America Day….

I’ve been trying to think of ways to teach the kids about other countries and cultures whilst having as much fun as possible.  Both of them have a huge map of the word on their walls and they’re at the age now where they’re relly interested in what other children around the world do.

The first country they wanted to learn about was America so we decided to have a themed America Day….

I showed them America on their maps and we compared it to the size of the UK and then we had fun making our own little Stars and Stripes flags and sticking them on to cocktail sticks.  We also tried to learn the words to the Star Spangled Banner from here but ended up singing the new Cheryl Cole song instead!

I was also told about a brilliant recipe for edible peanut butter play dough but when I went to make it, I didn’t have enough peanut butter.  The recipe I found was here.  If anyone makes it before me, let me know as I’m not too sure what it’ll turn out like or even if it would last long enough to be played with 😉

We had an American themed tea as well with mini hot dog buns, home made burgers, american fries, coleslaw, potato salad, chicken goujons, mini corn on the cobs and a salad.  All served on a very American table with little name plates and mini flags on cocktail sticks!

We also had thick chocolate fudge milkshakes made using milk, ice cream and some Betty Crocker chocolate fudge ice frosting that we bought reduced in Morrisons for about 50p.

We even made Rocky Road bars for pudding, which have got to be the easiest recipe we have ever made!  (Is it me or do I always say that?)

Rocky Road Bars
125g soft butter
300g fruit and nut chocolate, broken into pieces
3 tbsp golden syrup
200g rich tea biscuits
100g mini marshmallows
1 packet of magic stars

Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup  – we put it in the microwave for 20 second blasts until it all melted together.

Crush the rich tea biscuits but leave some a bit chunkier to add some extra texture to the bars.

Mix the biscuits and most of the marshmallows into the mixture and stir it all together so everything is coated in chocolate.

Press it firmly into a baking tray and top with the rest of the marshmallows and some magic stars.  Then you just need to pop it in the fridge to set.

After tea we watched the Disney channel for the rest of the night to immerse ourselves in American culture (AKA Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers;-) )

To top of the junk food fest, Mr Frugal even bought us these for a snack to go with our popcorn:

American day wasn’t so hard but we’re thinking about Italian day next week so if anyone has any ideas that are child friendly, please let me know….

I originally published this last year when we started doing our theme days but as the subject of today’s Friday Club is parenting tips, I thought it would be worth re-publishing it in case you missed it as I think it’s an excellent way to teach children about how people live in other countries.  There’s so much information at our fingertips with the internet that it’s never been easier to help your children to learn

Here are the other entries in this parenting tips carnival:

Nova at Cherished by Me shares her tips in Encouraging Children to Read.

Gemma at HelloitsGemma’s Blog gives us her working mum tips in This working Mummy’s guide to life.

Maggy at Red Ted Art shows us how Baby Can Draw!

Chris at Thinly Spread gives us her Secret to Relaxed Parenting.

Helen at Cheeky Wipes gives us her tips in Fussy Eating.

Mummy Beadzoid gives us some Parenting tips for the NICU/SCBU parent.

Kelly at Domestic Goddesque shares her advice in Terrible Twos: tips for dealing with tantrums?

Ella at Notes From Home gives us her tip for encouraging children to tidy up at the end of the day.

Tiddlyompompom shares her weaning tips in her oh so helpful guide to weaning.

Mymumdom shares her tips in Parenting Tips (Me Over The Edge).

SouthoftheRiverMum tells us her plans to set up a Reward System at Home.

Not so single mum at Diary of a Not So Single Mum shares her advice on doing what you feel is best for your child and your family.

Jax at Making It Up discusses behavioural issues in a quandary in search of a tip.

Bod for Tea shares her advice on finding a ‘helper’ to encourage your child to do things they don’t really like doing in Bunny says.

Hayley at Simply Hayley tells us about Hugs and Love.

Make Do Mum shares her stickability scale in Know Your Enemy.

Blue Sky at Looking for Blue Sky gives us some teenage tips.