I made this simple picture of Noah's Ark with animal crackers. The project is perfect for tiny tots who are just learning to count up to two and also distinguish between an elephant and a kangaroo! I printed out the ark graphics below on tan paper and then added a few yellow details for added color highlights, a process of which even a very small student can do. Also show your little tot how to draw raindrops and color these blue. Then line up the animal crackers two by two to board the ark. I glued mine down for the teacher's sample but you may never get a full set from someone younger. If you are concerned about the child eating these later, glue them on with a quick drying icing instead of white glue. You can also try this project with animal cookies or animal gingerbread.
How To Arrange A Children's Easter Monday Party by Louise E. Dew, 1904
From the beginning to the end, the children's Easter party must be as unique and attractive as time and ingenuity can make it. All the details are to be planned with care, not excluding the sending out of the invitations. Invitations are to be written with violet ink on pure white note paper, at the top of which is a hand-painted little yellow chic holding a single violet in its beak. The point on the envelope flap should also have a chick painted on it, with a violet in its beak and one below the flap.
Don't forget to teach the children how to paint Easter eggs!
As the little guests arrive the young hostess should present them with boutonnieres of pansies with which the basket which she carries on her arm is filled. Violet colored ones should be given to the little girls and yellow ones to the little boys.
The dining room decorations should be entirely in yellow and violet pansies and smilax. A window box should be filled with these dainty blossoms, and they are to be massed in crystal bowls on the sideboard.
Whenever an egg is used for a week before Easter, and end should be chipped off and the contents removed. The shell should then be rinsed with water, and when the shells have generously accumulated they should be dyed violet and yellow along with the regular Easter eggs. A pretty arrangement for the shells is to fasten a knotted end of violet and yellow ribbon to each one with a drop of glue, covering the broken end with a circle of gold paper. These ribbons should be of unequal lengths and suspended in a mass close to the chandelier for a decorative effect.
Underneath the egg shells a large white crepe paper egg should be suspended by violet and yellow ribbons. The heads of tiny yellow chickens, should be peeping out of the egg, as if they were just breaking the shell. Attached to the necks of the chicks should be violet and yellow ribbon leaders, arranged alternately, and passed to the place cards of each small guest. The cards will consist of diminutive oblongs on which tiny yellow chicks and violets are painted, with a quotation about flowers and Easter.
The paper egg center piece will contain dainty souvenirs of the occasion, which may be pulled out during the interim between the luncheon and dessert or after all the food has been served.
In the center of the table make a nest of smilax and fill it with pansies and saucy little egg-shell faces, painted or sketched in India ink. Their faces may represent demure little maidens, popular cartoons or little creatures from the woodlands. These odd little egg people, peering from the smilax nest, will furnish the children with a great deal of amusement while they are eating, and will afterward make appropriate souvenirs.
The menu card at each place will be in the shape of a snow-white swan, cut of deckled paper. The head and wings are cut in one piece, and the tail in another. After printing the menu in violet ink on the tail, the bits of yellow and violet baby ribbon attached to it should be passed around the neck of the swan, which will hold the head in position with that proud curve for which the swan is noted.
These menu cards may be purchased if one is not handy with scissors and pen. The list should read:
Menu
Chicken Sandwiches
Apple Salad
Cream Cheese Eggs
Olives
Egg Punch
Easter Eggs
Angel Sugar Nests
Ice Cream
Assorted Nuts
Candy
Fruit Phosphate
Cake
Cut the sandwiches in egg-shapes before serving them.Individual salad made of apples should be served with them in white paper cases tinted yellow and violet and imbedded in leaves of parsley. Roll the olives in powdered sugar, to resemble eggs. Cream cheese, eggs can be made out of cottage cheese, mixed with cream and rolled into the shape of eggs additionally. Each one should have a large walnut meat pressed firmly into the side of the "egg." Serve on crisp curled lettuce made into a nest. The punch will be simple egg-nogg, of which most children are fond, with nutmeg, vanilla and fruit syrup flavoring.
Easter eggs make an appropriate dessert, wholesome enough to satisfy the heart of a hygienist, and yet delightful to all children. They are made of velvety blanc mange or sparkling translucent jelly. Serve these either piled in a nest of stifly whipped cream or accompanied by a boat of sauce. The prettiest way is to serve an old-fashioned bird's nest in jelly.
To make, empty the contents of egg shell through a fair sized hole in the large end. Rinse the shells and set upright in a pan of flour or cracked ice, if gelatine is used. Fill with the jelly or blanc mange, and when cold and firm peel the egg shell from around it. A pint of jelly will usually fill six, if colored eggs are preferred, use the color paste which is sold by grocers, and which is perfectly harmless. Harlequin eggs may be made by using remnants of different colors, letting each one harden, then adding another color, until the shell is filled. Bewitching rainbow effects will be the result.
To make the nest, use a mould of jelly partly full. When hardened, pile gelatine eggs on top. Arrange over and about them a suitable quantity of "straw" yellow sponge sugar, which any confectioner can supply, or orange peel cut in tiny shreds. Angel sugar nests may be made out of angel food, cut round, and with a depression in the center. This cake should be piled high with candy eggs in all colors. The ice cream may be served an egg mould. A simple and harless phosphate may be home-made, and should in the shape of eggs, with the aid of consist of the juices of oranges, lemons and pineapple, with sugar water and cracked ice added.
Make the cake in the shape of a big egg and frost it yellow. Surmount the cake with tiny yellow and violet candles to light as the cake is being presented and after the first course of sandwiches, salad and relishes clear the table for the chick centerpiece. This impressive "chicken pie," made of yellow and violet crepe paper and covered with artificial chicks is set in the center of a hay or straw arrangement quickly assembled in the center of the table. Violet and yellow ribbon leaders should be placed within reach of each guest around the table. These leaders are tied to the souvenir egg cups, sprayed with hand-painted pansies. Each child's place setting should consist of a gilded egg with corresponding initials of the guest along with a diminutive nest of green moss on top of a plate, piled high with candy eggs off to one side of the dessert plates. Serve the cake and ice cream and wait for the children to finish before encouraging them to pull their ribbon leaders at your signal, whereupon they will be rewarded with amusing little snapping bon-bons.
After luncheon, organize an egg contest as a surprise event. Present a large hen's egg and ask the children to guess how large the circumference of the egg is. Give everyone time to answer and then reward the closest guess with a prize in the shape of a papier mache chick or something similar.
A ping pong or small billard table will make an excellent "lawn" on which to roll the colored Easter eggs, which will be provided by the "host child." A game may be made of the egg-rolling and prizes offered. (edited version)
A contemporary presentation of a children's Easter party table.
Additional suggestions for Children's Easter parties:
This is an ideal way of serving lemon ice. Cut off the tops of large lemons to form a lid for the cups, scoop out the pulp and place it in a saucepan, adding five cups of water with a cup of sugar. Grate the peal of one lemon into half a cup of fine sugar, add to it the juice and melt to a syrup. Cool the syrup, place in the freezer and freeze to a soft pulp. Fill the skins with the lemon ice, put on the tops, insert a straws and serve at once. El Paso Herald, 1917.
Aspic is a dish in which ingredients are set into a gelatin made from a meat stock or consommé. Non-savory dishes, often made with commercial gelatin mixes without stock or consommé, are usually called gelatin salads.
When cooled, stock that is made from meat congeals because of the
natural gelatin found in the meat. The stock can be clarified with egg whites,
and then filled and flavored just before the aspic sets. Almost any
type of food can be set into aspics. Most common are meat pieces, fruits, or vegetables. Aspics are usually served on cold plates so that the gel will not melt before being eaten. A meat jelly that includes cream is called a chaud-froid.
Nearly any type of meat can be used to make the gelatin: pork, beef, veal, chicken, turkey, or fish.
The aspic may need additional gelatin in order to set properly. Veal
stock provides a great deal of gelatin; in making stock, veal is often
included with other meat for that reason. Fish consommés usually have
too little natural gelatin, so the fish stock may be double-cooked or
supplemented. Since fish gelatin melts at a lower temperature than
gelatins of other meats, fish aspic is more delicate and melts more
readily in the mouth. Vegetables and fish stocks need gelatin to create a mold.
An aspic with chicken and eggs.
Historically, meat aspics were made before fruit- and
vegetable-flavored aspics or 'jellies' (UK) and 'gelatins/jellos (North
America). By the Middle Ages
at the latest, cooks had discovered that a thickened meat broth could
be made into a jelly. A detailed recipe for aspic is found in Le Viandier, written in or around 1375.
In the 18th century, Marie-Antoine Carême created chaud froid in France. Chaud froid means "hot cold" in French, referring to foods that were prepared hot and served cold. Aspic was used as a chaud froid sauce in many cold fish and poultry meals. The sauce added moisture and flavor to the food. Carême invented various types of aspic and ways of preparing it. Aspic, when used to hold meats, prevents them from becoming spoiled. The gelatin keeps out air and bacteria, keeping the cooked meat fresh.
Aspic came into prominence in America in the early 20th century. By the 1950s, meat aspic was a popular dinner staple throughout the United States as were other gelatin-based dishes such as tomato aspic. Cooks used to show off aesthetic skills by creating inventive aspics.
Aspic can also be referred as aspic gelée or aspic jelly.
Aspic jelly may be colorless (white aspic) or contain various shades of
amber. Aspic can be used to protect food from the air, to give food
more flavor, or as a decoration.
There are three types of aspic textures: delicate, sliceable, and inedible. The delicate aspic is soft. The sliceable aspic must be made in a terrine
or in an aspic mold. It is firmer than the delicate aspic. The inedible
aspic is never for consumption. It is usually for decoration. Aspic is
often used to glaze food pieces in food competitions to make the food
glisten and make it more appealing to the eye. Foods dipped in aspic
have a lacquered finish for a fancy presentation. Aspic can be cut into various shapes and be used as a garnish for deli meats or pâtés.
A pretzel (known as Brezel in German, sometimes also Brezn or Breze) is a type of baked food made from dough in soft and hard varieties and savory or sweet flavors in a unique knot-like
shape, originating in Europe. The pretzel shape is a distinctive
symmetrical looped form, with the ends of a long strip of dough
intertwine brought together and then twisted back onto itself in a
certain way ("a pretzel loop"). Pretzels in stick form may also be
called pretzels in the English-speaking context. For seasoning and
decoration various glazes, salt crystals, sugar and various seeds or
nuts can be used. The size varies from large enough for one to be a
sufficient serving, to much smaller.
A bread pretzel popular in southern Germany and adjoining
German-speaking areas, as well as in some areas of the United States, is
made from wheat flour, water and yeast, usually sprinkled with coarse
salt, hand-sized and made for consumption on the same day. It is
relatively soft, rather than brittle. To avoid confusion with any other
kind of pretzel, German speakers call this variety "Laugenbrezel" (lye
pretzel) because it is dipped in lye solution (NaOH) before baking. Sweet pastry
pretzels with many textures, toppings and coatings, are made. Crisp
hard pretzels, e.g. pretzel sticks and a variety of shapes basically
made from the same ingredients, have evolved from the lye pretzel by
baking out excess moisture, thereby increasing shelf life and crispness.
Variety of south German lye breads (Laugengebäck)
There are numerous accounts on the origin of the looped pretzels, as
well as the origin of the name; most agree that they have Christian
backgrounds and were invented by monks. According to The History of Science and Technology,
by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans, in 610 AD "...an Italian monk
invents pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He
calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the
chest, 'pretiola' ("little rewards")". However, no source is cited to
back up these details. Another source locates the invention in a
monastery in southern France
The looped pretzel may also be related to a Greek ring bread, derived
from communion bread used in monasteries a thousand years ago In Germany there are stories that pretzels were the invention of desperate bakers.Meyers Konversations-Lexikon from 1905 suspects the origin of pretzels in a ban of heathen baking traditions, such as in the form of a sun cross, at the Synod of Estinnes in the year 743. The pretzel may have emerged as a substitute. The German name "Brezel" may derive also from Latin bracellus (a medieval term for "bracelet"), or bracchiola ("little arms").
The pretzel has been in use as an emblem of bakers and formerly their guilds in southern German areas since at least the 12th century. A 12th-century illustration in the Hortus deliciarum from the southwest German Alsace region (today France) may contain the earliest depiction of a pretzel.
Within the Catholic Church,
pretzels were regarded as having religious significance for both
ingredients and shape. Pretzels made with a simple recipe using only
flour and water could be eaten during Lent,
when Christians were forbidden to eat eggs, lard, or dairy products
such as milk and butter. As time passed, pretzels became associated with
both Lent and Easter. Pretzels were hidden on Easter morning just as
eggs are hidden today, and are particularly associated with Lent, fasting, and prayers before Easter.
Święconka, meaning "the blessing of the Easter baskets," is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday. While originally observed by Poles
in the U.S., it has become increasingly mainstream in the U.S and is
starting to grow in the U.K. as Poles go there to live. Catholic
churches, being observed by a wide cross-section of parishes.
For example, the Chicago Tribune reported Francis Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago performing the blessing in a church on Chicago's Northwest Side on Holy Saturday of 2007. In 2008, a similar service took place in the Chicago archdiocese at St. Alphonsus Liguori Roman Catholic Church in Mt. Prospect, Illinois.
The tradition of food blessing at Easter, which has early-medieval
roots in Christian society, possibly originated from a pagan ritual.
The tradition is said to date from the 7th century in its basic form,
the more modern form containing bread and eggs (symbols of resurrection
and Christ) are said to date from the 12th century.
A typical "Święconka" basket of Polish Holy Saturday tradition.
Baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church
to be blessed on Holy Saturday. The basket is traditionally lined with a
white linen or lace napkin and decorated with sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan),
the typical Easter evergreen. Poles take special pride in preparing a
decorative and tasteful basket with crisp linens, occasionally
embroidered for the occasion, and boxwood and ribbon woven through the
handle. Observing the creativity of other parishioners is one of the
special joys of the event.
While in some older or rural communities, the priest visits the home to bless the foods, the vast majority of Poles and Polish Americans visit the church on Holy Saturday, praying at the Tomb of the Lord (the fourteenth and final Station of the Cross).
The Blessing of the Food is, however, a festive occasion. The
three-part blessing prayers specifically address the various contents of
the baskets, with special prayers for the meats, eggs, cakes and
breads. The priest or deacon then sprinkles the individual baskets with holy water.
More traditional Polish churches use a straw brush for aspersing
the water; others use the more modern metal holy water sprinkling wand.
In some parishes, the baskets are lined up on long tables; in others,
parishioners process to the front of the altar carrying their baskets,
as if in a Communion line. Older generations of Polish Americans,
descended from early 19th century immigrants, tend to bless whole meal
quantities, often brought to church halls or cafeterias in large hampers
and picnic baskets. The food blessed in the church remains untouched until Sunday morning.
Easter Blessing of Food St. Therese Church, April 7, 2012 by Rev. Vidal Gonzales
The foods in the baskets have a symbolic meaning:
eggs - symbolize life and Christ's resurrection
bread - symbolic of Jesus
lamb - represents Christ
salt - represents purification
horseradish - symbolic of the bitter sacrifice of Christ
