March 22, 2016

My kids love to cook. They come running when I say it’s time to help me cook. When melted chocolate is involved, they come running just a little faster. Who am I kidding? They come running at full speed when chocolate is involved.

We made these easy chocolate dipped mini pretzels one day when I had a niece and nephew over for the day. (I’m totally going for the Best Aunt award, here. Chocolate covered pretzels? I’ve got this!)

Sometimes, it’s nice to have a little treat, but a mom wants to keep the sugar intake on the low side. We made these mini pretzel rods for a bite size chocolate-y treat that would be perfect for parties or special events.

Chocolate diped pretzel bites are perfect for cooking with kids and a cooking activity at preschool or a play date! Love these for kids parties, too!

Mini Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites

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You’ll need just a few ingredients for this recipe:
Mini pretzel rods
Chocolate melts
Sprinkles, dried coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, or what ever you’ve got in the house.

This recipe is easy enough to make with kids without a huge mess. Melt the chocolate melts over the stove top. This is a job for an adult or an older child.

Using a spoon, drag the melted chocolate over the mini pretzel rods. Place them on a sheet of wax paper. For easy, use a lipped tray like a jelly roll pan. This will contain the mess and keep sprinkles and toppings from rolling on the floor.

Pour sprinkles into small rubbermaid containers. This is a great way to incorporate fine motor skills into the cooking process. Kids can pinch or scoop the coverings on the melted chocolate.

HINT: Use larger containers for dumping sprinkles over the pretzel rods. We also used halves of the mini pretzels for an even smaller treat. These pretzel bites were perfect for a small snack!

Stop by and see what the other bloggers in the Kids in the Kitchen blogging team have cooked up:

Quick and Delicious Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins | Living Montessori Now

Homemade Taco Seasoning | Royal Little Lambs

Mud Pudding | Raising Little Superheroes

Roll-Out Butter Cookies | The Gifted Gabber

Marble Pound Cake | Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Simple Cupcakes for kids to decorate | Rainy Day Mum

Easy Zucchini Muffins | Mess for Less

Baked Mini Cinnamon Donut Holes | Kidgredients

Chocolate Butterscotch Rice Krispie Treats | Royal Baloo

Looking for more cooking with kids recipes? Here are some of our favorites:

M is for Mushrooms: Veggie Quesadilla Recipe | N is for Nuts: Honey Roasted Nuts Popcorn | O is for Olives: Antipasto Skewer Kabobs | P is for Peppers: Asian Chicken

These DIY dominoes are a great tool for addressing auditory processing needs!

When I saw the theme for this week’s Learning with Manipulatives series was dominoes, I was excited. My kids love playing with dominoes! They love dominoes of all kinds, from craft stick dominoes to our math sensory bottle that had slowly sinking dominoes. I had a few different learning activities in mind…but then I couldn’t find our dominoes! Not to worry, I threw together these DIY bell dominoes that were perfect for color matching with an auditory processing twist.

Auditory processing dominoes made with bells are perfect for a color matching activity, and can be graded to meet the auditory needs of all ages.

DIY Bell Dominoes

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To make these bell dominoes, you need just three items:
Corrugated cardboard
Pipe Cleaners
Bells (Ours were from www.craftprojectideas.com)

You’ll also need scissors and a black marker.

Cut rectangles from the sheet of corrugated cardboard. Using the wire in the pipe cleaner, poke a hole in one end of the rectangle. Thread the bell onto the pipe cleaner. Bend the pipe cleaner over and poke it through the cardboard again. Gently twist the ends of the pipe cleaner together and snip the long end of the pipe cleaner. Repeat on the other end of the domino.

I used random colored bells to create dominoes that were perfect for color matching. My preschooler loved this game and we played several rounds, just working on color matching.

Auditory Processing Activity with Bell Dominoes

Many children demonstrate auditory processing difficulties. Difficulties with processing the sounds around them, in classrooms, and in conversation can present in many different ways. I came up with simple ways to use these DIY dominoes to address auditory processing problems in fun and game-like ways.

Auditory Processing Listening Activities

Play the bell dominoes game and ask your child to close their eyes when it is not their turn. They need to listen for the sound of the bells and tell with it is their turn by saying when the bells have stopped. Listening for the bells’ sounds addresses auditory attending.
Play from further distances by having the child cross the room after they’ve taken their turn. They need to listen to hear when the bell has stopped before coming back to take their turn. This addresses auditory attending and auditory discrimination.
Play with various background noises.
When playing, take turns tapping out patterns before placing the domino in it’s place in the game.
Grade these games by rolling a dice and assigning a number on the dice with a colored bell.