Iowa Children's Museum

Calling all fellow Iowan moms! If you have not visited the Iowa Children's Museum in Coralville, Iowa then you really are missing out. The museum is in the Coralville Mall outside of Iowa City, IA off of I-80. Admission is $6 for ages 1-59 and $5 for seniors 60+. Infants under 1 are FREE. Also, the last Friday of every month is FREE admission as part of Family Fun Night in the mall. If you decide you love the museum as much as we do, get the Family Pass. It is $100/family (includes 2 adults and all children) and comes with several discount offers. So for our family of 4 (with our baby under age of 1) we simply must go 6 times a year to meet that price. That is only 1 time every other month, which is a great value!

Regular admission or the family pass covers a wide variety of activities for children of all ages. Some of the activities kids can do are:

• See real fish and turtles


• Put on their own puppet show with TONS of puppets


• Build with legos and blocks


• Visit the construction room


• Go down slides upstairs or through tunnels


• Plant and harvest their own "crops" in the farm room


• Visit the motion room with all things related to physics


• Play at the Thomas the Train table


• Visit the special exhibit room that changes annually


• Read books or listen to stories in the reading area


• See several shows that vary month by month


• Do MANY kinds of arts and crafts projects


• Build their own "pizza" in the pizza eatery


• Grocery "shop" in the mini grocery shopping center


• Pretend to be a doctor, dentist, or ambulance driver at the health center


• And much much more!

To learn more visit http://www.theicm.org/ Click on the membership tab to see all the details about the family pass. Also note that the children museum is not open on Mondays and has special hours that are different from the rest of the mall on the other days.

Fun and Simple Treats

Every once in a while our family ends up with 4-5 boxes of cereal that no one is interested in eating anymore. Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Chex, Golden Grahms...you name it. So to cut down on all those gigantic boxes of cereal, I make treats with them. Here are two of our favorite quick and easy treats that use things we already have around the house and help us clean out our pantry faster. They are great year round because a couple of changes make them fun seasonal treats for our family to munch on during our favorite holidays.

Monster Trail Mix
Ingredients: Assorted Cereals, Marshmallows; Chocolate Chips; Raisins, dried fruits; M & Ms, small candies

Directions: In a zip lock gallon sized bag, pour in all ingredients. Have kids shake bags to mix everything. Makes great on the go snacks for kids, just pour a little into a small plastic bag or plastic container and take with you.

Seasonal Tip: For a seasonal treat, use colored candies like red/green m&ms for Christmas, or candy corn for fall. Also, if you use marshmallows, pick ones that come in fun holiday shapes like trees for Christmas and ghosts for Halloween.

Cereal Bars
Ingredients: Assorted Cereals (Rice Krispies, Chex, etc), 3 Tbsp. of butter, 1 bag marshmallows or 6 cups of mini-marshmallows, and for optional add-ins: chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruit, m&ms, small candies, chocolate pieces

Directions: Melt butter in a large saucepan on low heat. After butter is melted pour in marshmallows. Stir mixture often. When all marshmallows are melted, you may add chocolate pieces and melt those into mixture if you want it to be extra chocolate-y. Pour in cereal(s) and turn off heat. Stir mixture so all cereal is coated. At end you may also add in candies and other optional items. Then quickly remove to a well greased cooking pan or casserole pan and spread evenly. You may pour additional candies or toppings on top of mix. Let sit until completely cool all the way through (approximately 1-2 hours).

Seasonal Tip: Melt chocolate pieces into marshmallow mixture before adding cereals. This will make bars "black." Then add orange candies or candy corn at the end to make a special Halloween snack. Or around Thanksgiving make as directed but instead of adding in candies, add dried cranberries and your favorite type of nuts. This works best with Cheerios as the cereal. Be creative and make something different every time.

--The Unique Mom

Creative Play

One thing my son loves to do is to dress up and play pretend. We have lots of costumes and outfits that he likes to try on during pretend time. Creative and pretend play can be really great for toddlers and preschoolers because it gives them the chance use all the new vocabulary and things they are learning. It doesn't have to be very expensive either. Here are a couple ideas you can use to 'build' your pretend play resources at home for your little boy or girl:

1. Start a pretend toy box or bin. Putting all pretend toys and outfits in place will help your child be creative easier.
   
2. Don't throw out old Halloween costumes. Save them and add them to your pretend play bin. If your child has outgrown it, donate it or give it to a friend with smaller children so they can enjoy pretending too.
   
3. Buy Halloween costumes on sale. Starting around the last week of October, Halloween costumes go on clearance since stores want to get rid of all those extra costumes taking up space. Often prices are slashed quite a bit and you can find very inexpensive finds this way. Year-round you might also find deals by searching online.
   
4. Use things from around the house. Old aprons, worn out Tupperware, extra measuring spoons, old spade and gloves, and even shoes you no longer wear yourself can become great sources of inspiration. Common things around the house can be great for getting children to explore new ideas and new things.
   
5. Make your own costumes. This can be as simple as taking an old undershirt or a shirt that you can't get a stain out of and letting your child make their own masterpiece from it. You can let them color on it with markers, tie dye it, or even buy patches or cut out felt pieces and help them attach them. So if your child likes dalmatians, cut out little black pieces of felt or even sew on black buttons.
   
6. Don't forget the accessories. Have cheap jewelry you no longer wear? Or broken watches? Things like old purses, ties, hats, shoes, jewelry, or even spare change for older children, can help make creative play more interesting and fun for kids. Kids like to be like mom and dad and what better way to do that than to dress up like mom and dad! Just don't be surprised if your child decides to be your pint-size double after that!
7. Check out your local party supply stores. We were able to find lots of toy badges and party hats for super cheap that doubled as great dress up costumes. Even small finds like these can be great for kids.
8. Play with your kids! Dress up is even more fun with a friend. Get involved by dressing up with your child and making up detailed stories about what a fire fighter or a tiger does. Make it an adventure for your child by encouraging all kinds of creativity!
   

Happy Playtime!
--The Unique Mom

Easy & Fun Painting for Kids

Our son loves to color and paint. We do crafts several times a week but painting is the messiest. For quick and easy clean-up, I take 1/2 of a dozen egg carton and put a little bit of each paint color in each hole. I can also mix colors fast this way. Just have a container of water, paintbrushes, and paper ready. Once our little picasso is done making his masterpiece we just toss out the egg carton and hang his art to dry.

--The Unique Mom

Taggies

I LOVE taggies. These things are amazing. My son got his first Taggie as a gift from a friend at his baby shower. I have been loving Taggies ever since then. Taggies now offers lots of clothes, gifts, and blankets just for baby and kids. Their new colours collections is the best though. I love the bright and fun colors. Its great because it offers lots of sensory development for young babies.http://www.taggies.com

--The Unique Mom

Bobux Shoes

I found these at a little boutique and just had to get them! I have a rugby striped orange and white newborn one piece for our baby on the way and these match perfectly. They are sporty and fun and I can't wait to dress up our baby boy in his new outfit! I LOVE it!

http://www.bobuxusa.com/site/index.html

--The Unique Mom

Zutano Clothing

I spent the weekend shopping with friends and I can't wait to share all of the fun things I found. My favorite find was Zutano baby and kids clothing because it is so soft. If you haven't discoverd Zutano yet, you are missing out. Zutano has a huge selection of bright and fun clothing for little girls and boys. Also, Zutano has recently expanded by adding a newborn collection to its already big collection of infant and toddler clothing. I really love the Itzy celery dot sytle. You can find Zutano brands in select online stores or boutiques. Check them out, they have the cutest clothes!

http://www.zutano.com/pages/

--The Unique Mom

Picture Pefect Bows!

I found the cutest little girls bows while looking for a children's boutique in my homestate of Iowa. The Pink Hippo is located in my hometown and offers adorable baby girl and big girl accessories as well as fashion items. I adore their custom made-to-match Gymboree selection of bows and their Iowa Hawkeye and Iowa State Cyclones bows. With the big game coming up this fall between the two teams, I will be recommending this to everyone I know with a little girl. They are too cute!
http://www.pinkhippobows.com/
--The Unique Mom

Fun Playtime Tee-Shirts

These days everyone wants to make a statement. Although I don't always go for the sayings tees, these are pretty cute! Food fight tees offers a huge selection of onesies and tee shirts for babies and kids. I really love their Olympic tee shirt. What better time of the year to wear that than right before the Olympics! My other favorties are their organic and big wheeler tees. Check them out, I had fun just looking!

http://www.startafoodfight.com/

--The Unique Mom

Fun Playtime Toys!

These are not your average stuffed animals! These handknit toys are just adorable and come in four different jungle animals to choose from. Plus Pokkadots has lots of other neat baby and kids items to choose from!

http://www.pokkadots.com/index.cfm

--The Unique Mom

Mama Mia!!! Easy Pepperoni Rolls!

I make these for my son ALL the time. We call them "baby pizzas" and he eats them right up.

What you need is:
--A can of Pillsbury crescent roll-ups (not the crescents, but the mini rolls)
--A can of pizza sauce or your own (a quick tip for picky eater is to puree veggies into the pizza sauce)
--Mozzerella shredded cheese
--Diced Pepperoni (regular is fine, you will just have to cut them into halves)
--Assortment of any other veggies or toppings you like
--Cookie Sheet & non-stick spray
--Cutting board or clean lightly floured surface
--Seasoning if you prefer, I use garlic and italian seasoning

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to about 350 degrees F. Spray non-stick cookie sheet and set aside.
2) Open rolls over cutting board or clean lightly floured surface. Separate rolls and peel out so they lay like flat sticks of dough. Line them all up together so that they lay next to each other on surface
3) Spread sauce over dough. Sprinkle seasoning and toppings on top at this time. Don't put too many toppings on.
4) Next add cheese so that it light coats strips. You should be able to still see the red sauce through the cheese.
5) Now individually roll up the rolls from one end to the next, like a spiral. Place onto baking sheet with the spiral side visable from a birds-eye view. Finish the rest. Evenly space on sheet.
6) Pop in oven and cook for about 8-10 minute or until golden brown and done in the center of the dough. Let cool and enjoy with fresh fruit!

--The Unique Mom

Fun & Funky Clothes For Kids!

I have been ordering from the Polkadot Patch Boutique for a long time now. They offer so many cool and fun items I can't resist! I love it because they have the COOLEST stuff for kids. I love their clothes because they are so bright and colorful. They are so original and you can't find items like this anywhere else 99% of the time. I especially love their custom-personalized onesies for infants. I bought one for my sister who is expecting! It came all cute and wrapped up like a piece of hard candy! It was a perfect shower gift!
http://www.polkadotpatch.com/

--The Unique Mom