Bunch Family

Your Mother’s Day morning plan!

If what mom really wants in her special day is to lounge around in bed till noon and then make grilled cheese, this is totally the day to do it. But for those who wake up with a little more spring in their step, why not put together a garden party style spread?

EAT:

Nothing says fancy tea party like a trio o’ finger sandwiches. To whip up an easy selection of tea sandwiches you can display all pretty-like, grab yourself a big baguette and make three varieties in one fell swoop. This minimizes toil in the kitchen and maximizes kid and parent pleasing variety. Make sure your kids don’t scrutinize your filling actions if they’re squeamish about cross contamination!  Read more...

• Cuke n’ avo — spread mayo on both side of the baguette, and top with cucumber slices, avocado slices and cracked black pepper

We partnered with The Grid to come up with some ideas for parents in the city

Working with The Grid TO, we came up with a list of 49 superfun activities for kids and parents in Toronto. Some of the activities are Toronto-specific, but most can be applied to any city. (Just sub in your favourite parks)

And because summer is just bursting with awesome concert and festival options, check out Damian Abraham and Lauren Moses-Brettler’s tips for bringing your kid to a rock show.

What are you planning to do this summer with your kids?

Photo by Derek Shapton via The Grid

Wow. You need to do this. Immediately.

Here at Bunch we can’t think of anything more awesome than combining water balloons and the always awesome sidewalk chalk. And just to sweeten the deal, combining them for some live action Angry Birds. It is, in fact, even better than playing Angry Birds on your phone. Believe us. We gotta credit the brilliant Allison McDonald at No Time For Flashcards, who’s always coming up with creative activities.

You’ll need:

• Balloons (preferably in red, yellow and blue)
• Water
• Permanent marker (to draw your birds faces on the balloons)
• Washable sidewalk chalk. Don’t have any sidewalk chalk laying around? It’s actually quite easy to make, and you can get the recipe here.

For the complete instructions and more photos on how to set up and play this game, check out the full post here.

 Read more...

And pack up your pic-a-nic baskets

With a crazy long winter and then a seemingly endless string of grey, drizzly days, it seemed like spring was taking forever to get here. (And even when we caught a glimpse of spring with a warm, sunny day, a downpour soon followed. Cue sad trombone.)

Fortunately, in the last few weeks, spring has been out in full force. Craving some vitamin D, we’re heading to the park and packing a picnic. We suggest you do the same.

And in 2011, it basically goes without saying, but if you’re not packing all reusable containers, dispose of garbage and recycling responsibly. We don’t want to see any Mad Men Draper Family picnics in our parks!

You’ll need:  Read more...

• Cooler (cooler bags are easier to carry)
• Ice packs (optional, but help keep salads etc. cold in the cooler)

If you live in the Bloor and Ossington area in Toronto, keep an eye out for these:

Bunch dad Jason Cavener was inspired by this post and decided that he and his daughter should do something similar. We hope to stumble upon one or two of these during our commute to and from the office. (Hopefully not literally!)

And taking up our Lego Challenge, 6-year-old Jonah fashioned this space ship-looking creation sans Lego kit and instructions. Thanks to Bunch mom Ali for sending it in!

Want to share your Bunchy creations? Email info@bunchfamily.ca

Meet me outside, meet me outside

The wisdom of the day states that kids need at least an hour of physical activity every day. When the weather’s cold, or worse, when the weather keeps shifting from warm and melty to freezing and slippery, it can be hard to find great outdoor activities.

So what do you do when your bouncing-off-the-wall kid has a winter birthday? If you’d like an alternative to renting out an indoor play gym and you’re all skated out, why not stage a Nerf battle?

That’s exactly what our pal Melissa in Ohio did for her son’s birthday.

Using Melissa’s party for inspiration, here’s how to have a great Nerf Battle birthday:  Read more...

• When you send the invitations, make sure you inform the parents that the kids will be running around outside and therefore need to be dressed appropriately. (Something they can run around in, waterproof boots, nothing too fancy, hats and mitts)

Your Sunday Morning plan:

EAT:

One of the best things about a frittata is that they’re a simple way of cleaning out your fridge. Just grab whatever vegetables and assorted goodies you have on hand, mix them with a little egg and you’ve got breakfast.  Need some ideas? Babbycino Kids recommends adding onions, spinach, potatoes, mushrooms, peas, tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini, or bacon.

You’ll need  Read more...

• 6 eggs
• Salt & Pepper
• About 1 cup of cold cooked vegetables cut to a similar bite size
• 2 tbsp of cheese and/or meat
• 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
• Non-stick frying pan, about 26 – 28 cm in diameter.

Add a little colour to all that snow

Here’s a fun way to make your snowman a little extra special, maybe even delicious. Take a spray bottle, fill it up with water and add a little colour. The good people over at Ehow remind you to be careful with the spray bottles though; if you think there is a chance your kids might eat the snow, last week’s Windex bottle might not be the best idea.

Things You’ll Need:

• Small Spray Bottles

• Water

• Food Colouring or Kool-Aid

Steps:  Read more...

1. Fill the spray bottle two thirds of the way with water and add a few drops of food colouring or a scoop of Kool-Aid. The brighter the coloured water the brighter the spray will be on the snow. Experiment to find the perfect shade.

When this:

Meets this:

You get this:

Fill a water-gun with warm water, take it outside (don’t forget the hats and mitts and all that!) and you have yourself a snow-gun.

Science!

Via BoingBoing

Image of super-soaker by josh md, winter scene by Marc Davison via Flickr

Your Sunday morning plan

EAT:

Ever been to Toronto’s Easy Restaurant? We’re suckers for their toast soldiers breakfast which includes two soft-boiled eggs, strips of toast, fresh fruit and a delightful surprise lurking somewhere on your plate: a toy soldier. We think this is a great breakfast or brunch to make at home.

A great soft-boiled egg has a runny yoke for dipping toast into, but a firm white. Food.com says you can achieve the perfect soft-boiled egg by pricking the wider end of the egg and submersing it into a pot of rapidly boiling, salted water. Boil for exactly five minutes. Extract your egg, run it under cold water and crack it open.

The stars of the breakfast are, of couse, the toast soldiers. While any bread will do, we say slice up your favourite hardy Italian bread. Once a slice has been toasted, cut into strips so as to easily dunk in the egg yoke.  Read more...

A collection of videos of maybe the best winter activity

We love tobogganing. We love it so much, we thought of spending New Year’s Eve on a sledding hill. So much, we might have pulled a child out of his skating class trip, having forgotten his skates, and took him sledding instead.

1. We thought this video, while a little long, was pretty good. That puppy is adamant that it’s his turn!

2. Same idea, but shorter and so much sweeter. And this dog just wants it more.

3. Have any election signs kicking around from any recent campaign-supporting? Apparently they make excellent toboggans:

4. While searching for videos, we came across a lot of so-called hilarious ones that were basically just people crashing. Injury ≠ funny! But we figured this tobogganing fail was OK because we doubt the featured tobogganer suffered any harm other than to maybe his tobogganing reputation.  Read more...