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Showing posts with the label inside activities

Craft Activity: Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

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Valentine's Day isn't just about candy and hearts, don't forget your four-legged friends! They hike the trails and always greet you at the door. Children will also love being able to help make their four-legged friend a healthy treat. Plus the added bonus is a lesson in measurements. Gather all the ingredients first and let everyone involved take a turn, no matter how small. Even give a small portion of the dough to let the kids roll out and cut out the treats. For even more fun, use cookie cutters. Peanut Butter/pumpkin Dog Treats 1 1/2 cups flour 
(I use whole wheat) 1/2 cup peanut butter (no sugar and creamy)* the kind of peanut butter that is just peanuts, no salt or sugar  1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree add a little water if needed until the dough can form a ball Grain-free peanut butter/ pumpkin dog treats grind oatmeal into a flour and substitute for the whole wheat flour Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine wet ingredients. Mix the flour into the wet ing

Adirondack Treats: Make Your Own Mirror Lake Inn Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe)

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Mirror Lake Inn Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Back by popular demand! My favorite cookie recipe!    *reprinted with permission Mirror Lake Inn Chocolate Chip Cookies , Lake Placid, N.Y. Mix until light and fluffy 2 cups butter 2 cups sugar 1 cup brown sugar Blend and add to sugar mixture:  4 eggs Add: 4 tsp. vanilla 4 cups flour 3 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking soda 4 cups chocolate chips 2 cups broken walnuts (I omit) Drop onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Yields 4 dozen. Tip: I whip up a batch and keep the dough in the refrigerator and bake a few cookies at a time! Enjoy! *if you stay at the Inn you get complimentary afternoon tea and chocolate chip cookies daily. If not, you can make your own and pretend!

Arts and Crafts: Tissue Paper Window Star Art

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It has been a long winter and any signs of spring seem to be still buried under three feet of Adirondack snow. If you are also looking out the window and want to bring some color and freshness to your house, try these delightful window star art projects. Remember arts and crafts are not just for kids, but for adults, too! I am a devout purchaser of craft books, Pinterest  and crafting with friends. My children are very patient with my struggles to try to make something affordable as well as beautiful. Tutorial for Tissue Paper Window Stars Materials: tissue paper, colored wax paper or any paper that is translucent, glue and tape  Cut tissue paper into rectangles. Fold eight rectangles in half length-wise. Open back up. Fold each corner in to meet the center fold line. Crease the corners.

A Happy B'Earth Day Cake

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HAPPY EARTH DAY! This is my daughter's favorite cake to make. It doubles as an Earth Day/Birthday celebration. If anyone is interested in making it, what I did was quite simple. 1) Make your favorite cake recipe. I used the one-bowl chocolate cake from Craig Claibourne's New York Times Cookbook . You have to make two batches for each half of the globe. 2) Find two bowls of the same diameter. Oil and flour the insides of both. 3) Cook as directed and when finished cool and use a spatula to pop the cakes out of the bowls. 4) Frost. I made a no-cook butter cream frosting. Frost the two halves together forming the globe. 5) Put a light coating of blue-dyed frosting over the sides leaving a small area on top for the polar ice caps.* 6) Lastly use a globe as a guide, with a different color frosting "paint" on your continents. 7) Go for a run. That butter cream frosting is just that, butter. *I couldn't find my blue dye and berries made the "world" too pu

Gardening with Kids: Make Your Own Newspaper "Peat" Pots

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by Diane Chase A cost effective way to pot plants and recycle and reuse from your paper bin is to make newspaper "peat" pots that can be planted directly into the ground. It is an easy process and children enjoy the activity. it can be done on a rainy day, if you need something to do or make a family night out of the activity. Then plants your seeds or seedlings, water and wait for your indoor garden to grow! Continue for step-by-step directions

Craft: Make a paper or felt fortune cookie

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The U.S. Greeting Card Association’s website states that about one billion valentines are sent worldwide each year. Not that I am not the sentimental type but most of the time cards end up in the recycling bin. Saving cards seems to create just one more thing to move. There are some items that I do keep that are only significant to me. So for anyone looking to create a different keepsake, here is a paper of felt fortune cookie. Paper or Felt Fortune Cookies Getting ready for Valentine's Day? Need a quick idea to make little treats for your children's friends? Use the template and follow the simple directions to make quick and easy fortune cookies.

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

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It is the year of the Snake! It’s the most important of Chinese holidays, kicking off a celebration that lasts for 15 days and culminates with the Lantern Festival. Each year is associated with one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. For 2013, it’s the Year of the Snake.  Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

6 things to know about the Adirondack Footy Festival in AuSable Forks

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This second annual winter-sports film  competition for the   Adirondack region supports the freestyle and snowboard subculture while also acting as a fundraiser for athletes trying to make Nationals.   1) The film festival will take place at the   Hollywood Theatre   in AuSable Forks this Saturday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. 2)  All tickets are $5 3) This is an amateur film competition  4) Cash and prizes for top three finishers in 2 categories: under 5 minutes and under 20 minutes 5)  Other prizes will be awarded from   PlacidPlanet Bicycles   and   Hardway Apparel , GoPro,  6) A ll funds will be used to support the   United States of America Snowboard Associations Adirondack   (USASA ADK) athletes at Nationals at Copper Mountain, CO.

Adirondack Mountain Club High Peaks Lecture Series 2012

Located right outside of Lake Placid, The High Peaks Information Center (HPIC) at Heart Lake is once again offering its yearly FREE lecture series.  All programs are free and open to the public.  Saturday evening lectures at HPIC begin at 8 p.m.  Lecture Series   Jan. 7 Winter Birds of the Adirondacks Join Joan Collins, president of Adirondack Avian Expeditions & Workshops, LLC as she discusses winter birds in the Adirondacks. She will discuss why the birds move to our region in the winter and where you can find them. The presentation will feature photographs and vocalizations of 19 species that visit northern New York in winter.

Willsboro:Champlain Valley Film Society Winter Movie Schedule

Champlain Valley Film Society Winter 2012 Movie Schedule NOTE: all Winter films will be shown at 7:30 PM rather than 8:00. And all shows will be held at the Willsboro Central School.

Adirondack Fun: Bowling in the Adirondacks

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Sometimes it is difficult to get children outside but it doesn't have to be challenging to keep them active. Bowling is great exercise, fun and even the smallest in the family can do it. Below is a list of bowling establishments located in the Adirondack Park and in no particular order. Riverside Bowling Lanes (518) 647-9905 2 Mcrea Street (Corner of route 9N.) Au Sable Forks Lake George Bowl-Spare Time (518) 668-5741 Lake George Rd, Lake George, NY Pine Lanes-Spare Time (518) 793-9606 166 Saratoga Ave, South Glens Falls, Adirondack Lanes (518) 585-6851 Hague Rd, Ticonderoga, Willsboro Bowling Center (518) 963-8983 3922 NYS Route 22, Willsboro, North Bowl Lanes Inc (518) 561-1690 28 N Bowl Ln, Plattsburgh Bowl Winkles (518) 523-7868 340 Main St, Lake Placid Lake View Lanes (518) 359-2234 1939 State Route 30, Tupper Lake Forge Lanes (315) 369-2631 North St, Old Forge Lake Luzerne Community Center and Bowling (518) 696-4250 Lake Luzerne Sar

Adirondack Inside Activity or Birthday Party: Twin Crystal Rock Shop Saranac Lake

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Hunting for treasure whether on the trail or at our home still seems to hold some fascination for my children and, to be perfectly frank, for myself as well. If Jed Clampett can strike “liquid gold” in his backyard, why not me? (My husband feels obligated to remind me that The Beverly Hillbillies is a fictitious show, not a documentary.) Fine. Well, if you visit Kasey and Kean Riley’s Twin Crystal Rock Shop , treasure takes on a whole new meaning. The store shelves are lined with beautiful jewelry, most of which is handmade locally. There is a room dedicated to florescent stones, a sandbox for treasure digging and shelf dedicated to old-fashioned candy.

FAMILIES /KIDS SPEND THE "NIGHT AT THE ADIRONDACK MUSEUM"

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Camp Out for Families: An Overnight at the Adirondack Museum Join the Adirondack Museum and the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts for a fun-filled night July 8-9, 2001. See the exhibits by lantern, get dramatic about Adirondack history, hear songs and stories by the campfire, and have a sleepover in the  Woods and Waters  exhibit. For families with children ages 7 - 13;  1 adult chaperone requested for every 1 to 4 children.  Program starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends the following morning at 9:30 a.m. Pre-registration required. Call or email to register: jrubin@adkmuseum.org  or (518) 352 - 7311 ext 115 mhall@adkmuseum.org  or (518) 352 - 7311 ext 128 Fee includes dinner, evening snack, light breakfast, and all activity materials. $45 per person for Adirondack Museum members and Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts members; $55 per person for non-members all content and photos © Diane Chase, author of  Adirondack Family Time: Tri-Lakes &  High Peaks:Your Four-Season Guide to

Adirondack Fiber Fest at Lake Placid's Adirondack Yarns

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By Diane Chase I taught both my children to knit but my son never found it to be the relaxing activity that my daughter and I do. He will take up my daughter’s needles in a competitive way, trying to knit faster than his sister but has yet to find the joy in creating something new from a few balls of yarn. He is more interested in how the yarn is created. It is an interesting stage when children finally connect that everything comes from something else. They go to stores and turn over the packaging and exclaim, “Everything comes from China.” This Saturday Adirondack Yarns in Lake Placid is bringing local sheep and alpaca farmers together to show that some things are made right here in the Adirondacks. Rain or shine, Saturday June 11 will be Fiber Fest.

Adirondack Museums: Adirondack History Center in Elizabethtown

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The Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown is open for the season.  2011 Admission: Adults $5.00, Seniors $4.00, Students $2.00,  6 and under are free. One  highlight of the visit is to climb to the top of the adjacent fire tower. This particular steel tower was reconstructed from two different fire towers. At the top we can see all around the village of Elizabethtown and surrounding mountains.

Build an Eastern Bluebird Birdhouse

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Do you need an inside project to do with your children? Build a bluebird house over the weekend. Here is a free plan that uses just one piece of lumber. It could also be completed with scrap. Make a couple and then come spring you will have a nice nesting box for birds.

Mother's Day in the Adirondacks: Mothers go FREE to Pendragon Theatre play

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By Diane Chase On May 8th,   Pendragon Theatre   will open with the E.B. White classic story of   Stuart Little   adapted for the stage by Joseph Robinette. Personally I belief that seeing a family play isn't just for people with kids. Sometimes in my hectic life I want to be reminded of magic and animals that talk and to be pulled along into a story that exercises my imagination.   Stuart Little   promises all of that. Pendragon Theatre Managing Director and Co-Founder Bob Pettee says," There will be no intermission during   Stuart Little . It is a one act play. The basic story is of a couple who have an unusual son, a talking mouse. We follow the mouse on a series of adventures and meet a variety of characters along the way." Read more

Lake Placid for Kids: Indoor/Rainy Day Activity? Try Rock Climbing

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By Diane Chase High Peaks Cycler y offers inside rock climbing as in intro to the great outdoors or just a means to practice. We find it a great (inexpensive) way to release pent-up energy on a rainy/snowy day around Lake Placid, Wilmington or the rest of the Adirondack High Peaks.  Rules are simple 1) All climbers must be 5 years or older 2) all climbers must complete a Waiver and Release form at least once a year 3) All climbers must sign into the Climbing Wall prior to climbing 4) All climbers must alert staff of the presence/departure. All participants must pay a fee OR show staff their card prior to use 5) Climbers under the age of 1 must have the Waiver/Release form signed by a parent or legal guardian 6) A minimum of one spotter per climber when bouldering 7) No hard soled or lug shoes are permitted. Climbing shoes or bare feet only 8) Approved climbing gear only 9) The belayer must pay attention to the climber at all times by keeping eye contact on him/her 10) No horseplay

Adirondack Events: Author Sapphire Visit to Paul Smiths Cancelled!

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CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS Presented by The Adirondack Center for Writing , author of the book PUSH , the inspiration of the movie Precious , Sapphire will present a reading and book signing Date: April 19 Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Paul Smith's College VIC Cost: Free for Paul Smith's students, all others $5

Inside Fun for Kids in Lake Placid: Paint Your Own Pottery

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By Diane Chase There are many paint choices at Brush On In! Brush On In in Lake Placid offers many inside activities and events to keep the whole family busy on a rainy, snowy or anytime! The final product!  Each object is individually priced with an additional studio fee of $9 for adults and $7 for children that covers the firing, glaze and paint.  Look for online specials as well as toddler special (M-F) 1/2 price sitting fee. It can get pricey but there are small items that children can paint that are very reasonably priced.