Month: October 2019

Popular Halloween Candy That is Not Safe for Allergy Kids

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date October 26, 2019
11 Comments on Popular Halloween Candy That is Not Safe for Allergy Kids

Halloween candy favorites that are not safe for kids with allergies, allergy kids, childhood allergies, unsafe Halloween treats, non-food Halloween treats, allergy-friendly Halloween treats

My son is severely allergic to eggs and since his diagnosis, I have become so much more aware of the ingredients in any food my family eats. Last Halloween was the first time I paid much attention to candy ingredients, and I was shocked by all of the popular Halloween candy that is not safe for allergy kids.

I realized that my little man couldn’t eat more than half of the candy in his trick-or-treat bag!! It wasn’t a huge deal last year since he was only a year old, but this year he’s really starting to notice that he doesn’t get what his brothers and sisters get all of the time.

My son isn’t alone in this battle, either. There are 1 in 13 kids in the United States who suffer from an allergy to one of the 8 main allergies.

For these kids, coming into contact with the ingredient can cause a minor reaction of hives and an eczema outbreak OR a serious reaction that requires an EpiPen and hospital visit. Worst case scenario (but completely possible) is that the child could die. I don’t mean to be blunt, but it’s the harsh reality of living with an allergy.

8 Major Allergies

The 8 major allergies that tend to be the most unsafe include:

Peanuts
Tree nuts
Dairy
Egg
Soy
Wheat
Fish
Shellfish

Popular Halloween Candy That Is Not Safe For Allergy Kids

1. Snickers

Of the 8 major allergies, Snickers contains dairy, soy, peanuts, and egg. There is also a warning that it may contain tree nuts.

2. Milky Way

A Milky Way candy bar contains soy, dairy, gluten, and egg.

3. Butterfinger

Of the major allergies, Butterfinger contains peanuts and dairy.

4. Kit Kat

Kit Kat candy bars contain dairy, soy, and gluten.

5. M&M’s

Dairy and soy are both found in M&M’s.

6. 3 Musketeers

This popular candy bar contains dairy, soy, and egg.

7. Twix

One of my favorites, but it, unfortunately, contains dairy, soy, and gluten.

8. Hershey’s Kisses

A Hershey’s Kiss contains both dairy and soy, making them unsafe for many allergy kids.

9. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup

Obviously, this one contains peanuts, but it also contains dairy and soy.

10. PayDay

Many people know that this candy bar contains peanuts, but are surprised to learn that it also includes dairy, egg, and soy.

Allergy Friendly Halloween Treats

So, now that you know most of your favorite Halloween candy contains some of the top 8 allergies, you may be stumped on what to pass out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Think outside of the box here! You can pass out fun toys and other items that kids love just as much as candy.

I love this option, as it includes quite a few choices.

Kids like more than just candy, so it’s not spoiling the fun if you opt-out of the option. Plus, the kids will likely be MORE excited to have an extra surprise that they weren’t expecting in their bag!! Since this day is dedicated to candy, however, I also included allergy-free candy in the list.

Play-doh
Stickers
Tattoos
Coupon books
Dots
Ring Pop
Skittles
Smarties
Sour Patch Kids
Starburst
Swedish Fish
Jelly Belly
Bubbles
Circuit Peanuts
Push Pops
Baby Bottle Pops
Jolly Rancher
Halloween rings
Hot Tamales
Halloween pencils
Mike & Ikes
Halloween erasers
Dum Dums
Welch’s fruit snacks
Fun Dip
Spree
Runts
Matchbox Cars
Small dinosaur toys
Crayons

Please remember: The manufacturing process can change at any time, so always read ingredient labels and check for warnings just in case it has changed since the publication of this blog post. If you are ever unsure about the ingredients in a piece of candy, it is always best to skip that one.

The Teal Pumpkin

If you see a teal pumpkin, this signifies a place with treats that are not food. This movement ensures that all treats are safe for children with allergies, and prevents anyone from being in an unsafe position or feeling left out.

If you see a home with a teal pumpkin on Halloween, they’re likely joining in on the movement for non-food Halloween treats. If you’re interested, check the list above which contains some non-food treats.

***Plus, you can buy a teal pumpkin by clicking on THIS link.***

***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

What is the “Switch Witch”?

The “Switch Witch” is where the unsafe candy is traded out in the middle of the night for treats that are safe. Some parents have a non-allergy sibling switch with the allergy sibling, while others buy candy that they know is a safe option to switch with their allergy child’s unsafe candy.

Can You Offer Both Options?

Sure! If you keep the allergy-friendly Halloween treats separate from the other candy, most allergy kids will be able to choose those options. Don’t be offended if an allergy child has to refuse if you offer both, but most of the time keeping the candy in a separate container will be fine!

Final Thoughts On Popular Halloween Candy That is Not Safe for Allergy Kids

Allergies are becoming very common for children, and oftentimes these allergies are life-threatening. For these kids and their parents, holidays such as Halloween that revolve around food and treats are incredibly stressful and frustrating as it requires heavy monitoring on the parent’s part and lots of sadness on the child’s part.

Knowing which treats are safe and which ones are unsafe ahead of time can greatly help allergy families during Halloween. The even better option, however, is to have allergy-friendly treats available and separate from the allergen-containing options. Non-candy treats are the best option yet!

What non-candy treats can you think of to pass out on Halloween? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

Tags Allergies, halloween, Holiday, Parenting

Uncategorized

Halloween Math With Free Printable

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date October 20, 2019
18 Comments on Halloween Math With Free Printable

Fun Halloween Math, Halloween, Halloween Activities for Kids, Toddler Halloween Activity, Preschool Halloween activity, Kindergardent Halloween activity, Kindergarten Math

Halloween is so much fun, and it’s a holiday that can be celebrated in so many ways. From pumpkin carving to dressing up in costumes, Halloween is fun for everyone. I like to find extra ways to make Halloween fun, so I created a Halloween math printable that can be used with candy, cheerios, crayons, or anything else you’ve got around (plastic spiders?!).

Ways to Use the Printable

These printables are perfect for any age group because you can do so many different things in the boxes. When our 11 year old did a couple of these, he doodled different designs in each box. My kindergartener colored the squares, and my 4 and 2 year old both put cheerios in the boxes.

Some other ideas to fill the boxes include:

Plastic spiders
Candy
Googly Eyes
Paint
Cheez-its
Gold fish crackers
Coins
Drawings of pumpkins, bats, or other Halloween related drawings

How to Print the Free Halloween Math Worksheets

I didn’t want these Printable to be huge, so I created them to fit two to a sheet on portrait mode. When you click ‘print’, you will need to change the printer settings and choose 2 pages to 1 sheet so that 2 pages of the Printable will print on the same page.

If it doesn’t automatically make the printables fit on the same page, just choose to print them as 5×7 images, which will definitely fit 2 to a page.

Now, if you prefer to have large printables, go ahead and choose to fit one page of the printable to one sheet of paper and it will print well that way, too.

Halloween Math Printables

You may notice a slight difference from the original graphics for this post… the only change is that I added 10 boxes instead of 8 boxes.

Final Thoughts on Halloween Math Free Printables

Holidays are the perfect time to implement fun learning opportunities. This Halloween Math Printable can be used anywhere and can be fun for all ages, although it is more designed for ages 6 and under.

What Halloween learning activities do you like to do with your kids? Tell me about it in the comments!

Big Kid Big kid fun Family Activities Holiday How To Sensory Play Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

Easy Fall Sensory Bin With Dyed Rice

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date October 13, 2019
6 Comments on Easy Fall Sensory Bin With Dyed Rice

how to dye rice, dyed rice, rice dying, easy fall sensory bin, easy sensory activity, easy fall activity, fall sensory activity

The fall fun has begun, and that means we’re doing ALL of the fall activities at our house. When Peyton created his Layers of the Earth 3D Project, I was inspired to dye rice in all fall-inspired colors and create an easy fall sensory bin.

How to Make an Easy Fall Sensory Bin by Dying Rice

What you need:

4 cups of white rice
4 teaspoons of white vinegar
Food coloring (I used orange, yellow, brown, and red)
4 Ziploc bags (any size) – one bag per color
Paper towel

Directions:

Put 1 cup of rice in each Ziploc bag.
Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar into each bag of rice.
Add a differet color of food coloring to each bag.
Zip the bag and mix the rice with the food coloring.
Once the rice is completely coated and dyed to the color you want, dump it onto dry papertowel and let it dry for about 1 hour
Once all of the dyed rice is dry, mix the 4 colors together in a bowl or sensory table.
Add small Halloween toys or fall colored leaves for more fun.

Halloween Dyed Rice Sensory Bin

Using the same ingredients and similar steps, you can make an easy hallowed sensory bin for your kiddos, too! Instead of separating the rice in 1 cup increments into 4 separate bags, you will put two cups of rice into two separate bags (4 cups of rice total, still).

Once the rice is distributed, you will put 2 teaspoons of vinegar into each of the 2 bags, and then put orange food coloring into one bag and black food coloring into the other bag.

Follow the remaining steps, waiting for the dyed rice to dry before mixing colors together.

Another Easy Halloween Sensory Idea

Instead of doing orange and black for the Halloween sensory bin, you could dye all of the rice purple and add fun things like googly eyes or witches cauldrons in the sensory bin.

You could really do this however you want. Just follow the steps and change up the colors as needed.

And if your kids are like my kids they will do this:

I’m not sure if I should blame Liam or Josie for mixing the fall sensory bin with the Halloween sensory bin, and then they added purple and pink rice, too.. they both blamed one another. Still fun, though!

For more Halloween fun checkout these posts:

Final Thoughts On Easy Fall Sensory Bin With Dyed Rice

I love fun and easy activities, so this easy fall sensory bin with dyed rice was perfect for us. It was incredibly easy to make, pretty inexpensive, and the food coloring goes a LONG way so we were able to make a ton of dyed rice in all different colors.

My kids loved this… my 11-year-old loved it just as much as my 2-year-old, so it’s definitely a hit with everyone. My favorite part is that it is easy to clean up. You can simply sweep it up and throw it away, with no sticking or staining.

What is your favorite easy sensory activity to do with your kids? Have you tried dyed rice before? Leave me a comment and tell me about it!

Tags big kid, big kid activities, DIY, fall, halloween, Holiday, How to, Preschool, sensory play, toddler activities, tot school

Adulting How To Life Parenting

The Right Financial Plan Can Help Your Family Stay on the Right Track – A Guest Post

Post author By Sara B. @ thewidow.net
Post date October 11, 2019
4 Comments on The Right Financial Plan Can Help Your Family Stay on the Right Track – A Guest Post

The Right Financial Plan Can Help Your Family Stay on the Right Track, financial plan, family plan, financial stability, preparing for the future

A note from Sara B. (the author of this guest post): As a widow and mother of two, I know from experience how important it is for parents to have a strong financial plan. So, naturally, it concerned me when I read recently that only 25 percent of Millennial parents have life insurance and that only slightly more than half of parents have wills.

Her goal with this article is to explain the importance of financial planning for parents and give tips on how to get started.

Building your life one piece at a time is exciting, but it can become more and more difficult financially. According to GOBankingRates, the cost of living in the U.S. has increased by 14 percent, and median household incomes aren’t covering the jump.

Throw the cost of raising a kid into the mix, and Americans are even further from living comfortably within their means. The only way to get ahead and thrive is by thinking critically and coming up with a plan. Start developing your personalized financial plan today by using the tips below, so you can get back to creating the life you want for your family.

Down With Debt

Before you can start planning your financial future, you have to get rid of debts that casts a shadow on things like procuring a home loan or any other line of credit. Some debt is unavoidable, but if you don’t take care of it now, you’ll feel its effects later.

Calculate your personal debt-to-income ratio and start working toward lowering it. Your credit will get a boost from the dropped DTI, and interest rates on future lines of credit will most likely drop as well. If it’s out of hand, consider debt consolidation or meet with an advisor. A professional will help you get on the path to saving more for your future rather than paying for mistakes in the past. Once you’ve got a handle on your debt, it’s time to start saving for everything you hope to accomplish.

Figure Out Your Aim & Budget

Think about what you want for yourself and your children in the future, and what it’ll take to get there. You have to figure out the destination before you can map out a way there. Do you want to buy a home with a bigger yard, send your kid to a private school or start saving for college? Your goals can be short-term and/or long-term. Maybe you’re focused on providing for your kids after you’ve passed. All of these goals give you something to work toward and will help you develop a budget.

Even if you’re already running your home within a budget, you should revisit it in light of your goals. You should be putting money into a variety of savings accounts, but the first one you should stock is an emergency fund. Whether something happens to you, your home or your employment status, the last thing you want to do is stress yourself and possibly risk incurring more debt.

Life happens, so you should be ready for it. Protect your family by thinking ahead, and teach your children financial health by being a role model for them. They will be watching and will appreciate your budgeting down the line.

Prepare For The Future

Now that you’ve figured out where you want to save, it’s time to put it into action. Put some of your savings to use by investing, which is part of every financial plan. From contributing to your 401(k) to 529 college savings accounts, there are many ways you can invest in yourself and your family.

If you feel comfortable handling investments on your own, build an investment portfolio. If you prefer to have some help, look into using a robo-advisor, which offers a much lower fee than an in-person advisor. Save that bit of money to tackle another significant part of your future.

Additionally, get your estate planning handled as soon as possible. Avoid probate court with a living trust, protect your heirs’ property and designate a guardian to look after your children. If your children are grown, consider giving one of them control of your finances.

You should also look into life insurance to lessen financial stress after your departure. Specific financial needs like childcare, debts, and healthcare costs can be alleviated with life insurance. Use a tool, like an online calculator, to help you determine which insurance policy is right for you.

Everyone’s situation is different, including their finances. One thing that is consistent is the desire to do what’s best for the family. Make your financial plan today to help solidify a secure future for you and your children.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.

Tags adulting, How to, Life, Make Money, Parenting

Big Kid Big kid fun Classroom crafts Family Activities Sensory Play

Dyed Rice Layers of the Earth 3D Project

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date October 9, 2019
6 Comments on Dyed Rice Layers of the Earth 3D Project

layers of the earth model, layers of the earth 3d project, layers of the earth project, dyed rice, mason jar

Peyton (our 11 year old) loves school projects where he gets to use his creativity. In 4th grade, he had to create a 3D animal and he chose a paper mache diamondback rattlesnake, which turned out SO cool. This time, he had to create a 3D model of the layers of the earth (6th-grade science) and he chose to use dyed rice in a mason jar.

How to Make the Layers of the Earth with Colored Rice

What you need:

2 cups of white rice
2.5 teaspoons of white vinegar
Food coloring (yellow, orange, red, green, brown)
16 oz. mason jar
Ziploc bags (any size) – one bag per color
Paper towel — *You’ll be mad if you don’t check out this AMAZING deal I found on paper towel!!*

This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.

How to Make it:

Divide 2 cups of uncooked rice into 5 parts. The parts should be divided based on the sizes of each layer of the earth… some will be smaller than others.
Add each of the 5 parts into individual Ziploc bags and add 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar to each.
Then, begin adding the food coloring to each bag. The amount of food coloring you use will depend on how you want the colors to look.
Dump each color out onto a dry paper towel, keeping all colors separate.
Allow the dyed rice to dry for one hour.
Pour the dyed rice into a 16 oz. mason jar, beginning with the innermost layer of the earth. In Peyton’s case, this was the inner core, which he made yellow and poured into the bottom of the jar.
Pour each additional layer on top of that one, working from the inside layers to the outside layers. The outermost layers will be at the top of your jar.
Put the lid on, and your layers of the earth project is complete!

Layers of the Earth Used in this Project

Yellow: bottom layer, inner core
Orange: 2nd from the bottom, outer core
Red: 3rd from the bottom, lower mantle
Green: 4th from the bottom, upper mantle
Brown: top layer, crust

Tips:

*Fill the mason jar ALL the way to the top with rice. This prevents the rice from moving around and mixing together. You’ll want to keep your colors separate, as those represent the layers of the earth.

*Distribute the rice to 5 bags before dying any. Determine which bag of rice will be making up which layer, and write it on the outside of the bag. This way, your largest layer (the upper mantel in Peyton’s case) has the most rice in the bag and it doesn’t get mixed up with a different layer.

*—->This<—- pack of food coloring is the exact one I bought for this project. It contains all the colors Peyton needed plus some additional colors, too.

Other Ideas for Layers of the Earth 3D Project

His original idea was to use 5 different colors of glitter, which I thought would have looked super cool. He changed his mind and decided on the rice model instead, however.

Some other ideas include:

Styrofoam ball
Play-doh or clay
Colored sand
Glitter
Cake

Final Thoughts on Layers of the Earth 3D Project

I’m always so excited when Peyton is assigned a school project. He is SO creative and has so much fun with them.

What project would you create if you were to make a 3D model symbolizing the layers of the earth? Tell me about it in the comments!

Tags big kid, big kid activities, big kids, DIY, Family Activities, How to, learning, sensory play

Family Activities Free Activities Infant/Toddler Learning Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning Toys

Rubber Band Character Rescue – Easy Fine Motor Activity

Post author By Sarah Barkley
Post date October 7, 2019

easy fine motor activity, rubber band character rescue, fine motor activity with rubber bands, PJ Masks character rescue, PJ Masks fine motor activity, dinosaur fine motor activity

This rubber band character rescue was a HIT with my kids. It kept them busy and having fun while fine tuning their fine motor skills. Some days, keeping them productively busy is hard to do when they just want to watch YouTube and Netflix or play video games.

I admit, my kids get a little too much screen time. I try to balance it out with activities that work their hands and minds at the same time. As a busy mom, that’s sometimes difficult when so many activities take just as much time preparing or cleaning up as your kids will spend doing the actual activity. Because of that, I’m always trying to find new ideas that don’t require much preparation, clean-up, or supplies.

This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.

This easy fine motor activity was perfect because:

It required less than 5 minutes of preparation.
I was able to pick random toys that we already had and that I didn’t have to search for. You can literally use ANYTHING.
My kids loved it.
They spent quite a bit of time taking rubber bands off (rescuing) and putting them back on (re-trapping).
They spent time sharing toys and trading fairly.
Helped develop fine motor skills.
This can be done anytime and anywhere. If you throw a pack of rubber bands in your diaper bag or purse you can always count it. I bought *these* rubber bands (click for link) because the rubber bands are sturdy, stretchy, and affordable).

Fine Motor Rubber Band Character Rescue

Choose their favorite characters, or do a variety of different characters. I chose PJ Masks characters, a Paw Patrol, and a dinosaur… mostly because those toys were some of the first ones I found, but also because my kids love those ones and play with them daily.

This activity is so easy. You can just grab a couple characters that your child loves and throw some rubber bands on them. Be creative and add more fun by using multiple colors of rubber bands and wrapping the rubber bands different ways.

Your child will then get to rescue their favorite character from the rubber bands while fine tuning their fine motor skills.

Take Activity a Step Further

Once your child has rescued their character from the rubber bands, challenge them to wrap the characters back up in the rubber bands.

My kids were excited when I told them that they had to tie the character back up so that we could see if I could rescue them, too.

Final Thoughts On Rubber Band Character Rescue – An Easy Fine Motor Activity

I love doing fun developmental activities with my kids, but life gets so busy that it’s hard finding the time. It took me too long to figure out that fun stuff doesn’t have to require tons of prep or clean-up. A quick bit of time after work/school can make for just as much fun as the more complicated activities.

Since trying out different easy fine motor activities, this rubber band character rescue has become a favorite for my family. From “trapping” spider man to PJ Masks toys, we spend time rescuing pretty much everything.

**What character would your kids love to rescue?! Tell me about it in the comments! **

My kids love this one and ask to do it all the time. It’s become my go-to activity in the car, in restaurants, and during any other “boring” wait times. Give it a shot and tell me how it goes for your child!

Do you have a favorite easy activity for kids that you like to do when you don’t have much time? Let us know!

Tags Family Activities, fine motor, learning, little kid, Preschool, toddler activities, tot school

8 Major Allergies

Popular Halloween Candy That Is Not Safe For Allergy Kids

1. Snickers

2. Milky Way

3. Butterfinger

4. Kit Kat

5. M&M’s

6. 3 Musketeers

7. Twix

8. Hershey’s Kisses

9. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup

10. PayDay

Allergy Friendly Halloween Treats

I love this option, as it includes quite a few choices.

The Teal Pumpkin

What is the “Switch Witch”?

Can You Offer Both Options?

Final Thoughts On Popular Halloween Candy That is Not Safe for Allergy Kids

Ways to Use the Printable

Some other ideas to fill the boxes include:

How to Print the Free Halloween Math Worksheets

Halloween Math Printables

Final Thoughts on Halloween Math Free Printables

How to Make an Easy Fall Sensory Bin by Dying Rice

What you need:

Directions:

Halloween Dyed Rice Sensory Bin

Another Easy Halloween Sensory Idea

And if your kids are like my kids they will do this:

For more Halloween fun checkout these posts:

Final Thoughts On Easy Fall Sensory Bin With Dyed Rice

Down With Debt

Figure Out Your Aim & Budget

Prepare For The Future

How to Make the Layers of the Earth with Colored Rice

What you need:

How to Make it:

Layers of the Earth Used in this Project

Tips:

Other Ideas for Layers of the Earth 3D Project

Some other ideas include:

Final Thoughts on Layers of the Earth 3D Project

This easy fine motor activity was perfect because:

Fine Motor Rubber Band Character Rescue

Take Activity a Step Further

Final Thoughts On Rubber Band Character Rescue – An Easy Fine Motor Activity

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