Minecraft Birthday: Punch Trees and Party!

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Everyone in our family enjoys Minecraft (okay, maybe Dad doesn't enjoy it as much as the rest of us but he will still play the video game with us if we ask). When we asked our soon-to-be five-year-old what theme he wanted for his birthday party, Minecraft was a top choice.

Food

As our teen had a Minecraft-themed birthday party a few years ago, we wanted to try to serve some different foods this time. Plus – with our 5-year-old's birthday being in June, we were able to grill food outdoors rather than just rely upon indoor cooking like we usually do for our teen's birthday in September.  

We prepared hamburgers and hot dogs for the beef and pork of Minecraft. The other foods in the Minecraft world consist of bread (hamburger and hot-dog rolls), fish (Swedish fish), baked potatoes (potato salad), carrots, and melon (gummy melon candy).

We also had lots of different types of snacks and candies to represent the different ores and other items from the Minecraft game. 

Ores: Lapis, gold, iron, diamond, redstone, emerald, and coal 

Lava and Water: Jello 

Sticks: Pretzel sticks 

Treats and Sweets

We put together an Enderman Cake and decorated cupcakes like the cake from the game.

Enderman cake

Cupcakes decorated like the cake (It's a lie!) from Minecraft

Decorations

As usual, I like to have the children involved with preparing the decorations for the parties. It provides the perfect opportunity to work on arts and crafts, learn new skills, and cooperate to ensure everyone has a fun time. 

Our teen helped with making a Minecraft Birthday Sign

Minecraft Tools 

Our teen drew the templates for the sword, ax, and shovel and I traced them onto cardboard from boxes and cut them out. Then our two younger children and I painted them along with a few torches to decorate the house. Yes, we could have bought the foam ones but it wouldn't have provided as much fun as painting lots of Minecraft objects on the living room floor! 

Minecraft Creatures 

I had been saving old boxes for quite a while in our basement and now was the time to use them! I painted them white and then used both construction paper and plastic tablecloths to create a pig and enderman.

Nether Portal and Photo Background 

At the entry way to our kitchen, I created a Nether Portal with purple and black crepe paper.

My husband and I used a blue tablecloth, white construction paper, and green construction paper to create a Minecraft backdrop for photos.

Other Decorations 

In a previous post, I shared how we created Minecraft Character faces to decorate. We also used Minecraft toys that our sons have gotten as gifts over the years. Our teen and I also created spawn eggs using permanent markers and old plastic eggs. 

Games

The kids played Creeper Toss with Creeper Spawn Eggs and this giant Creeper Head I made from a cardboard box.

The party was a great hit with our son, family, and friends. I love being able to help our children celebrate with fun parties.

 

Wordless Wednesday: Enderman Cake

My first time using fondant! 

I linked up the following blog(s): 

  

Learning about the Alphabet: E is for Elephant

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 Over the course of twenty-six posts, I will introduce my own simple lessons for the letters of the alphabet. I will provide enough ideas and suggestions for a week's worth of activities.  

For the letter E, we focused upon Elephant.

Elephants are known as the largest land mammal. There are two different types - African Elephants and Asiatic Elephants. As mammals, they give birth to live young (called calves), produce milk for their young, have fine, coarse hair on their bodies, and are warm-blooded (their body temperature is regulated internally).

Female African Elephant on left; Female Asiatic Elephant on right 

African Elephant Characteristics

• Large ears (they are almost shaped like the continent of Africa)
• Both male and female African elephants have tusks 
• Larger than Asiatic elephants 
• Males are approximately 10 feet tall  & weigh over 12,000 pounds 

Asiatic Elephant Characteristics

• Smaller ears than African elephants 
• High foreheads with two large bumps
• Usually only male Asiatic elephants have tusks 
• Males are approximately 9 feet tall & weight about 10,000 pounds 

Male elephants are called bulls while female elephants are known as cows and young elephants are called calves. An elephant calf is no small baby – it can be 3 feet tall at birth and weigh 200 pounds. Compare that to the size and weight of your children so they can see the difference.

© Aksoys | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

Tusks are actually teeth that grow very large. An elephant will go through six sets of teeth in its mouth over the course of its lifespan. Each set of teeth is worn down by the food the elephant eats and each set usually lasts about 10 years. So, an average elephant usually lives about 60 years because it will not be able to chew food after its last set of teeth get worn down.

The large ears of an elephant help keep the elephant cool by acting as more than just a fan. When they flap their ears, the blood flowing through their ears is actually cooled and carried through the rest of the body – thus cooling the entire elephant.

Coloring Sheets

Coloring.WS from DLTK's Elephant Coloring Pages 
There are a variety of realistic and cartoon elephant pictures for your children to color.

Super Coloring's Elephants Coloring Pages 
There is a selection of cartoon and realistic pictures available to print and color.

Easy Peasy and Fun's Free Elephant Coloring Pages for Adults
If you are interested in joining in on the coloring fun, check out these abstract elephant coloring pages!

Projects

Coffee Filter Elephant Craft 

This great craft from Look! We're Learning only requires five materials to create your own elephant to decorate your home.

Milk Bottle Elephants 

These are adorable elephants made using recycled plastic milk containers. With as much milk as we go through in our house, we could make a whole herd of elephants!

DIY No Sew Sock Elephant 

Gather together socks, polyfil, rubberbands, rice or beans, googly eyes, and felt and make your own plush elephant with your children - no needles needed!

Books

Whether you are looking for fictional or factual books about elephants, they are such an interesting animal to read about with your children.

Featured Shape

This week take a look at circles and spheres. On a globe or a map of the world, help your children circle where African Elephants and Asian Elephants live in the wild.

Cut out different sizes of circles and have your children sort them into different piles based on their size - from smallest to largest. Remind them that the largest land mammal, the elephant, started out smaller when they were babies. 

Activities

Sorting Big Es and Little Es

Cut out a variety of upper and lower case Es and es for your children to sort. Since this week we are talking about elephants, which are rather large, it is perfect to draw the parallels between large letters (uppercase) and small letters (lowercase). 

Other Topics 

E is for Enderman 

Do you have a Minecraft fan in the house? Try this Letter E craft that features an Enderman.

Eggs 

There are so many different activities you can do with eggs. Here are a few ideas.

Made with Happy's Plastic Easter Egg Flower Pots 
123 Homeschool 4 Me Collection of 14 Amazing Egg Science Experiments 

Resources 

No Time for Flash Cards' Letter of the Week - Letter E Theme 
World Wildlife Fund's Elephant Page 
National Geographic's African Elephant Page 

I linked up to the following blog(s):

Crafts: E is for Enderman

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my Terms of Use and Disclosure Policy page. Thank you.

All three of our children love Minecraft. My stepson purchased it for the Xbox 360 several years ago. Both of us still play the game, although not as regularly as we used to play.  Our four-year-old has even begun watching YouTube Let's Plays with me and playing with Minecraft toys.

For the letter E, creating an Enderman was such a simple idea for our family.

Materials 

• Black construction paper
• Purple construction paper
• Brown construction paper
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Crayons or markers 

Steps 

1. Gather all of your materials.

2. Glue the E onto your black construction paper.

3. Glue the Enderman's head onto the letter E at the top.

4. Glue the body of the Enderman onto the letter E (towards the middle).

5. Glue the legs of the Enderman onto the letter E (at the bottom).

6. Glue the arms of the Enderman onto the letter E (at the middle point).

7. Glue brown pieces of construction paper to represent dirt blocks onto the letter E (at the bottom). (You can also use yellow for sand or gray for gravel.)

8. Glue the eyes of the Enderman onto your project.

9. Display the Enderman in your home without making direct eye contact with him.

You might also be interested in my post about Let's Plays and Minecraft.