Sanity Savers: Dyngus Day Pussy Willow Art Project

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Sponsored by: M&T Bank

Written by Amelia Schrader
Senior Manager of Learning and Education  

Materials:

2 pieces of construction paper (different colors)
Scissors
Tape or GlueSticks                                             
Q-Tip or paint brush
White paint  

Sanity Savers: Dyngus Day Pussy Willow Art Project

Length:

Craft time: 10 minutes  

Academic Subject(s):

Fine motor skills, social studies   

Happy Dyngus Day! Dyngus Day is an immensely popular Polish-American tradition in Buffalo. This celebration occurs annually the day after Easter. In Buffalo, Dyngus Day is celebrated with a big party which includes sprinkling water and flirting with pussy willows. Both traditions date back hundreds of years. It is believed by many that pussy willows are used because they are the first to bloom in the springtime. Today we are sharing a Pussy Willow craft you can make together to celebrate Dyngus Day from the comfort of your home!  

Directions: 

Step 1: The first step to this activity is collecting thin sticks. This is a great opportunity to go outside on a nature walk! You don’t need to go far just around your own neighborhood or even your own backyard! While you’re outside hunting for sticks, you can also try our outdoor color scavenger hunt activity, found here. 
Step 2: Now that you have collected your sticks, it is time to cut out your vase. To make a symmetrical vase, I recommend folding your paper in half the long way (or like a hot dog) then drawing one half of the vase along the fold. Keeping the paper folded, cut out the vase along the line you drew. Decorate the vase with markers if you would like! You can also use patterned paper for this step.  

Step 3: Lay your sticks in a neat, single layer pile on full piece of construction paper. You will want to make sure your pile is not wider than the vase you drew in Step 2. Secure these sticks to the paper using glue or tape. For this project I prefer a strong tape (like duct tape) as liquid glue takes so long to dry. You could also use hot glue but ultimately choose whatever you have handy at home!   
Step 4: Add the vase over the top of the sticks, gluing it down around the edges. Here any type of glue will work – even a glue stick!  
Step 5:  Dip your q-tip or small brush into the paint and begin to dab the paint onto the tips of the sticks creating the puss of pussy willows!    We hope you enjoy this simple Dyngus Day craft! Comment on the Explore & More Facebook page with a picture of your finished project or a memory of how your family celebrates Dyngus Day!   

Vocabulary Words

·        Dyngus Day: Polish holiday celebrated annually the Monday after Easter.
·        Symmetrical: When something is the exact same on both sides. 

Check out our other Sanity Savers posts here!

Sanity Savers: Pretzel Structures

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presented by national grid

Written by: Dan Walsh
STEM Educator

Supplies needed:

Pretzels and marshmallows work best.
The other options are frosting, gumdrops, or toothpicks.

Length:

Build time: 5-10 minutes   

Academic Subjects:

Science/ Engineering   
This lesson supports the following standards:
ETS1.A: Defining Engineering Problems – A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions. (secondary to KPS2-2)  
ETS1.A: Defining Engineering Problems – Possible solutions to a problem are limited by available materials and resources (constraints). The success of a designed solution is determined by considering the desired features of a solution (criteria). Different proposals for solutions can be compared on the basis of how well each one meets the specified criteria for success or how well each takes the constraints into account.  

Directions for Pretzel Tower:   

Adding a design challenge to this lesson can add an extra layer of fun. The three pigs need your help! They decided to make a fourth house out of pretzels and marshmallows! Can you help them construct the house before the big bad wolf pays a visit?
1.)   First place the materials on each plate. Each student should get about six pretzels and six marshmallows. 
2.)   Start by demonstrating how to stick the two together, the pretzels can slowly be stuck into marshmallows. It may be frustrating at first, so have plenty of back up pretzels in case any break.
3.)   Build two separate squares with 4 pretzels and 4 marshmallows each. 4.)   Decide which square is going to be the base. Then stick a pretzel vertically in all four corners.
5.)   Take the other square and place it on top. From there the child can keep building if their house is still stable! Once the student is happy with their project they may eat it!  Here are a few other ideas for pretzel structures. Students can build tables, snow crystals, pyramids, or even animals.  Younger guests may start with building two-dimensional shapes, which is great!
Even if the student is building basic shapes, they will be using concepts of engineering. They are taking what is in their head and mapping it out with the pretzels.

Check out our other Sanity Savers posts here!

Sanity Savers: Peep Houses

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Sponsored by: M&T Bank

Written by: Amelia Schrader
Senior Manager of Learning and Education

Materials:

Royal Icing
Approx. 2 cups of confectioners (powder) sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1 egg white
Zip lock bag
Twist tie or tape  

Peep House
Graham Crackers
1 bag of royal icing
Peep
Other candies as desired

Sanity Savers: Peep Houses

Length:

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Build Time: 20 minutes +

Academic Subject:

Arts Science Math

Happy Easter, everyone! While I know this year many of us are not celebrating with our full group of loved ones as normal but I truly hope you are all enjoying the time you have together with the loved ones in your homes. Every Easter in my family we do an activity challenge – these have ranged from art projects, timed puzzle making and cookie decorating. This year I am challenging all of you to a ‘Peep House’ Building Competition!

Sanity Savers: Peep Houses

This activity is based on our winter time tradition of Graham Cracker House building. Follow the instructions below to get started. As with any food lesson, make sure you wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm soapy water before beginning this lesson. Make sure you share pictures of your completed constructions on our Facebook page.  

Directions

Step 1: Make your royal icing. You will need approximately 2 cups of confectioners (powder) sugar, 1 egg white and ¼ tsp. of cream of tartar. 1.   Place your egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat the egg white until you have loose peaks. I highly recommend using an electric mixer, while you can accomplish this by hand it will take a long time and be very tiresome.
2.   Add in the ¼ tsp. cream of tartar and beat for about 30 more seconds. 3.   Slowly add in the 2 cups of confectioners sugar. I say approximately for this recipe because it really depends on the size of your egg white. Continually beat the mixture on high until very stiff peaks are formed. Once you think you are done, beat it for another minute! You need very stiff icing for this construction challenge.
4.   Take your plastic bag and turn it inside out. Form a circle with your thumb and first finger and put the tip of the plastic bag inside this circle. Carefully fill the bag with the royal icing, avoiding the sides of the bag when possible.
5.   Use a twist tie (or tape if you don’t have a twist tie) to close the bag at the top of the icing blob. You are now ready to start construction on your “Peep House”! I highly recommend washing your bowl and beaters immediately. This icing really does become as hard a cement once it dries. For our normal graham cracker royal icing recipe, we use powdered egg whites, however most people do not have these at home so I have modified the recipe for home use. This recipe will make between 2-3 houses depending on how much decoration icing you or your child uses.  

Step 2: Now it is time to build! The royal icing you just made will act as the cement, holding your “Peep House” together. Cut a small slit in the corner of the bag to use the icing. I recommend squeezing a toothpaste size amount on each side of your graham cracker.  

For my house, I used 5 graham cracker halves but you can use as many as you want! I started with three walls making sure to ice the bottom of the graham cracker to the plate. Then I added my roof.  

Step 3: Decoration time! Use your candies and extra royal icing to decorate your “Peep House”! My favorite Easter time candy is mini Cadbury eggs so I made sure to incorporate them into my design. Just make sure you leave enough room inside your house for your peep!  

Extra tips:
· Decorate the roof of your house last! This gives the icing more time to dry and you house will be less likely to fall down.
· Color small batches of your royal icing! You can make green for grass or other colors to represent eggs, flowers etc.  

Step 4: (Optional) Have each member of your family build a house then have a competition on who’s is the best! Your categories could be: strongest house, most colorful, best use of icing etc. Anything you want! You do not have to make this a contest you can simply put the houses on display to enjoy until you gobble them up!  

Vocabulary Words

· Construction: to build something; typically a large structure
· Engineering: a branch of science and technology concerned with design of a structure 

For more Sanity Savers projects click here!

Sanity Saver: Shake Your Own Butter

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supported by the peter c. cornell trust

Written by Julia Bozer, Cultural Program Educator and Amelia Schrader, Senior Manager of Learning and Education

Materials:

Glass Jar with lid (can also use freezer safe zip lock bag but the process will take longer)
Heaving Whipping Cream
Sea Salt
Plate
Butter knife, craft stick or other child safe “carving” utensil
Images of Butter Lambs  

Sanity Saver: Shake Your Own Butter

Length:

Set up: 5 Minutes
Activity 15-45 Minutes  

Academic Subject(s):

Science, Physical Health and Well-being  
This lesson supports the following NYS Curriculum Standards:
SCI: P-PS1-1, K-PS1-1, 2-PS1-1
Physical Education Standard 1: Personal Health and Fitness  

We all have our favorite Easter or spring time tradition. For many of us it is getting a butter lamb at the Broadway Market. Through this activity you will learn more about the history of the butter lamb and how to make your very own!  

Sanity Saver: Shake Your Own Butter

The butter lamb (or Baranek wielkanocny, in Polish) is a butter sculpture made during the Easter holiday for use at the Easter Sunday meal in many European Catholic countries, including Poland, Russia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. It has become an important tradition among Polish-Americans in Buffalo, as well. The lamb is a prominent symbol in Christianity, standing for Jesus’s sacrifice at the crucifixion; the use of red in decorating the lamb (such as the red ribbon around its neck and the red banner it carries) represents the blood of Christ. Typically, cloves or peppercorns are used to make the lamb’s eyes, and the banner on its back – reading, “Alleluia” – is attached with a toothpick.

Clean hands are important for this project, so make sure you start by washing your hands with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds before starting. You will want to repeat hand washing again after shaking your cream into butter and sculpting your lamb.  

Directions:

Step 1: Make sure you glass jar and lid are clean and dry.

Step 2: Pour the heavy cream into the jar. The total amount you pour in will depend on the size of your jar. We recommend starting with a smaller amount. The more cream you add the longer step 3 will take.

Step 3: Seal the lid on the jar and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE! This step can take 10 minutes or more for your butter to form. This is a great way to shake out some of your sillies and expel some pent up energy! After about 8 minutes you will notice the cream will begin to change color and small butter chunks will start to form. Keep shaking! This process of shaking the cream is called agitating.

You can turn this step into a game! Who can shake the jar the longest? Can you roll it back and forth on across a clean table to keep the cream agitated? Can you shake the jar to the beat of your favorite song? The possibilities are endless as long as you use your imagination!

Step 4: Once all of your cream has become butter you can carefully pour it out onto your clean plate and begin sculpting your own butter lamb! If there is still some liquid in your jar, you may want to strain the butter first using a fine mesh strainer then place it on your plate for sculpting. You can also place it in the fridge for a few minutes to have the butter harden before sculpting. Have your grown-up help find images of butter lambs on the internet as inspiration!  This interactive lesson helps your child develop fine and gross motor skills while teaching a little science and social studies. We hope you have as much fun making your butter lamb as we did!  

Vocabulary Words

Heavy Cream: A dairy product that contains at least 36% milk fat. It is the thick part of the milk that tends to rise to the top. Whole milk only contains a minimum of 3.25% milk fat. That’s a HUGE difference!  
Butter Lamb: The butter lamb (or Baranek wielkanocny, in Polish) is a butter sculpture made during the Easter holiday for use at the Easter Sunday meal in many European Catholic countries, including Poland, Russia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine. 
Agitate: To stir up. In the case of making butter, you agitate the cream so that the fat molecules clump together. Enough agitation makes butter form.  Solid: A substance that is firm and stable in shape. It does not flow freely like water. Examples include: the table, toys, chairs etc.  
Liquid: A substance that flows freely but remains consistent in volume. Examples include: water, oil or milk. 

For more Sanity Savers projects click here!

Storytime: Tamara Alsace lee La Llama Llama Rojo Pijama

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Supported by: Peter C. Cornell Trust

La Llama Llama Rojo Pijama por Anna Dewdney

La mamá de la llamita (llama llama rojo pijama) la acuesta, pero la llamita no está lista para dormir. La mamá llama está ocupada y no responde cuando la llamita, muy despierta, la llama desde la cama. S\La llama llama rojo pijama se pone muy inquieta, ¡e imagínense lo que pasa cuando la mamá al fin vuelve al cuarto! ¿Alguna vez te has sentido cómo la llamita, que no puedes dormirte? ¿Qué haces para calmarte para poder dormir? Extensión: Busca en el internet y averigua: ¿Cómo duermen las llamas? ¿Qué comen? ¿Dónde viven?

Field trips are back! Please be aware that it will be busier than usual.