If you like the Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate, why not DIY at home!! This could be a fun thing to do with kids, siblings, friends, or just keep it all to yourself.

**This is a passive program, which means that you can do the activity whenever you’d like.

✿ Peppermint Hot Cocoa Ingredients/Recipe: 

1.5 cup milk or soymilk or almond milk or rice milk 

3 chocolate squares semi-sweet 

4 crushed candy canes 

1 candy cane as decor 

optional: marshmallow sea salt 

If you haven’t heard of them, kindness rocks are a viral trend! Maybe you’ve seen painted rock art laying around in a random public location – that’s quite possibly a kindness rock.

It started with the Kindness Rocks Project and their mission of “one message at just the right moment can change someone’s entire day, outlook, life.” I happen to completely get behind this mission.

The Kindness Rock Project is the thing that got me started painting rocks in the first place – and now I’m hooked. I’ve painted so many rocks that I have a lot of ideas (and tips!) for you.

Simple Rock Painting

Materials

• Rocks

• Mod Podge Outdoor

• FolkArt Multi-Surface Paint

• Pebeo Vitrea Markers

• Brush-on or spray clear sealer

• Tools

• Paintbrushes (and a detail brush for writing)

Instructions

• Wash all dirt off of your rocks and let dry.

• Decide whether you are going to paint the rocks or write directly on them. If you are painting, move to step three. If you are writing directly on the rocks, prep the rocks with the brush-on or spray clear sealer.

• Paint the rocks with acrylic paint. Paint one side, let dry, then flip over and paint the other side. Once you are done painting, let everything dry.

• Seal if you didn't in step two. Let dry.

• Embellish your rocks with sayings, designs, or whatever you like.

• Once your rocks are dry, coat them with Outdoor Mod Podge! Give several coats and let dry.
  Then take a walk outside and leave the rocks in easy to see places! You have the power to turn someone’s frown upside down☺ Enjoy!

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like

Goal setting is an important life skill that is never too early to start developing. Learning to set goals teaches children to take responsibility for themselves. They learn that their actions determine whether or not they fail or succeed.

Goal setting also builds self-confidence. When children reach their goals, they learn to believe in their abilities and are more likely to set new goals for themselves in the future

1. Collaborate with the child to set goals. Try not to dictate to the child what goals he/she should set. The child is more likely to push towards their goals if they can take ownership of them and are vested in the outcome of their goals. As the child gets older, assess whether or not they are capable of setting goals on their own.

2. Start with small goals. Starting out with small, easy to achieve goals, ensures that the child experiences some success early on in the goal setting process. Once they have some success, they will gain confidence in their abilities and are more likely to set more challenging goals in the future.

3. Make sure goals are age appropriate. Young children between Kindergarten and third grade might set goals such as sharing with friends, reading a book independently, etc. Starting at around fourth grade, children might set more complex goals for themselves such as making honor roll or making a sports team.

4. Goals need to be realistic and attainable. Children need to set goals that they have the skills to achieve. For example, it would be unrealistic for a five year old to have a goal of reading a Harry Potter book independently because they have not developed the necessary skills to do so. This goal would most likely be unattainable for the child despite their best efforts

5. Make goals specific. Having broad goals can overwhelm and confuse the child. When setting goals, try to be as specific as possible. Instead of saying ‘I will do better in school’, state specifically what you will do in order to do better in school. For example, ‘I will complete my homework daily.’

6. Decide how you will track progress. Children are more likely to work towards their goals when they see progress. They can track their progress by using a sticker chart, graph with tally marks, a spreadsheet, etc. Make sure the child can readily see the progress they are making towards achieving their goal.

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like

Homemade Rock Candy is awesome! It really is food science working at its finest. Not only is it a fun experiment to do but the end result is so tasty. Using just a few ingredients you can make rock candy at home. It would make a great activity to do with the kids as well. Maybe someone needs to conduct a science experiment for school? This would work perfectly for that. It is easy to do, if I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get started! Ingredients You Will Need: Water – I generally use filtered water, since my tap water tastes gross. White granulated sugar – The sugar is the star of the dish. You can’t make rock candy without the sugar. Food coloring – This is an optional ingredient. It is great for making all kinds of different colors. Flavoring – There are a variety of flavorings that you can put in your rocky candy. Tools You’ll Need: Pot Wooden spoon or spatula Lollipop sticks or bamboo skewers Wide glasses or mason jars Clothespins

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like.

Your child can sneak over to thank someone local for their kindness with a tangible gift. Have them draw a picture, design a craft or help you bake cookies and then dress up the present with a bow or wrapping paper. Next, design a card together with a “secret” theme, as in “It’s no secret: I’m grateful for you!”

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like

There are certain days during the summer when the last place anyone wants to be is in a hot kitchen. But that's when kids can come to the rescue, making a delicious dessert for the whole family without ever having to ask their parents to turn on the oven.

Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

• 2 packages (20 sheets) graham crackers 

• 11 tablespoons (1 3/8 sticks) unsalted butter, melted 

• 2 tablespoons sugar 

• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature 

• 1 14-ounce can (1 1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk 

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Step 1

Put graham crackers in a large resealable plastic bag, and crush them with a rolling pin until very fine crumbs form.

• Step 2

Pour crumbs into a medium bowl; stir in sugar. Add butter, and stir until well combined.

• Step 3

Press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch springform pan, spreading it 1 1/2 to 2 inches up the side; press flat. Chill crust in freezer at least 10 minutes.

• Step 4

Meanwhile, make the filling: Using an electric mixer set at medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the condensed milk a little at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl, as necessary. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla.

• Step 5

Pour the filling into the crust; smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

• Step 6

Unclasp sides of pan, and remove cheesecake.

Variations

Skip the crust: use cheesecake filling in a parfait and invent a whole new "layer cake." Mix the filling, then put some in a glass. Top with broken-up cookies (such as chocolate or vanilla wafers) or graham crackers, and add fresh fruit (such as raspberries or blueberries). Alternate layers. Refrigerate parfait for 30 minutes, and serve.

Variations

Chocolate cheesecake: make the crust with chocolate wafer cookies (10 ounces, or about 50 cookies) instead of graham crackers. Once you've mixed the filling, gently stir in 1 cup mini chocolate chips, and then fill the crust. Sprinkle more chips on top of the chilled cake.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups white sugar

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup milk

• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 3 cups quick cooking oats

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prep Directions: 

• Mix together sugar, butter or margarine, and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one

• minute, stirring constantly.

• Remove from heat and mix in cocoa, quick oatmeal and vanilla. Drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper.

Snowflake Shortbread Cookies I love a good shortbread cookie that just melts in your mouth, and about this time of year, as the holidays are just around the corner, I miss making cookies with my mom, throwing flour at my cousins, the smell of cookies baking, and yes, I even miss the snow. Making these cookies makes me feel like I'm at home again. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened SAVE $

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 pouch (7 oz) white cookie icing

Coarse white sparkling sugar

Steps 

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.

2. In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. In small bowl, mix flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended.

3.  On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. On cookie sheets, place cutouts 1 inch apart.

4. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. Decorate with white icing; sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container at room temperature.

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like.

Many adults keep gratitude journals to enhance their grateful feelings over time. Kids can design and fill a gratitude jar and glean similar effects. Decorate a container with photos of things they’re grateful for (their puppy, their family or last summer’s vacation). Cut colourful craft paper into small squares, punch a hole in the stack of notes and string the papers through one end of a decorative ribbon, which can be used to tie around the jar. Each evening, the child can slide a slip of paper out of the ribbon and write down (or dictate what you should write down) something they’re grateful for that day, then fold it and toss it into the jar. They’ll amass a collection of happy memories that they can pull out and read (or have you read) whenever they need a lift.

We’ve found a series of videos teaching us how to draw the Peanuts characters. Since we are connected through our Schulz Library, Charlie Brown’s and Lucy, I thought this could be fun!

How to Draw Snoopy and Charlie Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-yjsAoo5ZY

How to draw Snoopy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4gGrfUXLfo

How to draw Woodstock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmnKU6Ask8k

**This is a passive program, which means you can do the activity whenever you’d like

While Family Weekend is typically in the Fall and Siblings weekend is typically in the Spring, I think we can all agree that this year has been anything besides typical! Family Weekend will serve as a time to make a much needed connection with our SSU traditions, spirit and our Noma Nation Seawolf community. We hope that throughout the weekend our Seawolves and their families will feel a connection to our campus (which we all miss dearly), hear from some of our campus Administration, and help connect our Seawolves and their families with their home away from home. All Family Weekend events will be held online and there is no charge to attend the events. 

To register your family for the weekend (don’t worry it’s all free, but we will have raffles throughout the weekend, so you want to sign up)