Seuss Inspired Meals

This week our lunches have been inspired by Dr. Seuss books in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. I posted lunches for Bartholomew and the Oobleck and If I Ran the Zoo HERE.

Boogs had a Seuss inspired breakfast one morning this week featuring The Cat in the Hat. The Cat's hat is made out of beet pancakes and bananas. I drew the Cat's face on Babybel cheese and added fresh berries to this breakfast. Boogs is not a super fan of beet pancakes, but he is a super fan of Dr. Seuss.

I thought I had read every Dr. Seuss book written but this was the first time I have read McElligot's Pool. Marco sits beside a small pool imagining all of the fish that will swim through an underground brook from the ocean to get to his baited hook. Boogs enjoyed studying the illustrations. He said the Dog Fish chasing the Catfish was his favorite fish in the book. I thought the Eskimo Fish from beyond the Hudson Bay were pretty cute. We had to have a fish themed lunch to go with this book. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly fish and seahorse, Goldfish crackers, tomato fish eggs in broccoli coral, and goldfish colored mango.

After school, we got out our Playdough to recreate some of the fantastic Seussian fish in McElligot's Pool.

Our very own ocean of fish!

For more Seuss food fun take at look at the incredible entries in these two linky parties:

Bento Bloggers & Friends

Bento USA by AllThingsForSale.com

This post is linked to Throwback Thursday Lunch Linkup on Lunchbox Dad's site.


Be sure to check out the rest of the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches on Keitha's Chaos, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck

Dr. Seuss' Birthday is coming up this weekend. Boogs and I have been reading a few Dr. Seuss books and doing some activities with them.

 

Bartholomew and the Oobleck 

 

In Bartholomew and the Oobleck, the King complains about there only being four things that come from the sky - sun, rain, fog, and snow. The King commands his royal magicians to come up with something else. They create a green slimy substance that ends up threatening the entire kingdom. In the ELB lunchbox: Bartholomew discovering the falling oobleck drawn on cheese, ham sandwich, cucmber letters, apples & blackberries, carrots with dressing in a Mini ELB container.

Boogs thought the oobleck was so cool that he wondered if we could make some. He emptied a 4 oz bottle of white school glue into a bowl then slowly started pouring in 1/2 cup of liquid starch. Boogs kneaded that together with a couple of drops of green food coloring to make his own version of oobleck.

 It was cold and slimy. He played with it for quite a while before adding a few toys to it.

 Boogs had to help rescue some army men from the oobleck. They were trapped and starting to sink.

 He fashioned a special harness out of rubberbands to save them.

 Boogs played with this for probably an hour or so. The neat thing about this oobleck is that you can seal in a sandwich baggie or an airtight container and play with it again another day.

 If I Ran the Zoo lunch

Gerald McGrew thought his local zoo could use a bit of updating. He described all kinds of unusual animals he would discover to keep in his own zoo. In the Laptop lunchbox: ten-legged pb&j lion sandwich in a cheese cage, ZOO spelled in fruit leather, berries, goldfish, and spinach. Boogs also had a small container of cottage cheese, not pictured.

Boogs and I each drew a picture of one animal we would add to Gerald McGrew's Zoo. Boogs created a "Zok" and I created a "Woofoozle". Boogs would only let me take a picture of him in the Cat and the Hat outfit if he could also take one of me. Lovely (shudder).

Last year, (before I went back to work) I made several Dr. Seuss lunches that I think were better than the ones I made this week. You can see them out here.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Lunches February 18th - 22nd

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

Hey, Duck! by Carin Bramsen

I have been admiring Carin Bramsen's illustrations for the past several months. She has a website detailing the process of illustrating the book The Yellow Tutu. Hey, Duck! is the first book she has both written and illustrated. Boogs and I enjoyed reading Hey, Duck! I read the parts for the duck and Boogs read the parts for the cat. It is a sweet and simple story about friendship. Boogs really loved looking at the pictures of the cat's expressive face and the fuzziness of the adorable little duck. In the ELB lunchbox: cheese duck on toast, boiled egg cat, letters cut out of a piece of fruit leather, blueberries, tomatoes, and bacon.

This lunch was linked to the Lunchbox Dad Throw Back Thursday Lunch Linkup

Erroll by Hannah Shaw

Bob picked up a package of Nutti Nutt bites at the store and discovered a talking squirrel named Erroll in the package. This was the beginning of all kinds of silliness. There is a two page spread with a maze-like drawing showing how Erroll was sucked out of a nut tree, put in a box, sent to Nutti Nutts factory to be processed & packaged, and finally end up in a bag on a store shelf. We must have gone back to that two-page spread 15 times this week. Erroll causes all kinds of trouble at Bob's house. Boogs had a good laugh about Bob trying to use his mom's toothbrush to wash off Erroll. Boogs promised he would NEVER use or touch my toothbrush for any reason. Erroll eventually returns to the wild. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly Erroll sandwich, pistachios, cheese crackers, carrots, pineapple, and yogurt.

Baloney (Henry P.) received and decoded by Jon Scieszka, visual recreation by Lane Smith

Henry is frequently late to school and his teacher has had it. She tells him if he does not have a good excuse for being late, then he will have permanent lifelong detention. Henry comes up with an amazing excuse that involves alien abduction and so much more. Throughout the book, there are non-English words. Boogs and I talked about using context clues to see if we could figure out what those words could be. At the end of the book, there is an explanation stating that the author received this entire story directly from a transmission from deep space. The non-English words in the story are from many different languages on Earth and there is a glossary at the end of the book to decode them. In the ELB lunchbox: Henry sandwich made from spinach tortilla with ham & cheese, cheese stick 'zimulis' (pencil), pineapple, and a cucumber 'szkola' (school) on top of veggies.


What Really Happened to Humpty? by Joe Dumpty as told to Jeanie Franz Ransom

Detective Joe Dumpty, Humpty Dumpty's brother, is trying to solve the case of his cracked up brother. He is convinced that Humpty was pushed off the wall. Joe's investigation leads him all over Mother Gooseland. He catches the culprits and his brother survives the fall. Boogs was able to follow Joe's clues and guess the identity of the culprits before Joe revealed it in the story. Boogs also enjoyed the egg jokes and interaction of the nursery rhyme characters. In the Laptop lunchbox: Joe Dumpty boiled egg wearing a tortilla trench coat while examining the ham & cheese wall, blackberries with Little Miss Muffets spider pick, and salad.


Amazing Buildings by Kate Hayden

When Boogs was small, we had a Little Einsteins book that showed landmarks all over the world. Boogs was able to identify several of the buildings in Amazing Buildings  because of that Little Einsteins book. I think it is so neat that he makes connections between the books we have read together.  Today's lunch is very simple. In the Laptop lunchbox: salami & cheese Egyptian pyramid sandwich, pretzels for the Roman Colosseum arches, orange for the Italian Dome of Florence Cathedral, Chex Mix to represent building supplies, and broccoli for England's Eden Project biodome. 


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Flying Lesson

For Christmas, my husband gave me a gift certificate for a flying lesson. We finally had gorgeous, clear weather so I booked my flight. I was pretty nervous. My husband and Boogs went with me to the airport. My instructor, Mikhail, said that my family could ride along if they wanted to. They did! Just a little added pressure not to crash the plane. :-)

I spent a little bit of time in the classroom becoming familiar with the design of a Cessna 172. Then we headed out to do a pre-flight inspection on the plane. Wow, there is a lot to remember! The cockpit instrument panel looked intimidating.

Boogs looked even more nervous than I did to board the plane.

Once we were all aboard it was time to take a deep breath and enjoy the experience.

I felt like it was a challenge to keep the plane in proper position while we taxied to the runway. I did not do such a great job using the foot pedals to keep the plane centered on the yellow line. It made me very nervous about the actual flight. Mikhail talked through each step of the procedures for taking off. I kept my hands and feet completely to myself so I would not accidentally bump anything important while Mikhail took the plane up. It was pretty amazing to be up in the air.

I got to take the controls and take the plane up to 3500 feet and keep it steady there. I also executed two turns. Then Mikhail asked if we wanted to feel zero gravity. I explained to Boogs that it would feel like an elevator going down fast. Mikhail added that it would feel like the elevator cable had snapped. Boogs said he did not want to do it, but we did. Boogs screamed a little but thankfully did not throw up. 

Flying in the pilot seat of a Cessna is a neat experience. I was ready to have my feet back on the ground when Mikhail demonstrated what it would feel like if the engine went out. Then he instructed me to keep pointing the nose of the plane up, let it level out, point it up again, and let it level out. He explained, "If you don't panic you will have plenty of time to figure out your problem or use the fire extinguisher between the seats to put out a fire." Yeah, I was really ready to be back on the ground after that bit of knowledge.

It was VERY windy today. Coming back down for a landing was a bumpy ride. Mikhail explained each step for the landing, I kept my hands and feet to myself and just observed. The landing was smooth. I got to steer the plane back towards the flight school. After we stopped, Mikhail asked if I would be interested in taking a full course of flight lessons. I told him I did not think flying a plane was for me at this time. I would much rather be a passenger in a much larger plane. 

I have to say a big thank you to my sweet husband for giving me this flight as a Christmas gift.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar!

Lunches 11th - 15th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

Big Smelly Bear by Britta Techentrup

Big Smelly Bear does not like to wash or brush. He smells so bad that none of the other animals wants to be around him, except for the flies. When he woke up with a terrible itch, he could not find anyone who wanted to get close to him. Fluffy bear said she would help him if he took a bath. Big Smelly Bear stopped being so smelly. In the ELB lunchbox: ham & cheese Big Smelly Bear sandwich, almond flies, cheese letters, veggies, and pineapple.

I took a picture of my lunch one day this week. Boy does it look boring next to Boogs' lunches, but it still tasted good.

Valentine's Day Lunch

I gave Boogs a Scooby Doo Valentine Treat Box on the morning of the 14th. So thought I would go ahead and make him a lunch to go with it. Scooby Doo cheese toast, hotdog hearts, dried apricot hearts,  grapes, and salad.


The other lunches I made this week were also Valentine themed. You can see them in THIS post.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Valentine Lunches

Boogs' lunches are usually inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. 

Today is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tuesday, so I thought we would have Valentine heart beet pancakes for breakfast. More Than Your Average Mom is hosting a Shrove Tuesday linky party here. Be sure to check it out. In the Laptop lunchbox: heart beet pancakes, bacon, berries, and yogurt.

Boogs and I have been reading quite a few Valentine books this past week. Valentine Mice by Bethany Roberts was a sweet and simple book about a group of mice who deliver Valentines to all of the forest animals. In the Laptop Lunchbox: Cheese toast hearts, ham hearts, marshmallow with one of the mice drawn on it, fruit leather hearts, carrot hearts, radish hearts, and berries.

Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat
Gilbert and his classmates have to write Valentine poems for each other. Gilbert writes 13 nice poems and two not-so-nice ones. He knows he should not send the mean ones so he signs someone else's names on them. Gilbert's classmates are not pleased with his poems. Gilbert wrote the two mean poems because those two classmate had been mean to him. After talking it out, everyone becomes friends again. In the ELB lunchbox: heart quesadilla, ham roses, berries, and carrots.

Arthur's Valentine by Marc Brown

Arthur receives a couple of Valentine's from a secret admirer. Eventually, he finds out who sent the sweet Valentine to him. In the ELB: mini pb&j Valentine sandwich with cheese hearts, broccoli, and berries with a kiss pick.

Here is a link to my two favorite Valentine lunches we made last year.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Boogs' Projects

Boogs always reminds me when the first Saturday of the month is coming up. He loves going to Home Depot for their Kids Workshop. This month, the project was to build a Valentine box.

Boogs is starting to read the directions on his own.

We are still working on figuring out the right amount of wood glue.

Yay! He didn't hit my finger this time.

He was very proud of his building skills.

Boogs said, "I will paint the heart red but then I am not going to use any other girly color!"

Tada!

Our public library has a wonderful weekly program for elementary kids called Explorers Club. We love the library!

Ms. Kit read a few stories about birthdays and then gave the kids the supplies to make a pretend cupcake. These were so cute that I thought about making them for Valentine's treat boxes for Boogs' class. Boogs asked for Star Wars Valentines.

Once a month, the Explorer's Club has Lego Lab. Boogs loves to go to Lego Lab. After you build your Lego creation, you write a name for it on a small plaque so that it can be displayed in the children's area until the next month's Lego Lab.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar. I linked up to Highhill's Hobbies and Handicrafts Linky.

Lunches Feb 4th - 8th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

Good Boy, Fergus! by David Shannon

Like David Shannon's David books, Fergus is a book about someone who does not listen and frequently gets into mischief. No matter what this little dog does, his owner still calls him a good dog. Boogs laughed at the illustrations. He insisted on having Fergus eating the flowers for lunch. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly Fergus sandwich with Nutella dirt on his muzzle and a white flower pick in his mouth, FERGUS punched out of fruit leather, blueberries, and salad.

Amazing Dolphins! by Sarah L. Thomson

Boogs is beginning to get more confident in his reading. He likes to read factual books. He enjoyed reading this book about dolphins to me. Boogs thought it was pretty neat that dolphins use echolocation. He even mentioned the book Stellaluna to compare dolphin's and bat's echolocation. I love to hear the ways he connects texts to each other. I am always surprised by how much he remembers from the books we have shared together. In the ELB lunchbox: ham dolphin sandwich swimming on cheese waves, blueberry ocean water, and salad.

Take a Trip to Planet Blip by Kama Einhorn
We have an entire series of these Word Family Tales. They are cute early phonics readers with silly stories. Boogs likes to figure out the word family riddles at the back of each book. In the ELB lunchbox: alien Zip from planet Blip salami & cheese sandwich, strawberry pet Pip, more strawberry pets, Pringles spaceships, spinach, and yogurt.

Tackylocks and the Three Bears by Helen Lester
Tacky the penguin is at it again. He always marches to the beat of his own drum. The penguins in Icy Land are getting ready to perform a play for Mrs. Beakly's school. Tacky decides to join the production and gets the part of Goldilocks. During the play, Tacky eats all of the porridge, breaks all of the chairs and messes up all of the beds. The other penguins have to adapt quickly to save the play. Boogs really likes the Tacky series. He asked that I put Tacky's beak poking out of his spinach to represent Tacky buried under all the blankets in the bears' house. In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j Tackylocks sandwich with cheese hair and fruit leather dress, Tacky's carrot beak underneath spinach blankets, and oranges.

I am a little sad, I did not notice until I was typing this post that I forgot to take a picture of Boogs' lunch for the book Bats at the Library by Brian Lees. This book was adorable, so I want to tell you about it. An open window at the library caused great excitement as all of the neighborhood bats dashed inside to see and read the books. The bats become so enchanted by  the stories they lose track of time. I really liked the illustrations. There are a couple of two-page spreads that show bats as the main characters in many different classic children's tales. Boogs and I had fun figuring out in which story each bat belonged. He had a batty lunch that day.

 

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.