Winter #LittleAdventures Challenge & Gluten Free Apple Ants on a Log Recipe

A bear themed day with a two-year-old!  Bear activities and a recipe for Apple Ants on a Log!

Disclaimer: The ants on a log is gluten and dairy free, suitable for vegans and vegetables. The Barny Bears are made with gluten containing ingredients.

Yield 1 serving

Apple Ants on a Log

This is going to be somewhat of an unusual post for me, but it's one that I hope you'll all enjoy! :) I took part in a Winter Little Adventures Challenge organized by BritMums. In fact, this post is an entry for BritMums' Winter Little Adventures Challenge sponsored by Barny, individually-wrapped bear-shaped sponge cakes with a hidden filling. Find out more about Barny!

Since Callum and I both have been struggling with a cold the last few weeks, going out for a proper adventure was out of the question, so I thought it might be fun to come up with some bear-themed activities and snacks so we could have our own indoor adventure. At the bottom of this post, you can find the recipe for my Apple Ants on a Log--a perfect healthy, snack for any toddler!

Please ignore the horrid mess in the photos! Haha. I thought about cleaning up, but decided that anyone with a toddler would know what it's like. Our living room looks like this 12 hours of the day every day. It's only clean when Callum is in bed! Welcome to the mess and madness.

To get things started, I planned three hands-on activities: two matching games and a craft. First Callum had to match the orange baby bears with the orange momma bear. I cut out the bear on orange construction paper and glued the bottom half to create a pouch. When Callum picked up the orange bears, he was supposed to put them in the momma bear so they could all be together. After a few goes, he had more fun ripping the momma bear to shreds and jumping up and down on her, quite sadistically.

Next, we tucked the teddies into bed. I folded a piece of construction 3/4 of the way over and glued the sides. Then I badly drew some pillows and a quilt and cut out purple teddy bears. Callum and I talked about our bed time routine and I showed him how to kiss the teddies before tucking them into bed.

 He enjoyed them so much and thought they were adorable! After a few minutes of the purple teddies going to bed, he decided that the orange teddies were tired too. And since he had destroyed the orange momma bear, the orange teddies would need to share a bed with the purple teddies.

So he crammed them all in. I asked him about the tattered orange momma bear and he picked up the torn bits of her and crammed her in as well. You can see from the photos, he was well pleased with himself!

For our bit of craft fun, I made some all-natural microwave puff paint and we finger painted a momma bear and baby bear that I traced from cookie cutters. He was a bit unsure of the paint at first (it's quite grainy) but soon enough he loved it and had fun fingerpainting the bears.

Clean up was a cinch because he just wiped his hands all over his clothes. Because the paint is made with flour, salt, water and food dye, no damage was done! When we were finished painting, I microwaved the paper for about 30 seconds until the paint dryed and puffed up.

After all of our hard work matching and then painting, it was time for a snack! We had Apple Ants on a Log and of course a Barny Bear! He loves decapitating the bear and playing with it before devouring it. We encourage playing with food at snack and meal times because food has so many lovely textures and fragrances for him to explore. Plus, kids always lick their fingers so much of that food ends up in their mouths--right where we want it!

As usual, Callum had a good session playing with the bear while picking at the apples and raisins. At one point he stuck Barny's torso into the pot of cashew butter and stared in amazement as the plate levitated! Eventually, long after I gave up sitting on the floor photographing him, he finished the bear and most of the raisins. He left most of the apple because I left the skin on. (He hates fruit skin!)

We really enjoyed our indoor winter adventure! In addition to the matching games, craft and snack, we talked about bears and read some stories that included bears in them! We also sang and danced to "Teddy bear teddy bear turn around".

Callum loves the Barny bear sponge cakes! In our parcel we received these apple ones and a pack of strawberry ones. The strawberry bears were devoured quickly! We'll be picking  them up from our local supermarket whenever we do our weekly shop now! They were a big hit :)

Ingredients:

For the apple ants on a log
1 tbsp cashew butter
1 package raisins
1 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apple
1 apple-flavored Barny Bear

**Notes**

• You can use honey instead of a nut butter

Instructions:

Apple Ants on a Log

1. Core and wedge an apple using an apple wedger.
2. Cut a small portion out of the flesh of each wedge.
3. Show your toddler how to smear cashew or other nut butter onto the wedge.
4. Allow your toddler to place raisins on top of the cashew butter like ants on a log.
5. Serve the Apple Ants on a Log with a Barny Bear sponge cake.

Love kid-friendly recipes? Follow this board: