Breakfast and a Book

My very favorite activity for parents in the PCP’s class this year was Breakfast and a Book.  I volunteered once in the fall and then again today for the last one of the school year.  Breakfast and a Book is Mrs. B’s second grade version of Mystery Reader.  The parent volunteer brings in a simple breakfast and few books to read to the class.  Since it was the end of the school year, I chose The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing (I’ve mentioned before how much I love her books) and How Not to Start Third Grade by Cathy Hapka.  Both are darling and went over swimmingly with the littles!

I cooked up this plan long before ankle-gate so I was even more thankful than ever to have Mother on hand to actually execute on the idea!  We put together a darling little summer inspired breakfast snack (although it was way more like a dessert) to celebrate their impending summer vacation.

You’ll need:
clear plastic punch cups (dollar tree)
vanilla pudding (I used this since it was nut free.  I got 9 out of each large box of instant pudding.)
rice krispie cereal
a pack of sour strip candy (or fruit by the foot)
Teddy Grahams
Peppermint puff balls
Mini umbrellas

1. Make your pudding per the package directions and spoon into the bottoms of each cup.  I tried to tint mine blue like water but the yellow color of the pudding kept it just green.  The more blue coloring I added, the darker green it got.  So, our bears were swimming in murky Atlantic beach-ish waters :-)
2. Top with rice krispies cereal.
3. Cut your sour strips a little longer than the teddy grahams to make a beach towel or pool float.  Sit on top of the rice krispies and top with a teddy graham.
4. Add a peppermint beach ball and top with an umbrella. 

We made the pudding and filled the cups the night before.  Just before we left Mother finished them with the cereal and toppings.  The spoons, cups, and napkins were all from Dollar Tree.  While there, we picked up a lei for each student (6/$1) to wear during the stories and then tuck safely in their backpacks for the rest of the school day.  You would have thought I was passing out money for how excited they were!!

Fingers crossed third grade brings the opportunity to interact with the kids like this.  I’m not even worried about Kindergarten – I know that will keep me plenty busy :-)
xoxo