Kids' Snack Menu, With 70+ Snack Ideas

I got tired of hearing things like "Mom, what should I eat?" and "There's nothing to eat!" (after I'd listed several possibilities). So I made the boys their own snack menu, to look through whenever they're hungry. I printed it out, laminated it, punched a few holes in it, and put it all together with pipe cleaners, which allows me to add more pages whenever I want.

There are more than 70 snacks on our menu right now, so I used dry-erase markers to show them what's available–what they can make themselves, what they'll need help with, and what they'll have to wait a little while for–and what's not available. At the end of the menu, I added a page for them to fill out with dry-erase markers anything they want that's not available–so in addition to having to read the menu, they get some writing practice as well. Now I just need to find a frog's eyeball for my future mad scientist...

You can print the snack menu here. The snack ideas on the menu are all healthy, although some of them might not sound it. You can find recipes for many of these ideas at Chocolate-Covered Katie.

9-Year-Old Boy: Series Books

Here's what Tintin's been reading lately:

Attack of the Volcano Monkeys (Ordinary Basil)
Author: Wiley Miller
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press (February 2008)
Category: Chapter Book (2nd in series)

In this second Ordinary Basil book, Basil and his friend Louise travel (via pteranodon) to a planet of intelligent monkeys and try to overthrow the king.

Wonkenstein (The Creature From My Closet)
Author: Obert Skye
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (September 2011)
Category: Chapter Book (1st in series)

Rob finds a strange creature in his closet. Wonkenstein is a cross between Willy Wonka and Frankenstein, characters in two of the books Rob has thrown into his overstuffed closet. Tintin can't wait for the next book, in which Rob finds yet another creature (Potterwookiee) in his closet and probably gets in even more trouble.

Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All
Author/illustrator: Mary Amato/Ethan Long
Publisher: Holiday House (April 2007)
Category: Chapter Book (1st in series)

Fifth grader Wilbur and his third-grade brother, Orville, catch a crook, search for treasure, and try to overthrow a king. Along the way, they also play a few games elementary school boys will love reading about. Upon finishing this book, Tintin immediately checked out the second book in the series, Drooling and Dangerous: The Riot Brothers Return.

The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse (A Chet Gecko Mystery)
Author: Bruce Hale
Publisher: Perfection Learning (April 2001)
Category: Chapter Book (1st in series)

Chet Gecko is a fourth-grade private investigator. In this first mystery, Chet is hired to find Billy, the missing brother of Chet's chameleon classmate. With the help of mockingbird Natalie Attired, Chet looks for clues that will help him find Billy before the start of the football game.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday in the Bathtub

Dr. Seuss's birthday was March 2. To celebrate, we took our books to the bathtub and had a reading party. Instead of eating cake, as the cat does in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, the boys had popcorn while I read to them.

Of course, putting two growing boys in one bathtub at the same time doesn't always make for a peaceful experience. Tintin was much more relaxed the next day when he didn't have to deal with any kicking or pillow-stealing ("That's my pillow!" "No, it's not, I bought that pillow before you were born!"):

The printable Dr. Seuss quote on the tub can be found at The Scrap Shoppe.