by Colie Haahr, CMNH Educator

September is a great time of year to make the most of the summer harvest, and to start enjoying classic fall flavors. For the September Food Works recipes, we tried two different kid-friendly apple recipes. The Food Works program is a partnership between Hannaford Supermarkets and the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire that allows us to share healthy, family friendly recipes!

Today we are sharing two recipes for Fall treats: Apple “Donuts” and Healthy Caramel Yogurt Dip. Both recipes are easy to make, and are perfect for making the most of healthy and tasty fall apples! The caramel yogurt dips tastes so much like real caramel, and it’s made from yogurt with less sugar and fat than a typical caramel dip. The apple donuts allow kids to choose their own toppings for apples, and can add a few other food groups and some protein to a healthy after school snack.

Both of these recipes allow kids to take part in creating them, but it is helpful if a grownup does most of the prep work, especially cutting up the apples. For the Apple “Donuts” you will need apples, yogurt or nut butter, and various toppings such as fruit, nuts, and granola. For the Caramel Yogurt Dip you will need yogurt, maple syrup, brown sugar, salt and vanilla extract.

APPLE “DONUTS*

**note, these are NOT donuts, and you can always opt to call them something else if this will cause confusion and/or require you to provide real donuts out of thin air! We have also seen these called “apple cookies,” but this could create a similar problem with kids! Apple Frisbees?? You decide on the best name!!

1. Core apples, and cut into slices so that the shape is similar to a donut with a hole in the middle
2. Prep toppings ahead: blueberries, raspberries, chocolate chips, granola, nuts, and set up for kids to portion out
3. Prep yogurt for kids to spread with a spoon or spatula
4. Use the yogurt to “frost” the apple donut. You can also use a nut butter of your choice, or both
5. Add the toppings to the apple donut, and enjoy! These can be stored in the fridge, but are best eaten fresh

A variety of other ideas for this recipe from the Food Network: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/apple-donuts-3838711

HEALTHY CARAMEL YOGURT DIP

(Makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

One container yogurt (We used So Delicious coconut milk yogurt) (170g)
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Put maple syrup, salt and brown sugar in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high in 10-second intervals until brown sugar starts to dissolve (If you do not have a microwave, heat in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves—or you can skip this step and just add the additional ingredients!)
2. Stir in vanilla extract and yogurt
3. Allow to cool
4. This will get thicker if you leave it in the fridge overnight
5. Slice apples to dip in the caramel dip and enjoy!
6. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to four days.

Original Source: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com

By Colie Haahr, CMNH Educator

This is an active game, but can be done with no running, indoors or outdoors!

Kids love hiding things and finding things, so this is a game that can last for quite a long time, and can be played with just two people or more. 

Set up: First, have each player create a snake. You can use pipe cleaners and beads to make a pattern snake. If you do not have materials available to make a pipe cleaner snake, you can color a snake instead by drawing a snake, having your child draw a snake, or using a template.

Game play: Once everyone has decorated or put together a snake, take turns hiding and finding them. There are a few different ways to do this. If younger kids are playing with older kids, a variation that works well is to have a grown up hide all of the snakes, and kids can search for and find only their own snake. This makes the game more fair in that one person will not find all of the snakes right away. 

Rules:

• Use your own house rules for hide and seek: this usually includes no peeking while someone is hiding or hiding items! 

Explore more:

Add to the fun: have a “pattern pageant” with a grown up as the judge. Inspect the patterns, ask kids to come up with hidden talents for their snakes, and choose a snake as the winner. Maybe it’s the snake that would blend in best in the natural world, the one with the best pattern, or the child who didn’t do so well in the hide and seek game ;) 

Talk about why animals have patterns in nature. Usually, this is to send a message to other creatures, such as “I’m dangerous!,” or to help the animal blend in to stay safe from predators. Some animals have patterns that mimic other things, allowing the animal to appear larger than it really is, or blend in with a different group of animals. Elementary aged kids could do some independent research to see who can find the animal with the best camouflage! 

Try this printable paper chain python activity:
If you do not have a printer you can make a paper chain by simply cutting up strips of construction paper or copy paper. 

Try this printable spiral snake: 
Kids can color it in, but may need help from a grown up to cut it out. These would be neat to hang from the ceiling once completed! 

This is a very similar activity, but involves finger painting the snake to create a pattern:
You could also make a pattern like this using the CMNH Wacky Art bubble wrap painting method.