Today's project was inspired by The Creative Crate: apples from toilet paper rolls! I figured this could be not only an art project, but their math lesson, as well! After all, they had to measure every half-inch, and put a mark! Go HERE for the full tutorial, and see just how cute this project is as a pumpkin garland!
Cute little apple, don't you think?
The second activity was my favorite: apple streusel muffins. I used Martha Stewart's apple muffin recipe, and added my own streusel on top. As you can see, I think I used too much butter on the streusel part. (My girls weren't complaining, though!) You can download the cute apple wrappers FREE from Alphamom.
Here is Martha's recipe:
Ingredients
Makes 12
- Vegetable cooking spray
- 1 medium Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (omit if serving to children under 3)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup standard muffin tin with cooking spray; set aside. Cut 3 apple quarters into 1/4-inch dice; cut remaining apple quarter into 12 thin slices for garnish.
- Whisk together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add diced apple and walnuts, if using; toss to coat.Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter in a small bowl. Gently fold buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full.Top each with an apple slice. Bake until muffins are brown around edges and spring back when touched, 16 to 18 minutes. Let muffins cool slightly, about 5 minutes, before turning out of tin onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.
And, here they are together: the toilet paper apple and the muffins! We put them in another leftover drink holder to share with friends.
What? You thought I was done blogging about apples? Actually, I thought I was, too... but since this is apple week for us, I thought I'd throw out a couple more apple projects for you. This first one was quite simple.
First, I cut apples out with my Cricut, and had the girls glue faces on them. Each girl had to come up with a pattern using red, yellow, and green, (the colors of apples). 
Just string the beads, tie, and voila!
More "apple stuff" tomorrow!
What do you do when it's a record-breaking 113 degrees on the 5th day of fall in Los Angeles? If you're smart, you drive up the mountain to pick apples where it's only 85 degrees. (If you're not-so-smart you come home, turn on your oven, and bake an apple pie... but that's for another day!)
Yes, today we headed up to Oak Glen for our annual attempt at picking apples. And, this was by far our best trip! For one, it was WAY cooler up there. Secondly, there were a ton of apples. And, we enjoyed the perks of going on a weekday; there were no crowds!
And, once again I took way too many pictures. Ok, that's your warning!
Once again, we took on the roles of Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie... the girls were thrilled about this!
There was even a fun hayride that took us up to where the apples were.
Once we picked all our apples, we headed around the corner to Los Rios Ranch to sample some apples. This is where we ended up last year, and it's a great place!
(I love Natalie's expression... we heard the typical, "I don't like it," but at least she now tries things, and was willing to try several samples!)
Apple cider and a picnic lunch; yummy!
We ended by reading a story about picking apples. The little girl in the family went with her parents and sister, rode a hayride that looked just like ours, and had turkey sandwiches and cider for lunch, too... that made everything a bit more exciting! Oh, and she came home and baked an apple pie, too. (Of course, they were wearing jeans and a sweater.) Wonderful day had by all!
Today's project was inspired by The Creative Crate: apples from toilet paper rolls! I figured this could be not only an art project, but their math lesson, as well! After all, they had to measure every half-inch, and put a mark! Go HERE for the full tutorial, and see just how cute this project is as a pumpkin garland!
Cute little apple, don't you think?
The second activity was my favorite: apple streusel muffins. I used Martha Stewart's apple muffin recipe, and added my own streusel on top. As you can see, I think I used too much butter on the streusel part. (My girls weren't complaining, though!) You can download the cute apple wrappers FREE from Alphamom.
Here is Martha's recipe:
And, here they are together: the toilet paper apple and the muffins! We put them in another leftover drink holder to share with friends.
