Play the Game Tangle - Indoor Craft with Scented Herbs

Below I will be giving you instructions for making a simple game like Twister with an herbal twist.  And the best part is you make it from recycled materials.  It is actually part of my kids program called "Play-it-Again Games." 

If you needs some calming and some activity, then this is a great game to play.  It is raining here for the third day in a row, so there is no outside play going on, so to keep from becomeing couch / computer potatoes, my hubby and I decided to try the game after I made it.

What this really caused was a great deal of laughing, because my husband and I are not as limber as we thought we were.  Thank goodness there is no photographic evidence.

Make the Game of Tangle

All you need is:
 2 milk or juice cartons
 Scissors
6 colors of construction paper
Glue

Steps to Create Tangle Game:
      1.                Cut 2 squares boxes from carton bottoms.

     2.                Cut a slit at one corner of one box 

 3.   Create a combo of aromatic herbs in any amount inside one box.  Use about 2 to 3 Tablespoons of mixed herbs. Roses, lavender, lemon herbs mints, etc.  

If you do not have herbs, but have some essential or perfume or potpourri oil, place a few drops and some scraps of paper.

4.  Push the 2 boxes together with the scented items inside.  They fit tightly, no glue required.  When you shake it (toss it,) the herbs stay inside, but give off their scent.

5.              Trace the sides of the box onto 6 different colors of construction paper.

6.              Cut out 5 squares of each color.

7.              Glue one square of each color onto the 6 sides of the cube, creating a colored die.

The splash of almond milk makes it look like I poured glue on the box, but that is actually a glue stick, which worked perfectly.  I smoothed the paper over the glue putting one color on each side until entirely covered creating a color dice.

Now you are ready to play the game.  The entire process took me about 15 minutes, so you can have a game ready in no time.

TO PLAY TANGLE – 2 to 6 players

1.   Find a clear space on the floor for play.

2.   Scatter the paper squares (4 of each color) on the floor.

3.   Roll the colored dice once.  The color on top is the color to use.  

4.   Try to get both hands and both feet on the matching color in the scatter on the floor.

5.   Try not to get too tangled. I put the phone down and hubby and I tried the game.  With me getting blue first and him getting red, he had to stretch over me to reach his colors and when I tossed the dice for my next color we ended up in a pile on the floor laughing!

6.   Play continues with other members of the team. If you have more than 4 players, you can work with 2 squares instead of 4 for each person and alternate hands and feet.  Have fun!

An Old Fashioned Halloween Party

It's Halloween and you want to stay away from the big parties and door to door trick or treating with strangers. What do you do? I was looking through my stack of stuff the other day trying to get back on track with the blog and found a great file of holiday suggestions.  Hidden in the folder was an article from the magazine,  The Modern Priscilla Magazine from October 1915.

It was instructions on how to throw a Halloween Party!  It started by advising the hostess to invite family and friends that are close to each other so everyone can feel comfortable dressing up and joining in.  The Invitations and Decorations were simply adorned with witches on broomsticks, owls, black kittens and simplar traditional designs.

Decorations

Decorations in the early 1900s were simple but fun. Jack-o-lanterns peeking from every corner, dried corn with branches of colored fall leaves would be suspended from chandeliers. Pumpkin shells can be scraped clean and used for soups, dips or casseroles.   Cheese cloth, something we don’t see as much of today can be dyed yellow and festooned with autumn leaves.  Get the kids involved by stringing  popcorn which you can make Halloween festive with a shot of orange spray paint.  Faces painted on gourds and turnips was not so different from the decorating we do today.

Fun Food

The food suggestions in 1915 were rather light and easy, which fits in perfect with our busy lifestyles today. Egg, chicken or tuna salad sandwiches, cut into fourths with additions of thinly sliced cucumber, herb butter, tomato or watercress could be served on platters with colored toothpicks holding the bread in place. Sometimes a little food coloring now to make eggs green and other fun colors in food is more acceptable now that in the 1910s.

Nut sandwiches were a suggested treat. Bake gingerbread or pound cake in loaves and thinly slice. Toast nuts for a few minutes in a hot oven, then chop or crush. Mix with whipped cream or honey and spread on the slices of bread. This is great with Pecans.

In addition to the sandwiches serve brownies, fruit compote or salad, hot cider and salted nuts.   Serve some of those seasoned pumpkin seeds you made using the recipes we posted in the blog back on 10/15/11!

Hot Spiced Cider

(2 quarts cider)

1 cup brown or white sugar
2 sticks cinnamon
6 cloves
1 tsp. allspice
nutmeg

Add the sugar and spices to the cider in a large saucepan. Simmer, do not boil, for 15 minutes. Strain and serve hot in small glasses or mugs. A little grated nutmeg may be sprinkled on each glass before serving.

If you want more recipes or spice blends for cider, check out the Backyard Patch Cider Blends.

Easy Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 cups sugar 
• 15 ounce can of pumpkin
• 2 cups flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• (or you can substitute 3 tsp of Backyard Patch Cinnful Dessert Blend/Pumpkin Spice)

Instructions

1. Mix the first four ingredients.
2. Sift and add the dry ingredients.  Increase the amount of spices if you desire stronger flavors.
3. Pour into greased jelly roll pan and bake at 350° for 25 -30 minutes.

A perfect Halloween snack is roasted nuts and we make a great one with our Cinnful Dessert Blend, check out the recipe on the Backyard Patch Website !

Halloween Games

Bobbing for apples, dancing, and door prizes were some of the simpler activities in the early 1900's. We can add some modern touches too. On the bottom of each plate place a number. After everyone finishes eating draw numbers and give away adult and kid's door prizes.

The best thing about a dollar store today is it is filled with the types of traditional toys from 100 years ago, like bean bag animals, marbles, and card games.  I suggest herbal tea, jam,  fancy cookies or crackers for the adults.

 
You can drag out those games you played years ago too, like musical chairs.  Dance the  Hokie Pokie or play Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin and allow kids and adults to interact. 

A friend of mine used this game for Christmas gift exchange last year, but I adapted it for a game of Pass the Pumpkin!

Pass the Pumpkin

Directions:
For this game you'll need a small pumpkin, a reader, a circle of friends that know (or are learning) right from left and this little story. Whenever the kids hear the word "right" they pass the pumpkin to the person on their right and when they hear the word "left" they pass the pumpkin to the person on their left. All the participants will need to put on their listening ears because this game gets tricky. Party host can have a small prize ready for the person that is holding the pumpkin at the end of the game. I love the fact that adults can play this game and enjoy it just as much as kids and since I have never been good and left and right, it makes for fun mistakes!

Game story:
"Mr. Right and his two children left their home to go trick or treating. His daughter held Mr. Right's right hand and his son held his left hand.

The three turned left on the sidewalk and walked right passed the neighbor's house because they knew the neighbors had left this afternoon to go car shopping. Their car hasn't been running right since August.
At the second house on the right, the neighbors had left the light on and had also left a basket of candy and a note saying that they would be right back.

At the third house on the right Mr. Right and his kids didn't stop because the neighbors hadn't left their light on but they had left their sprinkler on and it was spraying from the gate right up to the door.

"All right!" said Mr. Right's son at the fourth house on the right. The neighbors at this house had their lights on and asked the trick-or-treaters to come right on up to the porch. "My wife and I are eating all of the candy right up and we're glad you got here while we still have some left," said their neighbor.

At this moment Mr. Right's daughter realized that she'd left her trick-or-treat bag at home. "That's all right," said the neighbor. "Our son left for college but I am sure he left a pile of old Halloween bags right here in the closet."

The Right children said thank you and looked right and left before they crossed the street to come back down the left side. At the first house on the right there was a spooky spider right on the gate. To the left of the gate there were three pumpkins and to the right of the gate there was a funny scarecrow with a broom in his left hand. These neighbors had really decorated the yard up right for Halloween night and they had plenty of great candy left.

The Right family trick or treated at the four houses that were left and soon there was hardly any room left in their trick or treat bags.

The end.

Who is holding the pumpkin? They win a prize!

I got quite a few ideas for this blog from Brenda Hyde and her blog On the Front Porch.

Winter Games - Indoor Herbal Bean Bags

Okay it has been cold and wintry and dark for two months.  Winter came early this year in the Midwest so by now I am dying for activities.  I am planning my garden, ordering my plants, but that is all passive, I need something to DO!  And if you have kids around the house, they probably do too!

So here is a great idea.  Make some herbal bean bags.  You can place an herbal mixture with the beans and the scent they give off as you throw them around can lift your spirits as well as give you something active to do, both the making and the using.

Steps to make Herbal Bean Bags:

1. Cut a piece of cotton fabric into 7-inch by 7-inch square.  Then fold in half, wrong-side out.  Stitch along three of the edges using very small stitches.
2. Turn the bag inside out and fill half-full with beans (such as kidney or lentils.)  Add 2 tablespoons of dried (not powdered) herbs.
3. Finally, turn under the edges of the open end and sew the bag closed using very small stitches.

Games to play:

1.                  Draw a circle on a piece of paper and stand with your back to it.  Toss the bean bag over your shoulder to see if you can get it into the circle.  Fun to play with three bean bags to see if you can get all three in or in competition to see who can get the most in.

2.                  Set up paper towel or toilet paper rolls and play 9 pins by tumbling the bean bag into them.

3.                  Bowls are a bit tougher a target.  Cereal bowls or paper bowl that you must land in perhaps several in a row like Bozo buckets could all be fun and improve eye-hand coordination too!

4.                  Now I am not recommending breaking the house, but you can also suspend a ring (like a hula hoop) from the ceiling and toss beanbags through it.

Have fun!
Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh