, eight planets.
Now we know all of them.

View on YouTube!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! Below we’ve outlined a fun and creative way to show your kids how to give thanks and gratitude this holiday season. We’ve named this craft, “Gratitude Pie”. We hope that making this pie will be a memorable and heartfelt activity everyone can enjoy.  At the end of this craft have the kids share what they are grateful for and why. While sharing, each child will have a chance to focus on communicating their ideas and thoughts. We hope you can carve out some time in your day to share some gratitude with your little ones!

Supplies:

• Paper plates
• Paint Brushes
• Construction paper (your choice of color)
• Bowl (for tracing)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Washable markers
• Push pins
• Brads

At the end of this craft your paper plate pie will reveal each thing you are thankful for! Let’s get stated.  

Pie Making:

1. Create your pie crust by painting a tan circle around the edge of your paper plate.
2. Take a sheet of construction paper, and use your bowl to trace a perfect circle. The circle represents the center of the pie (we used orange for a pumpkin pie).
3. Apply glue at the center of the plate and place down your circle “filling”.
4. Attach the “pie” plate to another plate. To do this, use a push pin to create a hole at the center of the plates.
5. Take your push pin out and push your brad through the hole. Now, your plate should be able to rotate.
6. Use your scissors to cut a piece of your pie. Only cut the top plate!
7. Across the top of the pie write, “I am thankful for…”
8. In the blank space where you previously cut a pie slice write what you are thankful for. Rotate the plate to list more things that you are thankful for.

Tips:

• The color of your construction paper determines the type of pie. In our Show Me How Episode we went with orange for pumpkin pie!
• Having your younger kids hold the marker and trace helps build fine motor skills.
• If your kids are too young to handle scissors you can help them cut.

This craft focuses on social and emotional learning. Ask the children what it means to have gratitude. While making the craft the kids can also practice reading and spelling as they list each thing they are grateful for.  We hope this holiday craft inspires joyful learning! It’s not required, but we strongly recommend real pie to be eaten during this activity.

Share With Us!

There is so much potential for memorable creations from these activities, we hope you will share some of them with us! Snap a photo of the fun your child had and post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #mothergooseclub.

Today, we will teach you how to play an early literacy inspired bean bag tossing game called, ABC Slam Dunk. It’s a fun game that will improve hand-eye coordination and get your kids moving around.  If the weather is nice, you can even bring this game outside. 

The learning goals of this game can vary from child to child depending on their age and reading level. Younger kids will have more practice recognizing different letter and colors. For older children, this game can help them with spelling and expanding their vocabulary.

Materials

• Letter and word cards
• Sealable bags
• Dried beans, rice, popping corn, or wooden beads
• Scissors
• Tape
• Colored felt swatches
• Glue

How to make the bean bag:

1. Cut the bottom of a sealable bag to create 2 smaller bags about 5in.
2. Use a piece of tap to seal the open slits in the bag
3. Fill you bag with dried bean. Leave about 1in (2cm) of room along the edges.
4. Place your bag on a piece of felt
5. Apply glue around the edges of the felt and press down to secure the glue.
6. Allow glue to dry before using.

Once you have the bean bags you can also use them for other games like hopscotch or Tic-tac-toe.

How to play:

1. Use a paperclip to attach a letter or word card to the bin
2. Call out a word or letter and then have your kids toss the bean bag to the corresponding bin

Tips:

• Depending on the type bins you have in your house you can attach the letter or words with a clamp, or you can use tape.
• This game has many variations to make it as challenging or as simple as you want. To make the game more challenging, you can ask the kids to come up with a word for the specific lettered bin they are tossing to.  You can also keep score or throw the bean bag from farther away.

We hope that you enjoy this educational and fun game. Snap a photo of the fun your child had and post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #mothergooseclub.

We are excited to share a simple craft that incorporates math practice into everyday play! Most of the supplies you will most likely have home, but even if you don’t, there are plenty of easy substitutions you can make.

This activity is versatile for different age groups and math levels. The use of manipulatives is helpful for children who are just recognizing numbers – it’s a visual tool to explain simple mathematic functions such as addition and subtraction. And for older children, manipulatives can be used to explain slightly more challenging math operations such as division or multiplication.

Working with manipulatives also builds fine motor skills. If you’re eagerly looking for an activity that will be fun for your kids while practicing some math, read on!

Materials

• Paint
• Pom-poms
• Construction Paper
• Scissors
• Paint Brushes
• Plate or Palette
• Stickers

Step 1: Print out numbers and cut them out.

Step 2: Glue down the numbers on a sheet of construction paper.

Step 3: Put down stickers that correspond to the number.

Step 4: Get your paint ready on either a plate or palette.

Step 5: Grab a brush and paint on or around the numbers.

Step 5: Peel off the number to reveal the outline.

Tip: Try asking, “how many dots go along with this number?” Working with stickers as manipulatives in this activity teaches children number sequencing and subitizing.

Number sequencing means that numbers follow a certain order, and the act of counting teaches children this.

Subitizing is the ability to recognize the number of objects in a set without counting.

Another variation of this activity is to use pom-poms instead of stickers.  We encourage you to use different materials and get as creative as you want with this one.  We can’t wait to see what you create.

Share With Us!
There is so much potential for memorable creations from these activities, we hope you will share some of them with us! Snap a photo of the fun your child had and post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #mothergooseclub.