Independence Day: Recipe Ideas Do you know of any good activities that would go along with this theme?  Click on the Pre-K Fun mailbox to share them!

Holiday Frozen Yogurt Pie

Ingredients Needed:
2 (8 oz.) containers fruit flavored yogurt
1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip of other topping graham cracker pie crust

Directions:
Fold yogurt into topping and blend well. Pour into pie crust. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving and put in refrigerator.  Garnish with additional whipped topping and fruit or sprinkles. Store leftovers in freezer. You can also divide this and put into individual freezable containers.

4th of July Treat

Any red yogurt. Top with whipped topping and a tiny flag, strawberries or blueberries.

Birthday Cake

4th Of July Firecracker Salad

Make red jell-o and pour 1/2 inch thick in a pan.  Stack 4 large marshmallows together, flat
 sides together.  Place 4 of these marshmallow stacks in the jell-o, making sure they do not touch.
  Chill till firm.  Top with remaining red jell-o. Cut between the rows and place each "firecracker"
 on a lettuce leaf, if desired, on a plate.  Use a small piece of rope licorice for the fuse.

Candy Stick Firecracker

Take a piece of stick candy and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Tie a small piece
 of red yarn around the middle of the candy, extedig it for about 2-3 inches at the end of the candy.
 Wrap red tissue paper around the candy, leave the "wick" stick out. Fold in the paper at the
 bottom of the firecracker and twist the top gently around the wick so the candy doesn't fall out.

Sparkler Snacks

Microwave a bowl of white chocolate chips on high for two minutes or until the chips melt.
Dip a pretzel rod into the melted chips; then have a child shake red and blue star shaped
 sprinkles over the pretzel.  To dry, place the pretzel on a sheet of waxed paper
 or insert it into a hole punched into the cup of an upside down egg carton. 

Fourth of July Birthday Cupcakes

Discuss with your children that the Fourth of July is the day when we celebrate the birthday
 of our country.  Ask them to tell you what they do to celebrate their birthdays.  Build upon
 the idea of a birthday cake as part of their celebrations by letting each child decorate a
 special birthday cupcake for America.  Provide each child with a cupcake that has been
 iced with white frosting.  Set out small shakers of red and blue sugar crystals for the children
 to sprinkle on their cupcakes.  Make sure to sing "Happy Birthday" to America before you eat.

Gumdrop Star

With a rolling pin, roll out a large gumdrop. Cut with a TINY star-shaped cutter and put
 on cupcake that has been frosted with white frosting. A candle can be inserted if desired.

Independence Day Cake

You can also bake a 9x13 cake, frost with white frosting. Let the children help add rows of red strawberries (halved) for the red stripes on the flag and blue berries for the blue part of the flag. With a decorating tool, you can pipe on white stars if desired. The kids especially love this when they have helped make it.

4th Of July Parfait

You can also layer vanilla pudding, strawberries, blue berries, and
 whipped cream in a parfait glass (even a clear plastic tumbler works well).

American Flag Pizza

Ingredients Needed:
1 tube (10 oz) of refrigerated pizza crust,
1 jar (14  oz) pizza sauce (1 1/2 cups),
3 square slices yellow American cheese,
1 package extra - long mozzarella string cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Have ready a 1 1/2 inch star shaped cookie cutter. Lightly coat
 a 10 1/2 x 15 1/2 inch jelly roll  pan with non stick cooking spray.  Unroll crust. Press over bottom and
 about 1/2 inch up sides of pan.  Bake 7 minutes or until crust starts to brown. Meanwhile stack slices of
 American cheese. Press cookie cutter through in 4 places (to get 12 stars). Cool crust in the pan about
 10 minutes. Spread pizza sauce evenly  to edges. Arrange stars in left-hand corner of flag (3 rows of 4).
  Cut 5 string cheese sticks in half lengthwise and put 9 pieces (10 if  you can fit them) in rows to
 represent the stripes. The picture has 5  pieces on the right hand side and 3 pieces arranged
under the stars. Bake pizza 6 to 10 minutes or until crust is well browned.  Serves 6

Graham Cracker Flags

Gather a few packages of graham crackers, whit frosting, ice cream sticks, small paper cups, and red
 white and blue food coloring. Give  each child 3 paper cups with a tablespoon of frosting inside each cup.
 Drop food coloring in each cup 1 red 1 blue 1 white. Give each child an ice cream stick ,and instruct them
 to mix the food coloring into each cup. Then allow to design flag using the frosting on the cracker.

Fourth of July Smoothies

Put in blender raspberries, blueberries, vanilla yogurt and milk.

Cookie Cutter Stars

Make jell-o stars by cutting them out with cookie cutters.
 Use red for the stars and add blueberries and vanilla flavored yogurt.

Red, White, and Blue snack

Blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream over short cakes or pound cake.

Red, White, and Blue Salad

Help your toddlers create a red, white, and blue salad to celebrate the Fourth of July.
  Show them pictures of different foods that are red, white, ore blue.  Encourage
 them to name the foods they recognize.  Set out a bowl of blueberries, a bowl of
 watermelon chunks or strawberries, and a bowl of miniature marshmallows.  Give your children
 plastic spoons and cups.  Let them scoop up a little from each bowl to create their own patriotic salad.

Firecracker Cakes

Ingredients Needed:
Twinkie style snack cakes, White canned frosting, Red and blue icing gel.

Directions:
Frost each snack cake with the white canned frosting and then using the
 colored gel alternate stripes of red and blue and white down the firecracker shape.

Red, White, and Blue Kabobs

Ingredients Needed:
Strawberries
Banana
Blueberries
Cocktail toothpicks or wooden skewers

Directions:
Clean and slice the fruit. Have the children place a blueberry, strawberry, and
 a piece of banana on each toothpick. If using skewers, have children repeat pattern.