Dinosaur Themed Valentine's Day Breakfast

Making memories with your family is what Valentine's Day is all about. You want your kids to feel special and loved. You want to do something fun to celebrate. You also want something that is easy to put together.

That's why you should surprise your kids with a dinosaur themed Valentine's Day breakfast!

It's the perfect way to ROAR into Valentine's Day. These fun dinosaur themed foods and activities are sure to help you create wonderful holiday memories with your kids.

Dinosaur Themed Breakfast Food Ideas

No dinosaur themed Valentine's Day breakfast would be complete without dinosaur pancakes and dinosaur waffles. You can make both the pancakes and the waffles from scratch, but the frozen versions work just as well. Do whatever works for your family!

Dinosaur Fruit Pancake

• 1/4 to 1/2 banana

• 1 round pancake

• 1 mini pancake

• 2 blueberries

• 1 strawberry, cut into a heart shape

• Syrup or whipped cream

Assemble the pancake dinosaur by using the regular size pancake for the body and the mini pancake for the head. Cut the banana to fit between the pancakes as the neck. Use the blueberries for the feet and add a strawberry heart. Serve with syrup or whipped cream.

Dinosaur Fruit Waffle

• 1 round waffle (we used frozen)

• 1 mini pancake

• 2 blueberries

• 1 blackberry

• 1 strawberry, cut into a heart shape

• Syrup or whipped cream

Cut the waffle in half and use one half for the body. Cut the other half into fourths and use 3 of the fourths as spikes on the back of the body. Add the mini pancake as the head. Use the blueberries for the feet and the blackberry for the tail. Add the strawberry heart and serve with syrup or whipped cream.

Dinosaur Footprint Cookies

• Store bought or homemade sugar cookie dough

• Heart shaped cookie cutter

• Small dinosaur

Use the cookie cutter to cut the dough into heart shapes. Place the heart cookies on a cookie sheet. Use a small plastic dinosaur to make footprints in each of the cookies. Bake according to recipe directions. Let cool and serve.

Dinosaur Valentine's Day Themed Activities

A dinosaur themed breakfast is adorable and yummy, but you don't have to let the Valentine's Day fun stop there. After you eat, gather your family together for some dinosaur Valentine's Day activities!

Make your dinosaur themed Valentine’s Day even better by incorporating VTech®’s Switch & Go® collection, which allows kids to transform dinosaurs into tough vehicles, like the T-Rex Truck or the Velociraptor Helicopter. When you change the dinosaur into a vehicle, its eyes transform into a driver. Each dinosaur has a special skill, like the strongest bite ever, and has unique sound effects. You can also include these fun items as part of your Valentine’s Day activities.

Dinosaur Balloon Love Notes

Use a permanent marker to turn plain balloons into special love notes!

• Helium filled balloons

• VTech® Switch & Go® dinosaurs

• String

• Permanent marker

Tie helium filled balloons to each of the VTech Switch & Go dinosaurs. Use the permanent marker to write things you love about each other on the balloon. Display the VTech Switch & Go dinosaurs and balloons for the kids to read during breakfast.

Dinosaur Valentine Mailbox

• Cardstock or construction paper

• Box with opening (we used heart shaped)

• Tape

• Googly eyes

• Marker

Use scissors to cut out a dinosaur shaped head and tape it onto the box above the opening. We cut out a triceratops head and used heart shapes for the horns, but you can design yours in any way you would like. Add feet to the bottom and googly eyes to the face. Use the marker to draw a smile and fill the box with valentines for each other!

After breakfast, untie the balloons from the Switch & Go® dinos and use them to create a balloon bouquet. Then use your favorite dinosaurs for a Dino Heart Roll and Race game!

Dinosaur Heart Roll and Race Game

• Switch & Go dinosaur for each player

• 20+ heart cut outs

• dice

Place the heart cut outs on the floor in two parallel lines. Give each player a VTech Switch & Go dinosaur and a die. Roll to see who goes first, highest roll begins. Take turns rolling the die and moving your dinosaur along the hearts until someone gets to the end and wins. Restart after you get a winner and keep playing!

Using these simple ideas to create a dinosaur themed breakfast is a sweet way to kick off Valentine's Day and make memories with your kids.

You can never go wrong with a dinosaur theme!

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

Teach Your Kids the Joy of Spreading Holiday Cheer

This is the perfect season to get jolly and make life magical for kids and adults alike. We are now at the tail-end of the longest year of our lives and parents throughout the world are especially tired. The collective need and longing for magic and holiday cheer can be felt everywhere you turn.

As the mother of four boys, I can tell you that our kids are no different. Their wish lists were carefully curated long before Thanksgiving. The countdown to Christmas is ON several weeks earlier than normal.

This year, more than ever before, I feel a great responsibility to make the next month not only memorable, but also magical beyond compare. Our family has decided to take our usual Christmas traditions and turn them into cheer-spreading opportunities.

We are determined to sprinkle happiness and joy as far and wide into our community as possible. 2020 was a trying year for all of us. Thankfully, these ideas are easily implemented and best of all, they don’t cost a lot.

How Your Kids Can Spread Joy This Holiday Season:

1. Write cards to the elderly.

During the past year, kids everywhere are missing the special connection they have with their grandparents and the elderly are longing for the love and attention they usually get from their grandkids. Due to worldwide COVID restrictions, nursing home residents have been left without face-to-face visitors for months. This holiday season, “adopting a grandparent” in a local nursing home may just be the type of cheer and happiness the elderly in your community need.

I reached out to our local nursing home and spoke with their lead nurse. I explained that I would like to send a card or a letter to their most lonely residents. Well, due to their visitation restrictions, ALL their residents are lonely. Before I knew it, I had committed to giving the nursing home 40 letters, one for each of their residents. Thankfully, I have a wonderful network of friends. Through social media, my campaign to “adopt a grandparent” has spread far and wide. This year, I may just be able to bring each resident TWO cards or letters. Many of the cards include a return envelope, so the elderly recipient can write back and hopefully start a pen pal relationship.

2. Make ornaments for relatives.

It is a Danish Christmas tradition from my childhood to have the kids add ornaments to the family’s Christmas tree decorations every year. These ornaments are handmade, often times of paper, felt or supplies found in nature. This year, as we get creative with our ornaments, we will make extras to give to relatives near and far.

3. Bake cookies for friends and neighbors.

Santa isn’t the only one who loves freshly baked cookies and milk. Kids and adults alike are tempted by homemade cookies and desserts. Nothing says “we are thinking of you” like dropping off a box of cookies on a neighbor’s doorstep.

We like to add a handwritten recipe card and a story about where the recipe came from. Knowing that someone’s grandmother passed down a recipe gives it a special personal touch.

4. Record each other reading a favorite book for a friend or classmate.

This holiday season, our two youngest kids have had a great time with their VTech® KidiZoom® Creator Cam. They take turns recording each other reading their favorite books and then we send the videos to their friends via email.

Due to continued COVID-restrictions, our kids have not set foot inside a school since March. Our kids miss their friends and the connections they made last year with their amazing school-family. Creating these videos with the VTech® KidiZoom® Creator Cam for their friends has allowed our kids to feel more connected, while sharing their favorite books, silly stories, and funny riddles and jokes.

5. Put together a care package.

The holidays this year will most likely be spent in much smaller groups than in years past. Putting together a personalized care package for your loved ones not only says “we are thinking of you”, but also gives them a chance to enjoy delicious food, drinks and baked goods as if you were there with them.

Our Thanksgiving this year looked quite a bit different from previous years. However, before the big day we delivered a personal care package for the grandparents and our other relatives. Our kids loved helping me put the care package together, picking things they thought the recipients would truly enjoy.

Care package ideas: local coffee, home baked cookies, snacks for the kids, kid-friendly crafts, a plant or flowers and a card signed by everyone in the family.

6. Decorate with Christmas lights for the neighborhood and community.

One of my favorite memories from when our kids were younger, was going for walks through our community during the month of December and admiring our neighbors’ Christmas light displays.

This year, our new neighbors challenged us to a friendly “Christmas light feud” and it is the best idea of 2020. My husband and our oldest teen were outside most of the day, decorating our entire front yard with Christmas lights in all colors, shapes and sizes. As I took our youngest kid out front to admire our Christmas lights, I found two families gathered outside our house, admiring the lights with their young kids. Remember, decorating for the holidays brings as much joy to your community as it does to your family.

Let your kids capture pictures and videos of the Christmas light decorations with their VTech® KidiZoom® Creator Cam. The images will be a great way to recall the happy memories you shared this holiday season.

7. Allow siblings to buy presents for each other with a small set budget.

As finances may be tighter for a lot of families this year, we are focusing more on quality over quantity when it comes to gift giving. We will sit down with our kids and have each of them pick gifts for their siblings, while sticking to a budget. I can’t wait to see the holiday magic flowing as each of them think about their brothers and their specific likes and interests.

Looking back on my favorite childhood Christmas memories, it’s the thoughtful Christmas presents that stick out to me. One year, my sister made a box out of craft paper and filled it with the small plastic figurines I loved to play with, scented pencils and coordinating erasers. I remember opening the box and being unable to focus on anything else for the rest of that holiday. Her gift came straight from her heart - and went straight to mine. It is my hope that our kids will give each other gifts as perfect and meaningful as my sister’s present was to me.

The holiday season is about giving. Giving your time and giving love. What a wonderful gift we give our children, by teaching them the joy of spreading holiday magic and cheer.

While this year was challenging in a lot of ways, it has also given us the unique opportunity to teach our kids gratitude for the things we have, appreciation for the things money can’t buy and a deeper love for holiday magic.

Tove Maren Stakkestad is a Danish/ American writer and author with a unique, sarcastic and relatable voice in the parenting community.

After spending over 20 years in the financial services industry, Tove followed her true calling in 2015 and started writing full time, primarily on her blogs Mama in the Now and Hygge in the Now.

As a mother of four boys, she reports live from the trenches of motherhood and successfully helps parents everywhere to parent with heart, humor and lots of Danish hygge.

Go! Go! Cory Carson Car Themed Kids Party

By Alison McKown of Just Add Confetti

Go! Go! It’s a party in Bumperton Hills! If your little ones love watching the popular children’s show Go! Go! Cory Carson on Netflix, then this is the party theme for you. Featuring Cory Carson and his pals, this celebration is full of easy and creative car-themed food and décor ideas that you will be able to recreate in a breeze.

My sons love watching the show and following their favorite little orange

car, Cory Carson. Cory navigates the ups and downs of childhood on the winding roads of Bumperton Hills as he goes to school, makes new friends and explores with his family.

The Backdrop

Creating a party backdrop, to be displayed behind the main party table, creates an eye-catching and exciting focal point for the entire party. All of your little party guests will be thrilled to see Cory and his pals larger than life on the backdrop.

In watching episodes of the show with my sons, I’m always inspired by the visuals and whimsical styling of the series. I love the bright colors and tactile textures of the illustrations and artwork. When it came time to create the backdrop for this party, I knew I wanted to recreate the hills and winding roads of Bumperton Hills! First, I started by taping two pieces of white foam board together and covered them with blue sky bulletin board paper. Next, I added large hills made out of green poster board. Then, I created roads out of construction paper and trees out of felt and pom poms. Last but not least, I added printed VTech® product graphics of the stars of the show—Cory and his pals!

After the backdrop was complete, I centered it behind the table. I next placed a photography backdrop stand around the sign. This created the framework that would be needed for hanging the balloon garland and additional signs. I also designed a large “Go! Go! It’s a party in Bumperton Hills!” sign, as well as several car-themed party décor signs, to be used throughout the party to further enhance the theme. With the photo backdrop stand in place, I was able to easily display the balloon garland and these additional signs to complete the look of the backdrop.

The Food

It’s time to fuel up and talk about all the fun foods we had at our Go! Go! Cory Carson party. Creative themed foods don’t have to be difficult to make and they add so much fun to any party! At our celebration we had Cory Carson cakes with mini cookie tires, fruit kabob traffic lights, spare tire donuts, motor oil chocolate milk, a windshield wiper fluid sport drink, and candy traffic lights.

The Place Settings

Each place setting was colorful and vibrant just like the show. I created a long road table runner out of black and yellow paper. Then I layered the place settings on top of the road and added the adorable toys from VTech’s Go! Go! Cory Carson® collection. Adding these toys to both the place settings, as well as the main food table, allowed the collection to double as party décor and really brought the car theme to life!

I created printable bottle labels and plate graphics to match the theme as well. I love printables because they are such a simple way to easily and inexpensively enhance a party theme. I layered each plate printable, of one of the collection’s characters, under a clear plastic plate to instantly transform the place setting.

At each place setting I also added a sweet party favor. Who doesn’t love some cookies for the road?! To create this party favor, I printed a VTech product graphic of Cory and then slid it into a clear treat bag. Then I added two chocolate cookies to represent the tires. So simple and sweet!

VTech’s Go! Go! Cory Carson Collection

Adding toys from VTech®’s Go! Go! Cory Carson® collection to the main food table, as well as the place settings, made them perfectly in-reach for play! After enjoying the party food and clearing the plates, the table runner road became the perfect setting for imaginative play with Cory and his friends—Freddie the firetruck, Halle the helicopter, Frannie the talent agent, Timmy the bulldozer, Kimmy the demolition crane and Cory’s little sister, Chrissy. My sons loved pushing Cory and his friends around on the paper road as the toys trigger fun sound effects. Also, you can press the light-up windshields to hear Cory and his friends talk about their specific color as well as to play four sing-along songs and six melodies. My sons also had a blast playing with the adorable Freddie’s Firehouse™ and DJ Train Trax & the Roll Train™ playsets. They thought it was so fun to recreate helping Freddie and Chrissy rescue Phil just like in the episode of the show that they watched. They couldn’t get enough of dancing and playing mixmaster with Roll Train host, DJ Train Trax. They got such a kick out of placing Cory and Chrissy on stage and watching them light up and do “The Chrissy”.

I hope you enjoyed our Go! Go! Cory Carson car themed kids’ party. I hope this party has inspired you to create your own Cory Carson celebration with your children, family and friends!

About the Author:

Alison McKown is a content creator, professional graphic designer and the founder of Just Add Confetti– a blog focused on creative and attainable party ideas, unique and easy gift ideas, recipes, and graphic designed printables. Just Add Confetti is based on the belief that every day should be celebrated. Alison believes that everyone (yes, everyone!) can be creative and can craft beautiful celebrations and memories with their children, families and friends. Alison is an advertising agency art director turned party blogger based in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and two very active little boys. Follow along with Alison’s latest projects and ideas from Just Add Confetti on Instagram and Pinterest.