Plan Theme Nights with Your Children

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Next Stop…Mexico!

Honestly, when I embarked on this with my children as a fun way to learn, I didn’t know it would be this much fun! Lucky for me, I have a wonderful friend who lives up the street from me who not only has some Mexican in her, but cooks and speaks it, too. She was the one to call when it came to planning my day with authentic foods and fun. Plan this one with your children and let the fun begin!

Yes, we made a pinata. What fun it was, too. Print off these simple instructions and give yourself at least 3-4 days to complete. I planned for my Mexican theme on a Wednesday and started the pinata on Sunday.

printable recipe

To make the glue:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups water
• Stir to make a paste
• Newspaper, torn into strips
• 1 balloon
• streamers, markers, anything you want to decorate your pinata
• regular Elmer’s glue
• candy and small pinata toys
• heavy duty string to hold up your pinata
• aprons…this gets messy

You can use shaped balloons, too, to create fun ones other than a circle. I used just a regular balloon for us newbies and thought I’d get more creative once I had this one mastered.

Blow up the balloon and dip the strips of newspaper into the homemade glue paste and lay all over the balloon. Do this to cover the whole balloon, giving it a good 3 coat coverage of dipped newspaper. Allow to  dry, it takes about 3 days. I had mine sit in a bowl to help circulation of air. Keep rotating the balloon in the bowl to ensure it is all drying well.

Once dry, pop the balloon, and it’s time to decorate! We used streamers of all different colors and glued them on. We even had some hanging off the bottom. I just let the kids have at it and they had a lot of fun!

Now cut, carefully a hole (just half of one so you can close the flap) at the top to fill in the candy. You can take out the deflated balloon in the inside.

Cut two holes on each side of the hole at the top and tie tough string through and tie. This will enable you to tie another piece of yarn to it as a way to harness it up high to hit. I used our swing-set, taking out one of the swings to accommodate all the swinging.

Load it up full of candy, grab a handkerchief if some children want to be blindfolded, a stick (we used a broom) and you’re ready for some true Mexican fun!

ahora es el momento para la cena

Translation: Now it’s time for dinner!

We had fun making guacamole, and homemade tortillas for a full taco bar.

Delicioso!

Jenny Penton is a homeschooling mother of seven children and loves the closeness that being home with them provides. Un-schooling is how they live and learn and she blogs about their learning experiences at Homeschoolingbelle.com. Jenny also has a passion for inspiring women to become master life planners and that includes menu planning. Check out her sites for life planning and her inspiring recipes on her food blog at plannerperfect.com and plannerperfectmeals.com