Baked Apple Chips with Apple Pie Spice {Apple Week}

 

Today we are sharing a delicious, SIMPLE treat your kids can practically make themselves for apple week...as long as you help out with the oven part ;)

 

These baked apple chips are delicious, healthy and easy-peasy...the perfect snack for fall!



 

To get started you really just need these bad boys...

 

a little sprinkling of this...

 



 

and an awesome apple peeler/corer/slicer thing WITH a cute little helper :)

 

 

Now if you want your chips a little bit crispier you would want to slice them really thin, we like them a tad on the chewy side and I wanted my kids to be able to help out so we used this awesome contraption my mom got me for Christmas a few years ago...it is one of their favorite things to do!

 

Once we had our slices ready to go we laid them out on the cookie sheet, let the kids sprinkle them with Apple Pie Spice, and baked for 3 hours at 200 degrees.

 

I'm happy to say they were gobbled up immediately when the kids got home from school and my house smelled quite divine :) Thanks so much for stopping by today!

 

Wormy Apple Craft! {Apple Week}

  Hello everyone!  We are finally getting into the swing of things with the kids going back to school, and I am LOVING the structure and schedule that comes with that.  I have been excited to get back to our weekly themes, its a great way to ensure I do a few fun things with the kids during the week, and hopefully they learn a little something too ;)

 

We love apple week, and today we kicked it off by doing our very own Wormy Apple Craft!

 



 

This was a super easy, and super fun craft the kids really enjoyed.  All you need to get started are some foam sheets cut out in the shapes of apples and some red and green sequins!  I also used a pipe cleaner to make the stem and scissors to cut out the wormhole ;)

 

 

Once you have your apples ready to go, let your kids go crazy with those glue sticks and sequins!

 

Once the apples are covered in sequins use a black sharpie to draw a cute little face on your little ones finger...then watch them giggle as they discover their apple has a cute little worm :)

 

 

I hope you enjoyed our little Wormy Apple Craft, feel free to check out some of our other favorite apple-themed activities too!

 

Apple Cider Floats

Apple Math and Reading Activities

 

 

Fresh Apple Cider Floats

 Yesterday the kiddies and I took off after school to a local farm to pick our own apples.  We especially love this particular farm because they also have their very own cider mill...and man is the cider delicious!!  

The kids had a blast walking up and down through the orchard, trying to find the perfect apples.  Farnsworth Farms is really a great place.  The people there are so kind and helpful, helping to make it a great experience for everyone. 

The kids had so much fun filling up their bags with Golden Delicious apples, even Avrie got in on the action ;)

The little playground they had behind the peach trees didn't hurt either :)

As I mentioned, Farnsworth Farms makes their very own cider on sight, and it the best cider I have ever had.  We picked up a gallon while we were there and on the way home I thought to myself...if anything could make this cider eve better, its GOT to be ice cream :)

So after dinner we concocted our very own Fresh Apple Cider Floats!

I kid you not, these were amazing!!  The cider adds a little bit of tartness that mixes with the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream perfectly.  I threw in some cinnamon sticks to add just a touch of spice and we all gobbled them down.  A perfect way to end our lovely fall, fruit-picking day :)

If you are a Utah local and are looking for a fun place to take your kids to pick some fruit, Farnsworth Farms is located at 11228 S 700 E in Sandy, UT.  This is not a sponsored post by any means, we have just had a great time every year that we go there and I LOVE to support local businesses that are out there doing good things :)  While you're there, make sure you pick up some cider...you won't regret it!!

Hand Print Apple Tree Craft

 Apple week rolls on at Blue Skies Ahead today!

We did a very simple and cute craft the preschoolers will enjoy and moms will love :)

I always say, there is NOTHING better than a good hand print craft.  I love having these little treasures to remind me of my children's sweet little hands and the fun times we spend together.  

Today we made Hand Print Apple Trees and the kids had a great time!

First up, you get your green paint on a plate and some construction paper.  Then you let your little ones go to town using their entire hand to make several hand prints to form your apple tree.

Then you quickly rush your child to wash their hands before they touch ANYTHING :)

After we had the top of our tree done, we used sparkly pom-poms in red, green and yellow for our apples.  The kids loved sticking them on their trees and it was a good chance to do some simple color sorting and recognition with my 2 year old as well.

Once you are done not only do you have an adorable picture but you have an adorable little face to go along with it! ;)

I had a great time today getting messy with my little ones...have you ever done any fun apple-themed crafts at your home?!  If so, please share in the comments, I would love to check them out!  

Apple Math and Reading Activities!

 Happy Monday everyone!

We did not get to even HALF of the fun apple activities we had planned last week, so we are continuing our apple fun today with some really simple math and reading activities!

First up we read one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, Ten Apples up on Top.

As we read each page, I would have my kids get out the number of apples the animals had on their head and we would try to balance them :)  It was a great way to work on reading comprehension...reading a story while acting it out!

 

We were only able to get to two on our heads...but we sure had fun trying!  ;)  I love the look of pure concentration on Britton's face :)

After we finished reading we got our apples and worked on lots of different math skills.

For my 2-year old we focused on basic counting.

For my 4-year old we spend a lot of time on addition and subtraction.  I would give him a certain number of apples and he would count how many.  The I would either add some or take some away and he would count again and then repeat the whole equation.  We did this for almost 30 minutes...my little guy loved it!

Finally we worked on sorting more and less piles.  I would put two piles of apples in front of the kids and they would tell me which one had more or which one had less.  REALLY simple stuff, but a fun way to spend time with the kiddies and learn a little something too! :)

Thanks so much for coming by Blue Skies Ahead today!  Check in later this week for a fun apple craft and may a recipe or two :)

Wormy Apples Snack

 

Sounds like a delicious snack, doesn't it? ;)

Most days I try to have a snack ready for my girls when they get home from school.  They are always starving, and since we are learning all about Apples this week with the little ones I thought it would be fun to make a SUPER simple apple snack. 

Well...a Wormy Apple Snack that is :)

These took all of about 2 minutes to prepare.  All you do is wash and dry a few apples.  Then take a potato peeler and scoop out a circle shape as deep into the apple as you can.  Then cut a few gummy worms in half and stick them in the holes!!  

My little guy thought this was THE funniest thing...hopefully the girls like them too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Its crazy how school is back in swing already and life just races on.  My little Kendall started Kindergarten today, and it just never ceases to amaze me how time flies with these precious little ones.  Its a good reminder to try and make every day count and treasure the time we have together :)

Linking up HERE

Our favorite Back-to-School Breakfast...Apple Pancakes!

 

I can hardly believe it...but school starts in 2 weeks!!

I LOVE this time of year.  I love school clothes shopping, going and getting all the new supplies, and seeing how excited my kids are.  I also love planning a fun breakfast to make the first day of school extra special :)

We made these fun Apple Pancakes last year and I thought I would share.  Whoever thought of putting pancake batter into condiment bottles to create shapes is an absolute genius...I thank you! ;)

If you haven't done this before, give it a try!  You can turn plain old pancake batter into something really fun and special for your little ones and the possibilities are endless!  One tip though...make your batter a little on the runny side and blend WELL.  There is nothing worse than getting a big lump stuck in the top, squeezing a TEENY bit too hard...and having the lid pop off and batter ooze out all over your griddle.  May have happened to me once...or twice ;)

To make these apple pancakes you need to separate your batter into 3 bowls, and using food coloring make one bowl red, one green and leave the other natural.

Then pour your batter into condiment bottles and get your griddle good and hot!

Draw the outline of your apple and then quickly fill it in.  Using the natural batter I made the stem, and then topped it off with a leaf made out of the green.

Flip it once, cook on the other side, and you have yourself some adorable Apple Pancakes!

For an extra yummy twist, whip up some apple syrup to go along with these...here is my favorite recipe :)

1 cup sugar
2 tbls corn starch
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice 
(nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger)
2 cups apple cider
2 tbls lemon juice

Stir and Cook constantly until thick. Boil 1 minute, then add butter.

¼ cup butter

Seriously...its amazing!

Thanks for stopping by Blue Skies Ahead today and please share...what fun ways do YOU celebrate the first day of school?!

Apples Week

Well Apple Week was a hit at our house! We started off the week by reading this fun book with Dr. Suess.

My kids thought this book was SO funny, we read it about a billion times last week. They even ran to the fridge and tried to balance apples on their head...they couldn't quite get up to ten ;)

We were lucky enough to find an apple orchard that was fairly close to us where you can go pick your own apples! Unfortunately when we got there the hours were different that what was online and they were closed. However, the owner happened to be there and was so sweet to us! Not only did he let us pick whatever apples we could find and take for free, but he also gave us a tour and free samples of their very cool Cider Press. It was fun to show the kids how apples are turned into cider and it was even more fun letting them pick their own apples off the trees.

The owner said his father (who started the farm years ago) was passionate about teaching children where things REALLY come from, showing them how things grow so they don't think they just show up in grocery stores. It was very informative for me as well and the kids absolutely loved it! I will definitely be doing business with this family farm again! :)

One day we talked all about the different ways you can eat apples. We had whole apples with our breakfast, for our snack we had apple slices dipped in peanut butter and for dessert that night everyone made their very own apple pies :) I am NOT a baker so we just used refrigerator pie crusts, cans of apple pie filling, and little pie tins I found at WalMart.

The kids loved squishing the pie crust in the tin and then spooning the apple pie on top.

They also loved pinching the top and bottom crust together (and sneaking bits of the pie filling ;)

They turned out quite yummy and the kids were SO proud that they had made their very own apple pies!

Finally their favorite activity we did involved apples and a bunch of these....

Yes, those are Mr. Potato Head pieces :) We wanted to make our very own Mr. and Mrs. Apple Heads...and they turned out adorable!

I loved Britton's...anything with a mustache usually gets a laugh from me.

Kendall had to accessorize of course...love the hat!

And this was my little guy...cute, right?! I was surprised how much they enjoyed this, they named their apples and played with them all afternoon. Yes, it was a little sticky and I did have to wash all the pieces, but totally worth it in the end! The only hard part was keeping Britton from eating his guy....:)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope this inspires you to do something FUN with your kids and enjoy them just a little bit more...I know I am trying to. Later I have a fun idea for Conference Baskets for your kids and a fun way I am trying to Cut the Chaos at the dinner table :) Have a great day everyone!! :)